Stage 6 - Professional Advice

Despite the continued difficulties that I and others are experiencing with Michael, I’ve heard not a thing from Phillip.  As a result, I decided to seek advice from my professional association who informed me that, in their opinion, my grievance is with the Headteacher, Phillip, for not taking action to protect me from the bullying and harassing behaviour of Michael.  They seem concerned and suggested they speak with Phillip informally as an alternative to taking out a formal grievance which could result in lots of difficulties.  I decided to talk to Phillip again about the advice I’ve received and see him just before a long school holiday.  He promises to take action when we return to school.  He seems to finally understand how serious the situation is.

Lessons learned/What I could have done differently

• Acted on union advice and begun formal grievance procedures

Stage 6 - Fool me once, shame on you; Fool me twice, shame on me!

Well it's been awhile since my last post but you know how it is … life that is, other things take priority and this little indulgence of mine just had to take a back seat.  I’m back to it now, but who knows for how long and what else is just coming over the hill.

Michael continues to be a huge problem but not directly with me.  He’s moved on to intimidate and be difficult with others.  I know because as a senior manager, others have discussed their difficulties with Michael with me and Philip, the Headteacher, has talked confidentially with me about complaints about Michael from other staff.  He tells me he is seeking advice from the local district authority but thinks he has the evidence now to initiate disciplinary proceedings against Michael.  At last, he seems to be taking things seriously.  I offer to help and support in whatever way I can and ask Philip to keep me informed.

Lessons learned/What I could have done differently

I discover some months later that yet again, Philip had lied to me.  You would have thought that I'd have learned my lesson by now and not believed a word uttered by Philip.

Stage 5 – A child is bullied!

A few more incidents this week to add to the catalogue I’m creating of incidents involving Michael.  I’m now writing everything down just in case I need to refer to incidents in future.  It’s a bit of a chore and adds to my workload, but I just don’t know what Philip is planning to do about the incidents when I report them.  I’ve just discovered that a concern I reported to him about the inappropriate use of some computer software by another member of staff was never dealt with despite his assurances that it would be – he lied to me and as a result, I was placed in a difficult position with the member of staff concerned!  I don’t think I can trust him any more but I need to give him the opportunity to deal with the incidents I’ve reported.  Things, though, are really coming to a head and I feel powerless to do anything about what is happening apart from reporting them to Philip and trusting that he will deal with them. 

I’m particularly concerned about an incident I and another member of staff witnessed a couple of days ago.  I saw Michael bullying a child by screaming at her across the playground “Get over here now” and then continuing to shout at her aggressively using the same body language with her that he had used when he had threatened me.  I wanted to intervene but felt I couldn’t because of what had happened then and I did not want to provoke a confrontation with Michael in a playground full of children.  I feel guilty that I did not stand up for the child but my colleague and I both wrote a report of the incident and gave them to Philip.  We’ve heard no more about it – is Philip ever going to do something about the behaviour of this teacher?  I know that other staff have also been complaining about Michael and they too have seen little change towards them after reporting things to Philip. 

Just what do I do next?

Stage 4 – the fly in my ointment!

My teaching is going well and I’m getting lots of positive feedback from the kids, other teachers and some parents.  Brilliant – I’ve spent my career working on ways to excite kids about their learning and improving their chances of success at all levels.  The relationships I’ve worked hard to develop with kids are bearing fruit, my reputation as a good teacher has been recognised and I’m being asked to talk to teachers in other schools about the successes we’re achieving.  Things are really beginning to come together and the reputation of the school is having a positive effect on the kids.  I’m really proud of them and many of the staff I work with. 

The only fly in my ointment is – you’ve guessed it – Michael!  Despite my efforts to work with him, he continues to be difficult and refuses to cooperate.  Philip has even commented that I’ve “… bent over backwards to accommodate him.”  Philip tells me he is still seeking advice as to what to do about Michael and I’ve repeated again that I will do whatever I can to work with Philip to improve things.

Lessons learned/What I could have done differently

• Not at all sure if I could be doing anything differently.  Philip tells me I am doing all I can - is he?

Stage 3 – Kids disadvantaged!

Some weeks have passed and I’ve managed to get over the anger I felt about Michael’s behaviour and Philip not dealing with it.  I’ve been concentrating on my teaching and given up a “free” lesson every week to provide additional time to Michael’s class to help them prepare for their examinations.  The arrangement was discussed and agreed with Michael – not surprising really, since he would gain an additional “free” lesson by the arrangement, unless he was needed to cover for absent staff!  The arrangement was discussed with both Philip and the cover supervisor.  Its been operating for 6-8 weeks and the kids are getting a lot out of the arrangement. 

