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My son's primary school banned me from entering after I called out their 'unhinged' act

"This school is run by unprofessional and corrupt staff members," the mother said after she was turned away at the gates.  

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A mum has waged war against her son's primary school after being denied access to watch her son's performance.

It all started when she collected her son from school and was shocked to find her son's grades on display, along with those of the rest of the Year 1 class. 

Given their age, she thought it was excessive and shameful. She went to the principal about the issue - not knowing that her complaint would get her permanently banned from school grounds.

"I tried to talk to the principal about taking the kids grades down off the walls and completely got blown off," she wrote on Reddit. "So I went ahead and removed my son's grades down off the bulletin board myself." 

"Later that evening, the principal emailed me, informing me that I was no longer allowed on school premises and that the papers I removed were confidential and private school records."

She pushed back on the school's use of "confidentiality", given that the other children's grades were also on display for everyone to see. 

"[The principal] never emailed me back even though we were supposed to set up a meeting to discuss the issue. The meeting never happened due to her not responding to my emails."

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"This school is run by unprofessional, corrupt staff members"

Thinking the problem 'disappeared,' she returned to the school days later to watch her son's performance. What happened next enraged the mother even more. 

"I [got] to the school and was stopped right at the door by the principal and vice principal. They told me I was not allowed into the auditorium to watch my son perform and that they would record it and send it to me."

The mum revealed her son had been in tears because she missed his performance.

She concluded her post, "This school is run by unprofessional, corrupt staff members, and I am considering pulling both my sons out after this year."

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"Go scorched earth if this can't be resolved"

She wasn't alone in her outrage, with many parents slamming the school's behaviour.

"You need to go scorched earth if this can't be resolved amicably. The principal's immediate escalation was ridiculous," one fired-up parent wrote. 

"'Confidential' and 'publicly displayed' don’t belong in the same sentence," another pointed out. "No one’s grades should be posted for anyone else to see, no matter the student's age."

"A parent/guardian pulling their student's grades off a wall isn't an overreaction, lol. It's actually the only reasonable action given that other parents were looking at them," a parent wrote. 

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The school refuses to let the mother attend her son's school for his performance. Source: iStock
The school refuses to let the mother attend her son's school for his performance. Source: iStock

"Massive overreaction"

"I worked with a high school teacher who had a 'Wall of Shame' bulletin board outside of her classroom. She posted the failing work of students. It was taken down, but not soon enough. She was a nasty piece of work," a father shared.

A teacher weighed in on the situation, "Teacher here. You are 100% correct. Bypass the school's admin, go straight to the main district office, and ask to file a complaint."

Some parents didn't approve of her unconventional approaches and labelled them a "massive overreaction."  

"But even if the school is wrong - two wrongs don’t make a right. There is a correct channel for voicing concerns with them putting Year 1 results on a bulletin board," a reader wrote. 

"No offence, but I feel like you are leaving out some rather important information," one questioned. "The school wouldn't go straight to a ban unless there were previous incidents involving you. Or you went bats**t crazy and vandalized the board or other property."

After the overwhelming response, the mother posted, "I can definitely understand the perspective that a wrong doesn’t make a right, and I wish I could’ve handled the situation better. The principal of this school does not care about parent concerns and blows off anything that isn’t in her interest."

Originally published as My son's primary school banned me from entering after I called out their 'unhinged' act

Original URL: https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/my-sons-primary-school-banned-me-from-entering-after-i-called-out-their-unhinged-act/news-story/89ae7b3128719c7c5ad452470be17603