National Education Union (NEU) members
at Leopold Primary School in Brent have voted by a clear margin to take strike
action over alleged bullying and harassment by the Headteacher. The first
strike action is scheduled for 20th to 22nd March.
Last Autumn 13 members of staff,
the majority NEU member, submitted formal grievances against the Head. An
independent investigator was appointed who submitted his report to the Governing
Body and the London Borough of Brent in December.
The NEU claim that the
complainants have still not been informed of the outcome of the investigation,
in clear breach of the Grievance Procedure. Meanwhile they allege that several
of those members have been subject to disciplinary allegations, at the
instigation of the Headteacher.
The NEU have asked that the
Head be suspended on full pay, and have no involvement in any disciplinary
procedures until the issues arising from the grievances have been resolved. The
NEU say that Brent Council and the Governing Body have failed to respond.
Phil Pardoe NEU Regional officer
said:
This is outrageous. The allegations are very serious. It is completely unacceptable for the Governors and Brent to sit on the report, and refuse to take any action to protect our members. We still hope to find a negotiated solution, but our members have reluctantly decided that they have no option but to take strike action in the face of the unacceptable behaviour of the Head and the seeming indifference of the Governors and Brent.
Comment by Anna King [Edited]. It’s highly concerning that our teachers that work so incredibly hard, with such little resources (most pay for equipment out of their own pockets) have had to endure the treatment they have had in this school. What’s most distressing is that Brent council and the governors of the school have done very little to protect the teachers and communicate to parents. This investigation has been going on for months with little support to the teachers. Ultimately, the children, parents and teachers are completely in the dark about what is happening in their school and they are the ones suffering.[] The allegations [are by a] number of EXCELLENT teachers (ex teachers and current) that have had to be brave to stand up and finally say enough is enough. The teachers have been advised to go on long term sick due to [what has happened to them]. The teachers are fantastic teachers and are so passionate about providing the best to their students. The strike is to ensure that governors and Brent are listening to them to ensure that the school can be the best it can be for the children, and for the teachers to have (rightfully) a safe and welcoming environment to work in. They are paid so little and are hardly rewarded, this should be basics! The reality of the matter is that if this was a corporate environment[it wpuld have been dealt with] a long time ago. This would have saved the school a huge amount of money as the teachers will not have been on long term sick, no supplies would be needed, and the children would not have been affected. The teachers TEACH and the head teacher ‘runs the operations’. The move to keep her in her post whilst the investigations occurred seems to make zero business sense and are frankly ludicrous. The teachers simply do not need to work in a stressful environment, and this can been seen by the high turnover of staff at Leopold and the reason why teachers leave. I really hope Brent and the Governors finally pull their finger out and listen!
ReplyDeleteSo can we hope that whilst the teacher's are striking, we the parents of the pupils will have to put up and find someone to look after our children whilst we still have to go to work, or can we fine the teachers like they want to do us when we take our children out of school in term time or how does this really work?
ReplyDelete