Schools suing parents over social media rants

Parents ranting about teachers on social media are being sued by schools, with recent court payouts of more than $100,000 for some comments.

Schools are being urged to closely monitor parents’ social media activity and take action against defamatory comments and negative online petitions.

Parents and students ranting against teachers and principals on social media are being sued by schools, with recent court payouts of more than $100,000 for some comments.

Claims have been upheld as a result of comments such as “We don’t want Sue (a principal) back…” and claims that another principal was an “evil, nasty, horrible woman” who had a “horrendous attitude”.

Schools are constantly reminding outspoken parents of their legal responsibilities in relation to defamation. A recent example is Geelong Christian School which reminded parents their comments about their “medieval” new uniform could give rise to legal action.

Current Christian College Geelong school uniform.

Many state schools now have codes of parental conduct outlawing “inappropriate use of social media”.

Private schools have also received legal advice on how to protect their reputations against aggrieved parents and staff behaving inappropriately on social media.

A legal conference at Crown Towers attended by representatives from around 50 of the state’s leading private schools, was addressed by workplace lawyer Nick Duggal from Moray and Agnew.

Mr Duggal warned participants at the May 13 event that parents’ use of social media leads to “increased scope for comments to be made that could damage the reputation of the school, or a staff member, in the general community”.

Mr Duggal cited a 2020 case in which high school principal Tracey Brose claimed eight school parents defamed her in a Facebook post.

Ms Brose was awarded $6000 – much less than the million dollars she was originally seeking from the Queensland court.

The husband and wife who were told to pay the $6000 were bankrupted by hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal costs.

In another case, a principal called Sue Burtenshaw was awarded $40,000 over a Facebook page that claimed she was corrupt and bullied staff.

Tamborine Mountain State High Principal Tracey Brose at Southport Court. Picture: Adam Head

Former Coober Pedy Area School principal Sue Burtenshaw outside the Adelaide Magistrates Court during her defamation lawsuit.

The Adelaide Magistrate’s Court ruled comments such as “We don’t want Sue back at Coober Pedy at all!!!!!!” were an attack on her ability, morals and ethics.

In another case, a former NSW schoolboy who posted abusive and defamatory statements on Twitter and Facebook about a teacher at his school was ordered to pay $105,000 in damages.

The conference also heard from lawyer Paul O’Halloran, a partner at Colin Biggers & Paisley Lawyers, who warned that social media posts and emails also pose a risk for schools and students when misused by staff.

He referenced a recent case involving sacked teacher from St Kevin’s College, Simon Parris, who tweeted about a “wet dream” on his personal Twitter account. The commission found the sexualised nature of the tweet were sufficient enough to damage the school’s reputation.