Furious parents are demanding an apology following complaints a teacher posted insulting comments on Facebook.Whoops!
Three teachers from Westcott Primary School, as well as head teacher Debbie Johnson, appear to have been involved in a conversation during which teacher Nyanza Roberts referred to people in east Hull as "thick" and "inbred".And here are the aggrieved parents:
“Do we look thick and inbred to you? Well, do we?”
Now an investigation has been launched after a series of complaints to the Mail by parents.
The school governors are heading the inquiry into the inappropriate remarks and have the authority to make the decision over what action to take.Oh, I would love to be a fly on that wall…
Much hilarity is to be found in this article, actually:
Emma Bywood, 30, of east Hull, who has two children at the school, said: "My son came home on Monday and I had to explain to him what inbred meant."LOL!
Beckie White, 33, of east Hull, has a nine-year-old daughter, Nina, who attends the school.But wait, you say, if the right settings are applied, how will people see these things?
She said: "I know it's Facebook and it's out of school hours.
"But they have a responsibility. They know these things might be seen by people and, of course, parents will be hacked off. There should at least be an apology."
Well, it helps when someone prints them out!
The part of the conversation that has concerned parents took place on Facebook on a Saturday afternoon and included eight short posts over a 90-minute period.And now they can be seen even by those who don’t have FaceBook! Or even a computer…
According to parents, copies of the chat were later attached to fences in streets surrounding the school in protest about what was said.
The document sets out a conversation, apparently started by teacher Stuart Clark, in which he states he is "fed up of bumping into children in town".Oh, dear….
During the conversation, "Nyanza Roberts" replies: "by town, do you mean top end of holderness road?
"That's bout as far anyone in east Hull goes.
"No wonder everyone is thick....inbreeding must damage brain development."
"Debbie Johnson" then says: "You're really on one today mrs... !! Xx."
"Nyanza Roberts" replies: "Haha, I'm actually in a good mood.
"If anyone reading this is offended, then get a grip."
Another teacher "Jane Johnson" then says: "Massive queue of Westcott year 5/6 kids in poundland! x"
The Mail visited the school twice yesterday and asked to speak to Miss Johnson.You’re not helping your own case there, you do know that? Even Hull parents aren't thick enough to swallow that one.
But a receptionist said she was not willing to comment.
However, in a statement released through Hull City Council, Miss Johnson said: "Whilst we are taking these comments seriously, they have been taken out of context.
"The full detail of the conversation was banter about rugby from both sides of the city."
H/T - Angry People In Local Newspapers
"Massive queue of Westcott year 5/6 kids in poundland! x"
ReplyDeleteSo which is it? Knee-jerk snobbery or teachers are paid too much to ever consider shopping at Poundland, unlike an increasing proportion of the population?
Of course, the whole thing is a mountain out of a molehill, but the teachers aren't helping their case if they peer disapprovingly down their noses at the poor.
And they are kids FFS - when have kids routinely shopped at Harrods?
"My son came home on Monday and I had to explain to him what inbred meant."
ReplyDeleteBet that stretched the single brain cell to its fullest capacity then luv ..
Talk about Munters & Grunters .. ;)
"My son came home on Monday and I had to explain to him what inbred meant."
ReplyDeleteTo which he replied, "Is that why I have to call dad 'Uncle Jimmy'?"
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"Knee-jerk snobbery..."
ReplyDeleteWell that's what happens when teaching posts are all advertised in The Guardian. The left really love the poor.
They do. Just ask Baroness Toynbee.
If there's an award out there for blog titles, it should be given to JuliaM for life.
ReplyDeleteNever having used facebook, I don't know how this stands as an infringement of privacy; I mean, is it the equivalent of peering through someone's bathroom window while they're having a shower or more like walking past a lit room with open curtains on a dark evening?
Either way, since being offended is now a national spectator sport, it doesn't take much to work out that comments this should never be written down.
Whether they should be made at all is another matter; there's something disturbing in the comments that suggest teachers should not be allowed freedom to think - and speak - as they like about their charges in their own time.
FWIW, in my experience, it is always the parents of badly-behaved and over-indulged pupils who are most vociferous in their objection to any perceived criticism of the child.
"My son came home on Monday and I had to explain to him what inbred meant."
ReplyDeleteThis, Ladies & Gentlemen, is what we in the internets call a 'Self Ownership' or, more correctly, a "SELF PWN !!!11LOLOMGWTFBBQROFLCOPTER"
"My son came home on Monday and I had to explain to him what inbred meant."
ReplyDeleteTo which he replied, "Is that why I have to call dad 'Uncle Jimmy'?"
"No, son, it's why you call Uncle Jimmy, 'Granddad'"
I like the picture as several of them have what is known as Hull Facelifts.
ReplyDeleteAka ponytails.
"Massive queue of Westcott year 5/6 kids in poundland! x"
ReplyDeleteBecause their parents are taxed to pay the wages of otherwise unemployable liberals?
"My son came home on Monday and I had to explain to him what inbred meant."
Bet he knows not to say nigger or queer though, or Ms Liberal in the classroom would be very angry.
The population of Hull has to be at least 98% white, so within the consciousness of the Guardian reader it's perfectly acceptable to label these children "thick" and "inbred". Such comments would never be uttered about a school of a similiar socio-economic demographic in inner-city Birmingham or Leiceister.
ReplyDelete“Do we look thick and inbred to you? Well, do we?”
