Head teacher abused in Croydon school gates smoking row

[wellquickwoody]

Are the children's health & safety not her business?

Not outside the school, no. Ex smoker here, you cannot impose your own morals and preferences above the legal rights of others, applies to many areas of life.

 

[wellquickwoody]

Teachers have a duty of care that extends beyond the walls of the school.

Duty of care is an over used, and often abused term, by those seeking to apportion blame onto others.

 

[wellquickwoody]

I agree with her entirely, no parent would want alcoholics or heroin addicts hanging around a school gate indulging in their addictions in full view of kids, so why should this drug addiction be treated any differently?

Because being drunk in a public place is technically illegal, and so is smoking heroin. Your comparison is a joke.

 

[Frutos]

Because being drunk in a public place is technically illegal, and so is smoking heroin. Your comparison is a joke.

If nothing else, do you not think it a bit sad that these parents cannot hold off from their addiction around their children? Bad enough to pollute their own bodies with it without forcing it on the kids.

Legality shouldn't be an issue, it's morally wrong to smoke around children.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

BURN the witches.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Duty of care is an over used, and often abused term, by those seeking to apportion blame onto others.

Whilst I don't have any jurisdiction over the behaviour of parents on the street, I do have responsibility for the pupils' behaviour on their way to and from school.

"In the spirit of this I would respectfully ask that adults refrain from smoking immediately outside the school as some may see this as setting a bad example."

Do you really think this is apportioning blame on others or deserves abuse?

 

[The Spanish]

If nothing else, do you not think it a bit sad that these parents cannot hold off from their addiction around their children? Bad enough to pollute their own bodies with it without forcing it on the kids.

Legality shouldn't be an issue, it's morally wrong to smoke around children.

according to you.

this is exactly the point.

i think its morally wrong to passive-aggressively attempt to get your own way hiding behind a wont someone think of the children trump card. i think its morally wrong for parents to undermine teachers in front of children or in the public eye unless there is a very very good reason. this isnt one. its a sticky dilemma. but says a lot about our society.

smoking in very recent memory was far more prevalent than it is today. no one gave a sh-t. loads of people smoked outside the school gates when i was a kid and some of them were indeed parents.

its a terrible addiction with deadly health consequences but saying its just like jacking up or swigging tennants is a very hysterical and melodramatic argument and not particularly sensible or thoughtful.

 

[GreersElbow]

Not quite sure why people are ignoring Goldstone rapper's post, but it's in the statutory framework, therefore, she has an obligation to enforce a policy. She's only requested so far, not enforced it. It's disgusting people are behaving this way, I am a smoker but smoking in front of kids is something I hate the idea of. If you want your children to have the healthiest lifestyle possible, smoking should be done out of view and most definitely out of view of school grounds. Given the attempts to advise children about their health and lifestyle choices, it's a slap in the face of those who try to get a healthier generation.


The main problem is now people are ignoring the fact there's a statute regarding this and have turned it into a moral issue. Arguments based on morality are subjective and last for an eternity, you can't argue about facts, only interpret them.

 

[Norman Baker suck my lozenge]

Bet the majority of the cancer riddled spectres are the same human detritus that bleat on about not being able to afford a nutritious diet for their children,but have the cash to spend on 20 B+H..
Just adds to the argument that Croydonites should be sterilised at birth.
Filthy bits of shit .

 

[drew]

Threats and abuse, no excuse. But if the parents were smoking OUTSIDE the school gates, it was none of her business in the first place. In spite of the constant bleatings of Anti Smoking Hysteria (aka ASH) smoking in the street is still legal.

No idea who said what to who but I know that I wouldn't tell a client not to smoke outside my office as they are the client. Working for the client is something the teaching profession is in the early stages of learning with free schools competing with each other. The teachers will however catch the rest of us up one day I would like to think.

and

the day teachers are told to treat parents as 'clients' is the day the country is finally fked.

