Resign or get sacked? my chioce!

stevepal

Yes, stupid as it was, it was via my facebook page, and yes I should have known better. There is no defence for me, just plain stupidity in trying my best for a very difficult child in everybody elses eyes. She's from a 'difficiclt ' home shall we say, and the ironic thing is that her mum, who made the allegation, actually contacted the school the day before telling them she would send her back to school (she was taken out by the family for another issue) only if I could be her TA, becasue 'steve the only one who can get through to her'....!!

Dimey

Best not talk about the case on here Stevepal.

Get yourself that professional legal help and follow their advice.

Best of luck.

marybelle01

As someone who has managed safeguarding investigations...

You already know that what you have done was incredibly stupid. These days, beyond belief as incredibly stupid. You therefore cannot afford to resign. It cannot get any worse than it is. Resign now and you will very probably never work in this field, or anything related to it, again.

You need to understand that, being utterly neutral about this, if I were a parent I might think a responsible professional adult was the only person that could get through to my child and who that child trusted - and I might change my mind if I found out that adult was communicating with my child through PERSONAL social media rather than professionally. In a different context - but oh so very relevant these days - in the 1980's, oh so many parents trusted Jimmy Saville to "fix it" for their children. The world has changed, and what we know about the world has changed a lot. But one thing is very clear - for you it cannot get any worse. Resign and you are guilty. Refuse to resign and you may be found guilty, but you have chance to fight your corner. I disagree with your rep - you have not a thing to gain by resigning. As someone who has had responsibility for managing safeguarding investigations, I would automatically refer a resignation further. I couldn't afford not to - resignation from THIS position should not allow a possible abuser to obtain another position without scrutiny - otherwise every abuser only needs to resign in time!

Dimey

Well done for having the courage to spell it out Marybelle01.

Jobseeeker

to clarify, what is your job in the school?

If it is any help my sis is a teacher and while she was a trainee she worked in after school club. It was always drilled in to them that they must have no contact with kids on facebook etc. Anyway a young male who worked there had one of kids as friend on facebook and there was some contact. Nothng untoward but he was sacked. So in answer to your question, resign. Sanction will be the same for JSA anyway

spacey2012

The union rep will have been instructed to mitigate the unions losses.
Yes they are that shallow.
By pursuing you to resign, you admit and the Union does not have the expense of pushing your case for dismissal and harassment.
Unions these days act in the unions interests first and yours secondary.

pinkshoes

You have been cleared of grooming, so fight your corner, state that you understood you did wrong, but you did it with the best of intentions to get a pupil to come to school, and that should you be sacked for this, you will be expecting all other staff who use facebook for the same purpose to face the same disciplinary too.

Is there anyone else you can drop in it? It would be much harder for them to sack a whole load of staff!

marybelle01

pinkshoes wrote: »

You have been cleared of grooming, so fight your corner, state that you understood you did wrong, but you did it with the best of intentions to get a pupil to come to school, and that should you be sacked for this, you will be expecting all other staff who use facebook for the same purpose to face the same disciplinary too.

Is there anyone else you can drop in it? It would be much harder for them to sack a whole load of staff!

I totally agree - with one small exception. The OP was not "cleared" - the police decided that there was insufficient evidence to proceed with such an allegation. In cases like this they don't do "cleared" as a concept, and that isn't quite the same thing as "cleared". Remember that we are talking about a DBS monitored profession here - this police involvement is "police intelligence" it is on file and may appear in any check for a DBS clearance. Quite properly - because often in the case of sexual predators, there is a pattern of behaviour and repeated complaints which may alert police to something serious. Obviously there isn't a pattern of repeated behaviour here (or so we are told, so that is what I assume to be the case) - but there is no way that this "first questionable incident" simply disappears from the record. That is why fighting your corner is so important in such cases. Better a record of being an idiot than a record of suspicion - because the latter will not land you any jobs in the future. The best outcome for the OP is a final warning for stupidity - it may not seem that way now, but if they want to work with children again, that is the most advantageous outcome. So yes, I agree - if others are doing it, it may not win any friends but I would drop them in it, every one of them. People can recover from stupidity. Less so from "there is no smoke without fire..." And resigning is just fanning those flames.

stevepal

Thanks marybelle01, and everyone else of course, wise words here.
Well, this week I had my 'investigation' meeting with the new head, and my union official. They went through the facebook transcripts (as supplied to them by the LADO via the police). It didn't make great reading, in so much as it is embarrasing and stupid, and the head treated it like he was a police officer! He did, to be fair, give me every chance to explain things and s much time as i wanted, but I felt he was pushing me to admit things that wern't there, maybe just my paranioa!
At the start of the meeting I was told by the head that the police still have this 'on file', apparently insinuatling that they hadn't finished with me. to me that's obvious, any case can be re-visited surely? The fact that I have a copy of the email from the police to my solicitor stating there will be no further action (unless obviously new evidence becomes availiable) didn't seem to register. I spoke to my solicitor last week and she asured my that it's very rare for a NFA to be revisited without new cause, and she had no reason to think it would happen.
Anyway, after the meeting my union official again told me to follow through and resign, although he would try to delay it with a sick note. He said having read the transcript (why didnt he do this before?) it looked much worse, and ended with a 'don't forget the police still have an open file, if they come knocking you'll need the union'. To me that's a clear threat not to renage on my resign agreement (unofficially made with him). But it worried me again, probably for no reason. Christ, lifes a pain sometimes! I'm still minded to go to the inevitable disciplinary hearing just to show im not hiding anything.

rebel1012

You have nothing to gain by resigning, and possibly everything to gain should you not be dismissed in the end.
Its not an "open file" with the police, they keep records of any such matter (and others) on file, in case there is further evidence etc later on they can revisit/re-open the case. Or in future you have a simular matter that comes to their attention they can refer back etc.

If you have a NFA letter from police the matter is closed as far as they are concerned save for new evidence or another matter being alledged to them.


Even if you are dismissed in the end, you will have it in writing why you were dismissed and it clearly wont show Child Grooming, and you can explain the matter clearly to any further employers, rather than have a resigned when investigated for #### black mark and the rumour mill that will no doubt be going crazy