School Governor Complaint help
Discussion
Not sure if this is the right forum but looking for some help regarding a school governor complaint.
I discovered a co-opted governor at my daughters primary school was making offensive tweets in December. This had been going on for years.
He holds very left wing bigoted views which quickly became apparent when I started watching his twitter - he was tweeting several times a day that if you are a Conservative voter you were racist, homophobic, uncharitable, morally bankrupt, incapable of empathy, far right and we are about to release the prejudices of our society on to the vulnerable etc. Leave voters got the brunt of his anger - according to him if you voted Leave you were thick, gullible, ignorant, incomptible pillocks. He would tweet Boris several times a week calling him every name under the sun. It's a pretty grim read for someone who holds allegedly holds a high ranking professional job in industry.
Anyway I watched this guy for a couple of weeks and screen shotted all these tweets - then sent a letter to the chair of the governors and stated that I believed he was bringing the school in to disrepute and that he was breaching the schools social media policy, their governor Code of Conduct, the 7 Nolan Principles of public office and asking how his views upheld the ethos and beliefs of the school for example the British Values policy whereby you are supposed to be tolerant of those with different beliefs.
Anyway the Chair called me in for a meeting, with 2 governors present who were going to investigate this guy. I ran through my complaint and off they went.
2 weeks later they have replied with their findings and have said he is doing nothing wrong as is tweeting in his personal capacity. They have completely ignored my references to the policies I quoted and failed to respond to them.
The governor in question has now added a line on his twitter bio to state that he is tweeting "in a personal capacity" and has completely toned down his tweets - in fact from the date they interviewed him he is like a changed man (I can tell from the investigation notes that they met him 2 days after our meeting).
Any thoughts on how to proceed?
Under the official complaints procedure my next step is to appeal the decision and a panel of 3 governors will hear the appeal. I just get the impression they are all in each others pockets!
I discovered a co-opted governor at my daughters primary school was making offensive tweets in December. This had been going on for years.
He holds very left wing bigoted views which quickly became apparent when I started watching his twitter - he was tweeting several times a day that if you are a Conservative voter you were racist, homophobic, uncharitable, morally bankrupt, incapable of empathy, far right and we are about to release the prejudices of our society on to the vulnerable etc. Leave voters got the brunt of his anger - according to him if you voted Leave you were thick, gullible, ignorant, incomptible pillocks. He would tweet Boris several times a week calling him every name under the sun. It's a pretty grim read for someone who holds allegedly holds a high ranking professional job in industry.
Anyway I watched this guy for a couple of weeks and screen shotted all these tweets - then sent a letter to the chair of the governors and stated that I believed he was bringing the school in to disrepute and that he was breaching the schools social media policy, their governor Code of Conduct, the 7 Nolan Principles of public office and asking how his views upheld the ethos and beliefs of the school for example the British Values policy whereby you are supposed to be tolerant of those with different beliefs.
Anyway the Chair called me in for a meeting, with 2 governors present who were going to investigate this guy. I ran through my complaint and off they went.
2 weeks later they have replied with their findings and have said he is doing nothing wrong as is tweeting in his personal capacity. They have completely ignored my references to the policies I quoted and failed to respond to them.
The governor in question has now added a line on his twitter bio to state that he is tweeting "in a personal capacity" and has completely toned down his tweets - in fact from the date they interviewed him he is like a changed man (I can tell from the investigation notes that they met him 2 days after our meeting).
Any thoughts on how to proceed?
Under the official complaints procedure my next step is to appeal the decision and a panel of 3 governors will hear the appeal. I just get the impression they are all in each others pockets!
Edited by art20031980 on Monday 2nd March 19:47
I don't know him, never met him or spoke to him. The only reason I came across him was one day he popped up on my twitter as "you may know..." and I recognised his name from a letter the governors had sent round a week previous.
I clicked on his twitter more out of being nosy and within a couple of minutes I just thought someone in that position can't spout that crap.
I clicked on his twitter more out of being nosy and within a couple of minutes I just thought someone in that position can't spout that crap.
Alucidnation said:
Typical behaviour from a Labour supporter.
If he was a guy living next door I would just turn a blind eye, tbh there wouldn't be much I could do about it as a private citizen, but this is a school governor. Works for a large multinational and is supposed to be a professional who sets the standard for the school, upholds their ethos and values etc. Just makes a mockery of the system and undermines everything the hard working staff do at the school.
art20031980 said:
I don't know him, never met him or spoke to him. The only reason I came across him was one day he popped up on my twitter as "you may know..." and I recognised his name from a letter the governors had sent round a week previous.
I clicked on his twitter more out of being nosy and within a couple of minutes I just thought someone in that position can't spout that crap.