ReplyDeleteEr, YES!
Anyone lined up to take an IQ and DNA test to prove they aren't thick and/or inbred ....thereby settling the matter once and for all... ?
ReplyDeleteNope...thought not.
Johny you are not inbred at all...well done for knowing what inbred meant....give me a high six.
ReplyDeleteJaded
"Massive queue of Westcott year 5/6 kids in poundland! x"
ReplyDeleteNothing wrong with that, per se ..
But having met some of Hull's denizens, I suspect the kids were actually queuing up to buy "Prescott" pies .. ;)
I taught in a secondary school less than a mile away from Westcott. A couple of observations from experience (bearing in mind it was a few years ago):
ReplyDelete1. East Hull is a very poor area and almost exclusively white working class. Easy to despise, then.
2. The teachers in my school were mostly either utter incompetents who couldn't get a job anywhere else, or socialist types who typically expected very little from the kids because of their deprivation. My ***Head of Department*** FFS used to refer to teachers who believed in teaching spelling and grammar disparagingly as 'standards men', i.e. they kept banging on about standards all the time, boring boring boring.
3. Some of the kids were utterly, indescribably poor - eighth-hand shoes, kind of thing. Lunch, for many of them, was a 'breadcake' (8" circular bread bun) spread with tomato sauce. Generally they were a decent bunch, some rogues but a lot of diamonds as well. I liked them.
4. The rivalry between the rugby teams of East and West Hull has to be experienced to be believed. It makes a Celtic v Rangers match look like a love-in. That part of the story is probably true.
Have to say I am with the kids, and against the nasty, snobby, elitist, entitled, sneering teachers here. Have that kind of conversation in private by all means, but as we all know Facebook posts might as well be a notice in a newsagent's window, and the teachers were stupid to do it. What it revealed about their attitude to their work should be the basis for dismissal.
The parents look poor and stupid, so go ahead and make fun, but at least they are not well-paid, confortable hypocrites like those who deign to 'teach' them.
"Mummy the teacher called me inbred"
ReplyDelete"Do you know what means son?"
"Yes mummy I do"
"Well done Son,give me a high six"
Jaded
"So which is it? Knee-jerk snobbery or teachers are paid too much to ever consider shopping at Poundland, unlike an increasing proportion of the population?"
ReplyDeleteIndeed! Even I shop at Poundland occasionally.
"If there's an award out there for blog titles, it should be given to JuliaM for life."
Cheers! :)
I'd say it's probably not any more of an infringement of liberty than viewing the thing - could do them for flyposting, though?
""No, son, it's why you call Uncle Jimmy, 'Granddad'""
*chuckle*
"The population of Hull has to be at least 98% white, so within the consciousness of the Guardian reader it's perfectly acceptable to label these children "thick" and "inbred"."
Spot on!
"East Hull is a very poor area and almost exclusively white working class. Easy to despise, then."
ReplyDeleteYup. As Foxy Brown points out, you wouldn't DARE say anything like that of a mainly immigrant area, not if you wanted to retain your job.
"My ***Head of Department*** FFS used to refer to teachers who believed in teaching spelling and grammar disparagingly as 'standards men'..."
GAH!
"Have to say I am with the kids, and against the nasty, snobby, elitist, entitled, sneering teachers here."
You won't be supporting the NUT strike action, then...? ;)
Far from it! When I was a teacher I changed unions 3 times, all because of this kind of issue. The NAS/UWT threw me out because I refused to join a strike. I'm quite proud of this. The NUT are exactly as people portray them - lefty down-wiv-da-kidz twits who nevertheless get very militaristic when their members' money is concerned. Most teachers join a union because of the insurance cover - in fact, you would be mad not to have this - and the unions use this to bolster membership and claim wide support. Most teachers are not militant, although that doesn't mean you would want to sit next to one at a party. They can still be painfully worthy and self-righteous.
ReplyDeleteThe East/West Hull rugby rivalry is intense, but quite good natured. It's not physical, just cheerfully no-holds-barred insulting. Nothing is off-limits. Nothing.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, East Hull is totally Anglo-Saxon. The small population of Asylum Seekers, and foreign students, are all in West Hull.
East Hull is backed by rural Holderness, then the North Sea. But West Hull has a motorway, and the Humber Bridge. All sorts of cultural influences trickle in from outside. Lincolnshire, Lancashire, all kinds of foreigners. :-)
Whenever a silly barge goes up the River Hull, all the little bridges open and stop all traffic. A constant reminder of the East/West divide.
Hull is a bit different. It used to be very proud. It still has some attitude, but the loss of its industry and fishing has taken a heavy toll. Alas.
They used to call Hull 'the biggest village in England', and it's true to some extent. Friendly people, but inward-looking. I've never lived anywhere more insular. We had teachers in the school who were born in Hull, went to school in Hull, went to Hull University, and immediately started teaching in Hull. Cosmopolitan it's not. The isolated feel of Hull began to disintegrate when the M62 was extended, but going to Uni in Leeds was still regarded as adventuresome. Funnily enough, I moved to work in Milford Haven, which has a similar end-of-the-line feel to it, and for the same reason - long-term isolation from the main popluation centres due to the lack of decent road links.
ReplyDelete"I've never lived anywhere more insular."
ReplyDeleteNot lived in Norfolk then?
No, but I spent a fortnight there one Saturday.
ReplyDelete