I saw this in the Daily Mail yesterday and was so incensed I wrote a comment! Mind you with a Labour government as corrupt as anything you'd find in China I'm not surprised this has rubbed off to such an extent that even Head Teachers are now playing cover up. Agreed, total disgrace.
I'm waiting for the Daily Mail to blame this on immigration.
Actually first heard about this from the Mail back in July:
Dinner lady suspended after telling parents that daughter had been tied up and beatend with skipping rope | Mail Online
absolutely disgusting...
Tell a parent their child is being bullied: Lose your job
Draw up a law to prevent employers employing illegal immigrants as your job as Attorney General then employ an illegal immigrant: 5,000-pound fine with no loss of job
Having the right connections: Priceless
(Yes, pin... I know, I know)
Today's Times:
'Bully' named by sacked dinner-lady is school governor’s son - Times Online
One of the governor's children is allegedly one of the bullies.
Also, now, as a result of her sacking she's been banned from being a volunteer for certain things.
Also, at her disciplinary hearing the parents of the victim were not allowed in nor the lady's lawyer. However the school and the council had their legal representatives present.
I'm very surprised the local council hasn't stepped in yet. Bet you they are saying its a matter for the school only.
as to the op's original question, I would HOPE this wouldn't happen here, but given the large number of rich and powerful parents here, the relatively small number of 'top schools' in Hong Kong, and the seemingly overriding goal of SOME administrators to appease parents at all costs, it wouldn't surprise me if it has happened/will happen at some point
You think this wouldn't happen here? Given the obsession with following rules to the extreme and no flexibility or common sense to interpret situations and respond/adapt accordingly, I'd say its highly likely it would happen here.
Case in point, the man who passed out in front of the hospital door, but hadn't crossed the boundary into the lobby...um, uh, thumb up butt, ah, call 999. ha yat wai...
I don't know if this would happen in HK but I do know that this school will end up regretting its stupidity.
Let's put it this way. No one country or sector of society has a corner on the market for stupidity. It is everywhere, in every country, every city and town and in many, many organizations where people are in charge.
It sounds to me like this is some sort of boarding school or whatever it might be called if the parents just got a letter on the incident vs a first hand account from the little girl herself and interview with the school.
We'd have never allowed our kids to go to boarding school. I want to see them every night and make sure of what is going on in their lives and of course be involved in their sports activities which we were.
Irrespective if it is or not a boarding school, these school governors and their teaching staff and admin staff who are acting in loco parentis appear to have breached their duty of care to the young girl who ought to have been treated by the school with the same care in law that a parent must show. That would mean attending to any emotional harm that might have been caused the young girl by an incidence like this. It didn't sound like the average school yard bullying where the other party pops the person back and finds a new best buddy (that is how it works in Canada with boys, not sure how it works with girls).
Some parents might just sue the school in this case for this occurrence as the longer the young girl was traumatized without the right support and care the worse the long term effects on her might be. This could be the meat of a nice law suit. The downside though to the girl is that a trial where her testimony is relevant might make matters worse as despite how children are treated in a court of law, it is still not a pleasant place or one where children belong.
The fired dinner lady's case is a slam dunk victory in law for her but a bit of money can't replace the harm it does to a person like this. It is not dissimilar to what happens to whistle blowers for a whole of complex reasons. They often fare poorly after such an event and the research is largely unclear as to why. It can be tough to find a new job as there will be always those who feel she acted wrongly and some fear they might sue them later, etc.
Last edited by Football16; 24-09-2009 at 10:59 AM.