That day arrived for the rich with private and international schools years ago. Thankfully that day is now arriving for everyone else soon. Teachers will understand that they know when they get things wrong because that is when their schools fail to attract custom and they lose their job. They will know when they have done something right when their schools are packed and they are making money.

Triple God help us with attitudes like this.

Not outside the school, no. Ex smoker here, you cannot impose your own morals and preferences above the legal rights of others, applies to many areas of life.

As has been pointed out, the head teacher has a responsibility for the pupils welfare on their way to and from school.

 

[GT49er]

She's not questioning the legality but the advisability.

Never said she was. It was just none of her business.

 

[GreersElbow]

Never said she was. It was just none of her business.

Are you deliberately ignoring the posts that state the statutory framework...?

 

[Frutos]

its a terrible addiction with deadly health consequences but saying its just like jacking up or swigging tennants is a very hysterical and melodramatic argument and not particularly sensible or thoughtful.

A drug addiction is a drug addiction.

On a psychological level, one is no different from another. If an adult chooses to do it to themselves then that is their right and business.

If they inflict it, or the consequences of it, on children that is wrong.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

the day teachers are told to treat parents as 'clients' is the day the country is finally fked.

imagine an education system based on the corporate world. teaching outsourced to a call centre the third world or a post industrial british city. press 1 for history, 2 for geography...

the education ministry bought by a private equity firm and broken up in three years.

lets try and maintain at least some respect and dignity in this increasingly dignity free country.

this whole issue is caused by lack of respect on both sides.

oh that and a babyish shit stirring press and readership.

Agree with all of that apart from a lack of respect on both sides. The head has been very respectful.

You shouldn't have to ask parents not to provide a wall of smoke for the children to walk through.

Tonight Matthew, I'm going to be Shakespeare, as I learned about him today.

 

[BadFish]

We do seem to be trapped at present in the over-internetted world of supposed grown-ups being outraged by being asked to do something that doesn't sound so freedom-destroying. I doubt many of the parents in spite of their addicted lust for more snouts really want their kids, or anyone else's, to take up what is universally perceived to be a bad habit. And helping to prevent that shouldn't be so rotten. The same as asking parents not to be necking flagons of Red Stripe just outside the gates.

I agree entirely but for me the more important part of this story is that parents who disagree with her do not need to engage in abusing her or other members of staff.She has sked them in a polite manner and explained her reasons why, she cannot legally stop them so if they disagree with her assertions then they can just carry on smoking.

There is absolutely no need for abuse rudeness of lack of respect. Unfortunately many parents will take any opportunity to have a go at schools.

 

[TheMajor]

If nothing else, do you not think it a bit sad that these parents cannot hold off from their addiction around their children? Bad enough to pollute their own bodies with it without forcing it on the kids.

.

You seemed to have overlooked the fact that this happened in Croydon where moral standings are unheard of.

 

[wellquickwoody]

If nothing else, do you not think it a bit sad that these parents cannot hold off from their addiction around their children? Bad enough to pollute their own bodies with it without forcing it on the kids.

Legality shouldn't be an issue, it's morally wrong to smoke around children.

I do think it is rather sad.

But it is also rather sad that people believe their own beliefs to be above the legal rights of others.

 

[BadFish]

No idea who said what to who but I know that I wouldn't tell a client not to smoke outside my office as they are the client. Working for the client is something the teaching profession is in the early stages of learning with free schools competing with each other. The teachers will however catch the rest of us up one day I would like to think.

Trouble is as much as governments would like it, schools and education are not a business and it is foolish to treat them as such.

 

[GT49er]

Are you deliberately ignoring the posts that state the statutory framework...?

Statutory framework....doesn't include public roads. School grounds are non-smoking; statutory framework stops at the gates.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Without looking in to the facts of her 'turn around'. It's remarkable that some parents (assuming they are) are asking her to leave her post. What's more important? Taking interest in the welfare of her pupils and improving the school or... er...