You’ve been let down by the union, you were right in going to the police but it wont help your case, neither will a letter from your ms nurse. Your excellent head is anything but - he hasn’t he sorted this out?
You need proper legal advice from an employment solicitor. Ask him/her abut suing the school in the context that you feel you could be constructively dismissed. Ask him/her if you can sue the school for mental distress.
Ask the solicitor to write to the chairman of the appeals committee pointing out that the chool is not responding to your serious concerns. He/she needs to point out your rights in this situation and your legal rights if you go to litigation. Of course it will cost but I would think it money well spent.
Finally, I wonder if you’re too wary of really going for it in case you upset this ‘excellent?’ head. If that’s the case then you may as well throw in the towel.
You do seem to have been badly let down by the union rep.
It’s great to hear you saying you felt in control, I was thinking about you…you should be really proud of yourself.
I believe going to the police will definitely help your case, also letter from MS nurse. In my opinion this as gone way beyond mediation, it’s not something I personally would agree to.
I agree with Zetland, in that it is perhaps time to seek some legal advice. This does seem to be dragging on, which is not good for your health. Maybe it is time to start applying more pressure.
Please don’t give up, these things can take time but I promise, eventually they do end.
well done you! it must have been hard to walk in to the meeting, particularly without the union rep bloody well showing up. i agree about keeping pressure on (once you’ve caught your breath). it does seem like the school is trying to whitewash the whole thing, to finish the whole situation and admitting no liability at all. they need to be held responsible for not providing a safe place for you to work. i would speak to the union again, see what they make of what’s happening now. mediation would be ridiculous and completely inappropriate to put you in a room with the flaming bully. it does seem like you could do with seeing a solicitor and finding out what your options are. the schools only concern does seem to be protecting itself. you must be frustrated to hell at this point. if they oversee your school, is it possible to make some kind of complaint to your LEA?
please let us know how things are going and come and vent whenever you need to.
So as I thought appeal panel have requested that we seek mediation. This is so that we can both continue working in the school.
Neither of my witnesses had the balls to come into the meeting and speak up, so they concluded there was insufficient evidence that the school can take any action against the b1tch.
If I want the school to consider all the latest incidents, then I’m to put it in writing to the head and the school can take appropriate action. Like that’s going to happen the only witness I have is my 11 year old daughter, and a governor who is about three weeks away from giving birth. Her husband doesn’t want her to get involved because it may be too stressful! Welcome to my world!
You should carry on your contact with the police and seek legal advice Freckles. The school are failing badly to support you. That woman’s behaviour is beyond mediation…she shouldn’t even be working with children, if she is happy to swear in front of a child. The school will be happy to make this problem disappear…don’t let that happen. Noreen x
Freckles, I am so sorry this has happened to you, especially in front of you child. You are following all the right remedies, except perhaps one. You need to remind yourself that the person who has been harrassing you has a real mental problem. You have MS, but don’t let it have you. Don’t let her belittling get to you. Continue to document everything, but get on with your life and do not allow this negativity drive you. Do your job; it sounds like you have a great one and continue to focus on your happy life, not this miserable person. Good luck to you. Janel
i agree about going to a solicitor. i do think that making a formal statement about further grievences should include the fact that the bullying is against a person with a disability and that the school is failing to protect a person with a disability, hell, my blood boils every time i think about your situation. they’re only concerned about their own ar$e$. the school needs to think about their bloody responsibilities. do you have a local ms society place. might you be able to get some, ms specific, advice from one?
I take on board all your comments, and thank you for your continuing support.
I sought legal advice prior to instigating the appeal aganst the Governors original decision, through the Disabled Law services. The solicitor was helpful in helping me to correctly word my appeal letter, and she thought I had a strong argument.
It seems to be that because witnesses won’t front up and say what they have either seen or heard, the Governors consider “there is insufficient evidence to take any action against the other party” (Their words not mine)
It’s half term now, so have a week to think about my next step. One thing I am going to do is contact the police again and go over everything to see where I stand with them if I was to let them investigate the whole miserable experience.