Last week, though, Michael refused to cover for an absent teacher during the time when he’d been released by our arrangement – an unusual situation had arisen!  He upset the cover supervisor by his rudeness to her and told her that she should tell me to send his class back to him and “tell (… use of my last name …) to do it.”  To avoid any difficulty and further upset for the cover supervisor, I did as he asked.

Both the cover supervisor and I wrote a full report of the incident and submitted it to Philip.  Some days later, Philip told me that he had resolved the difficulty and met with Michael and the cover supervisor.  He told me that he had spoken to Michael about his attitude towards the cover supervisor and me.

Today, I was waiting in my classroom for Michael’s class to arrive for their additional lesson – nobody turned up!  Later, some of the kids came to see me to ask why they weren’t allowed to come to me.  They told me they wanted to come for the extra lesson but Michael had told them they weren’t allowed to do so and they had to stay with him.  I went to see Philip to ask for an explanation and was told that Michael had refused to continue with the arrangement that we had and that Philip had agreed to end it.  I complained that there had been no discussion with me and that the kids wanted to continue with the arrangement and that they were being disadvantaged.  Philip replied that he was getting a number of complaints from other staff about Michael and he was investigating what he could do about it.  I left feeling angry that kids were being disadvantaged but assured that Philip was taking action and that things would change as a result.  

Lessons learned/What I could have done differently

• Insisted on my presence at meetings with Michael and that I be consulted about arrangements agreed with him

Stage 2 - thinking incompetence is the same thing as sincerity!

Quentin Crisp once said that "The English think that incompetence is the same thing as sincerity"  Well, here's one example.  Other examples will be posted in the future weeks of my diary!

Two weeks have passed and I have heard nothing from Philip, the Headteacher about the incident reported to him.  I went to see him and asked him for feedback.  He responded that he had been busy with work commitments and as a result, had done nothing about the incident.  He went on to say that it was too late to see Michael.  I was dumbfounded, felt that I had been badly let down and responded that while I understood the pressures he was under, I was shocked that he did not consider the incident serious enough to warrant prompt action - I had been physically threatened!.  Whilst I was angry about this and feeling physically sick, I did not pursue the matter because I too was under significant pressure from work at the time and, importantly, did not want to take any action that threatened the positive relationship that I felt I had with Philip at that time (a terrible mistake!)  I therefore agreed (foolishly) that it was perhaps too late to see Michael about the incident.

The next day, I received an email from Philip saying that he "... might have cocked up ..."  He had misunderstood and thought I had just told him because I was angry about the incident but he would "log it just in case".

Lessons learned/What I could have done differently

• Insisted that Philip deal with the incident appropriately
• Reported the matter to my professional association and sought their involvement
• Asked Philip to show me the log of the incident (he would later claim no knowledge of the incident, the email or the log)

Stage 1 - "There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats!"

Returned to school from a training course I attended yesterday and asked Helena, the classroom assistant allocated to cover my lesson with a class how things had gone.  She told me that she had arrived for the lesson to find the class waiting outside of the classroom and Michael, a junior colleague, in the room with another class group.  She explained to Michael that the class were normally taught in the classroom and that in my absence, I had given her work to undertake with the class.  The work required the resources located in the classroom.  Helena got increasingly upset as she explained what happened.  In front of the class, Michael had responded rudely and insisted that she take the class to another room while he stayed where he was.  She was upset at Michael’s treatment of her and was worried about my reaction to her not being able to undertake the work with the class that I had requested.  I told her not to worry and that I would see Michael.  As a senior manager, I felt justified in seeing him to explain the effect of his response on Helena and ask him for an explanation.  Michael responded by sticking his chest out with his shoulders and arms thrown backward and his face very close to mine and said aggressively “What is it to do with you?”  Shocked, I replied that his response was aggressive and inappropriate.  He replied again aggressively and adopting his aggressive stance “What are you going to do about it?”

I left and found Philip, the Headteacher, told him that I was angry and shocked at Michael’s response to my reasonable request for an explanation and informed him that I had been physically threatened.  I mimicked Michael’s actions and the words he used.  Philip replied that he would see Michael and deal with it. 

Lessons learned/What I could have done differently

• Asked Helena to provide a written report of Michael’s behaviour towards her
• Submitted a written report of the incident, including Helena’s report, to the Headteacher rather than relying on a verbal report (Philip later denied any knowledge of the incident being reported to him)