I'll be honest, it looks like you have no idea what his position entails from what you've written. They're not in public office, they're a volunteer and the selection of govenors isn't made by the public. I clicked on his twitter more out of being nosy and within a couple of minutes I just thought someone in that position can't spout that crap.
A school's IT policy/social media policy doesn't apply to accounts held in private and views held in private, posted in private times.
art20031980 said:
Anyway I watched this guy for a couple of weeks and screen shotted all these tweets - then sent a letter to the chair of the governors and stated that I believed he was bringing the school in to disrepute and that he was breaching the schools social media policy, their governor Code of Conduct, the 7 Nolan Principles of public office and asking how his views upheld the ethos and beliefs of the school for example the British Values policy whereby you are supposed to be tolerant of those with different beliefs.
Was that intentional or do you genuinely not get the irony of that statement?Durzel said:
art20031980 said:
Anyway I watched this guy for a couple of weeks and screen shotted all these tweets - then sent a letter to the chair of the governors and stated that I believed he was bringing the school in to disrepute and that he was breaching the schools social media policy, their governor Code of Conduct, the 7 Nolan Principles of public office and asking how his views upheld the ethos and beliefs of the school for example the British Values policy whereby you are supposed to be tolerant of those with different beliefs.
Was that intentional or do you genuinely not get the irony of that statement?I am very aware that everyone is entitled to their beliefs and I strongly believe in freedom of expression but you cannot hide behind that when making offensive comments.
LosingGrip said:
sgtBerbatov said:
A school's IT policy/social media policy doesn't apply to accounts held in private and views held in private, posted in private times.
Some do. art20031980 said:
Durzel said:
art20031980 said:
Anyway I watched this guy for a couple of weeks and screen shotted all these tweets - then sent a letter to the chair of the governors and stated that I believed he was bringing the school in to disrepute and that he was breaching the schools social media policy, their governor Code of Conduct, the 7 Nolan Principles of public office and asking how his views upheld the ethos and beliefs of the school for example the British Values policy whereby you are supposed to be tolerant of those with different beliefs.
Was that intentional or do you genuinely not get the irony of that statement?I am very aware that everyone is entitled to their beliefs and I strongly believe in freedom of expression but you cannot hide behind that when making offensive comments.
art20031980 said:
I do hold different beliefs to those of the governor but I don't tweet several times a day offending Labour/Remain voters.
I am very aware that everyone is entitled to their beliefs and I strongly believe in freedom of expression but you cannot hide behind that when making offensive comments.
Lets be honest though eh, if he was espousing the same views as you he wouldn’t even be on your radar. You might even be championing those views.I am very aware that everyone is entitled to their beliefs and I strongly believe in freedom of expression but you cannot hide behind that when making offensive comments.
Just because you happen to think that everything he says in a personal capacity reflects wholly on the school doesn’t make it so. It’s convenient for you to believe it does because it provides a mechanism to “no platform” him. There’s no suggestion anywhere in your post that there is any real outrage beyond the confines of your own head.
No offence but you’ve been given an answer by the school. You don’t like it because it means he hasn’t been no platformed, cancelled, fired or whatever else would satisfy you.
You say he has toned down his tweets and made it abundantly clear that he is posting in a personal capacity. It would appear as though your complaint has therefore been taken on board and addressed. Is there really any need to take this further?
Your dog-with-a-bone attitude implies that your issue is with his views rather than the manner in which he (no longer) airs them.
Just let it go; life's too short.
Your dog-with-a-bone attitude implies that your issue is with his views rather than the manner in which he (no longer) airs them.
Just let it go; life's too short.
art20031980 said:
He would tweet Boris several times a week calling him every name under the sun. It's a pretty grim read for someone who holds allegedly holds a high ranking professional job in industry.
As a school governor I’d expect him to back children and young people to the hilt. For example challenging those that hold higher ranking professional jobs making comments such as this: “All the young people I know – ie those under 30 – are just as avaricious as we flinty Thatcherite yuppies of the 1980s in fact, they have an almost Nigerian interest in money and gadgets of all kinds”
What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
art20031980 said:
I don't know him, never met him or spoke to him. The only reason I came across him was one day he popped up on my twitter as "you may know..." and I recognised his name from a letter the governors had sent round a week previous.
I clicked on his twitter more out of being nosy and within a couple of minutes I just thought someone in that position can't spout that crap.
If he was performing ok for his role for the schoool prior to your discovery then stop reading his twiter and forget all about it.I clicked on his twitter more out of being nosy and within a couple of minutes I just thought someone in that position can't spout that crap.
There will always be someone like him if you look for it.
Switch it off and move on. Even if you stop him posting it you cant control what he thinks so just relax and work on things that matter is my view
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