I feel really let down by the whole system, and that I’m banging my head against a brick wall. Have good support from Stress councillor, occ health and now a Specialist Services Advisor from Remploy. All these agencies have really given me strength in continuing to fight this whoe horriffic episode.
I would like to think that all along I have been ‘really going for it’ and havn’t given consideration to upsetting anyone else, but this is a physically an mentally exhausting process. So if it seems to some that I’m going to roll over and play dead then I won’t apologise because the only person I am trying to please is me!
My Mum was very invoved in her teacher’s union - ATL going way back to the early 80s when they were AAM AMA
She would tell your union rep to get a grip and contact the next person up in the chain! That was her for many years, travelling around ‘our’ bit of Kent. This situation is one of many things teacher’s unions were designed to support members with!
You should be able to contact someone from your union via the internet - have a look at their website and use the contact us facility. Tell them what’s happening, and you’ve reported it to the police. I bet they’ll get back to you within a day!
I find this totally unbelievable. I worked with a clerical officer who would start a row in an empty house,would contact her union and human resources immediately and always say she was stressed because of someone else’s imagined poor behaviour, she was renowned as a problem and like the catholic church with a problem, my work just moved her around to new areas. I ended up her manager, after she had fought and unfairly reported other colleagues she then went off on long term stress caused by me having ms! Finally she realised she had painted herself into a corner and resigned. My manager rang me to arrange a farewell card and gift for her. Needless to say I just laughed. Your treatment by your employer, head etc is no better, they are just hoping the problem will go away, they are not dealing with it,not supporting you, how can you be expected to keep working with this person.Get a different union rep, keep police involved, get a solicitor involved, stop it now and take no more of this appalling behaviour by all parties.
I find this totally unbelievable. I worked with a clerical officer who would start a row in an empty house,would contact her union and human resources immediately and always say she was stressed because of someone else’s imagined poor behaviour, she was renowned as a problem and like the catholic church with a problem, my work just moved her around to new areas. I ended up her manager, after she had fought and unfairly reported other colleagues she then went off on long term stress caused by me having ms! Finally she realised she had painted herself into a corner and resigned. My manager rang me to arrange a farewell card and gift for her. Needless to say I just laughed. Your treatment by your employer, head etc is no better, they are just hoping the problem will go away, they are not dealing with it,not supporting you, how can you be expected to keep working with this person.Get a different union rep, keep police involved, get a solicitor involved, stop it now and take no more of this appalling behaviour by all parties.
Have spoken to the police. As it stands there are two main things that they can do.
They can arrest her for harassment, or give her a warning! The school say mediation the police say arrest her!!!
The police want to liase with the school to ensure the best outcome for me! They can’t understand why there has been nothing put in place to stop it. I’m to speak to my union to get all the advice from all parties, and the Police officer will phone me in a week to see what steps I want to take.
The police woman said she felt extremely frustrated listening to everything I was saying, and she could only imagine how frustrating it was for me!
They also asked for the womans name and where she lived so they can see if she is known to them. Well last year the police were called to her house because of drunkeness, and shouting and swearing I hope it was logged and can show what type of person I’m up against!
have her arrested for harrasment. this type of person will not stop until something drastic is done and even then it might not stop. bullies like her know how to act and what to say to get away with things, and the school already sounds like they are more on her side. it shoudlnt be about sides, but that is what the type of person this person is does. makes people choose sides and make it seem like they are innocent of all wrong doing.
the cops should have been involved right from the start. the school doesn’t want to make this a big deal and it is a BIG deal. mediation would be pointless since like I said, this type of person knows what to say to make things seem all right
i dont know about there, but i know here in scotland alot of what this person has done can be classed as a hate crime and she could be charged. i’ve had to contact the police about it before and they tend to take it seriously
This is great news for you freckles that the police are going to support you. I would have her arrested for harassment if it was me, the school have done nothing to put you first. You do whatever feels right for you. I’m feeling really happy and positive for you Noreen xx
I hope your listening Freckles