Combatting abuse of education staff from abusive parents

Creating a respectful and collaborative school community environment takes significant time, effort and resources.  Whilst most interactions with parents in the education sector are positive, some parents unfortunately make it their mission to disrupt the school community by being abusive towards school leaders, staff, pupils and other parents. Revoking a parent’s implied licence to access school premises is occasionally necessary to prevent abuse.

We dealt with two cases for schools in the state sector and in the following case studies, we highlight how we successfully implemented the ‘do’s and don’ts’ highlighted in our previous article about how school clients can handle abusive parents and revoke their access to schools.

Case study one

A community primary school forming part of a large Multi Academy Trust instructed us to help them deal with an abusive parent. The parent physically assaulted the Deputy Head Teacher in front of witnesses.

Our client acted quickly to obtain key witness evidence and requested that the parent did not enter the school or premises. The incident was also reported to the police. The parent denied the assault allegations and rejected the school’s request for him not to enter the school premises.

Despite numerous reminders to the parent that he was not allowed on school premises, including to drop off his child, the parent assaulted another member of staff. The school filed a further police report and the parent was charged with assault but later plead not guilty.

The increasing level of aggressive and unacceptable behaviour towards the staff posed a serious risk to the welfare of staff, pupils and parents.

We were instructed at this early stage and promptly considered a detailed strategy for the school. We advised our client to temporarily ban the parent whilst an emergency Board meeting was convened for the Trustees to consider the parent’s representations and decide whether to impose a longer ban. With careful consultation on the parr of the Board of Trustees, the school issued the parent with a revocation notice (barring order), removing their implied licence to access the school or premises.

In breach of the barring order, the parent continued to attend the school and send aggressive emails to staff.

Against the backdrop of the ongoing police investigation and the parent’s appeal of his ban, our client regularly revisited the barring order, with the view to eventually resuming the parent’s access to the school and premises.

Following a short period of improved behaviour by the parent, the school initially agreed to lift the ban, provided he agreed to comply with a robust set of conditions in a behaviour agreement. We drafted the agreement to include specific tailored conditions based on the previous conduct and needs of the school community, including its pupils and staff, so he could:

• Only approach teachers to discuss matters regarding his child’s education and welfare
• Not approach certain members of staff
• Not cause harm or fear to anyone whilst on school property
• Not discuss the events linked to the police investigations whilst on school grounds.

Although the conditions were reasonable and proportionate to safeguard pupils and staff, the parent refused to sign the agreement. He persisted to ignore the ban and continued to attend the school.

At this stage, we took over communications with the parent on behalf of the school to protect the welfare of staff members who had been in contact with the parent, making it clear the that the conditions of the pickup and drop off arrangements for his child, under the barring order, would continue. We sent a letter to the parent clearly setting out the school’s legal position and options for redress including the right to apply for an injunction, if the breaches and abusive behaviour continued.

The school was proactive in making adjustments to allow the barred parent to attend parents evening meetings virtually. This included making provision for the meetings to take place by video or telephone call and sending home the child’s books for parental review before the meetings.

We advised our client to maintain a collaborative approach towards communications with the parent by reminding him about the terms of the barring order and the pickup and drop off arrangements.

Through early, clear and open communication, we strengthened the legal position of our client, giving the school confidence in managing the abusive parent. Our client complied with the relevant legal procedures in barring the parent from the school – fulfilling its overarching aim to safeguard the school community.

Case study two

We also assisted a community special school for secondary students with severe learning difficulties, to deal with abusive and difficult parents of a pupil.

One parent (A) made a series of threats and abuse towards staff over several months. In breach of the school’s code of conduct, parent A swore at her child and staff and made suicidal threats. These acts were considered to be a serious safeguarding issue. Fortunately for our client, staff quickly recognised the abuse and alerted school leaders by making complaints and reports about the behaviour.

The school carried out a risk assessment which confirmed the evident risk to school staff and their mental wellbeing. Our client notified parent A that their behaviour would not be tolerated and that this parent would be banned if it continued.

In total disregard to the ban parent A continued shouting at her child and using expletive and aggressive language on school premises. This was followed by abusive phone calls to school office staff by the other parent (B).

We acted promptly in ensuring that parent A’s licence to enter school premises was withdrawn. The ban initially lasted for two weeks as a consequence of aggressive conduct towards a teacher at the school gate, the breakfast club and by telephone. The ban was extended due to her repeated abusive conduct, including intimidating emails and threatening phone calls to staff members, and offensive language.

To ensure that the abuse did not persist, we drafted a letter to both parents, via parent B, as parent A insisted that the school should not communicate with her directly. Both were informed  that parent A was banned from entering the school premises and warning them that the school would not tolerate any type of abuse. We did this by:

• Considering the facts and whether the events satisfied the evidential requirements to demonstrate harassment and whether an injunction could be sought under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, to prevent staff from abuse
• Reminding the school to keep comprehensive documentation evidencing the pattern of abusive behaviour and review ongoing communications with the parent
• Reviewing the school’s Parent and Visitor Code of Conduct and assessing the level and grounds of any violations by the parents
• Taking a robust approach, by clearly communicating to the parent(s) that any breach of the ban would warrant their immediate removal from the school and premises, potential prosecution under Section 547 of the Education Act 1996 or court proceedings for trespass.

Parent A continued to cause trouble by emailing abuse to the school and contriving to prevent the child attending school as unauthorised school absences, which raised further wellbeing concerns for the pupil.

Through careful consideration of the circumstances, particularly the child’s attendance and educational needs, we advised our client to reinstate parent A’s access to school, but subject to strict conditions. We drafted a communication and behavioural agreement setting out the conditions for allowing the parent’s licence to be reinstated. Parent A refused to sign the agreement and our client continued to monitor the ban by reviewing the correspondence and ban in regular intervals.

Eventually, parent A signed the agreement and was allowed back onto the school premises. The agreement reiterated that any further abuse would immediately reinstate the ban.

Through patience and robustness in approach, the school succeeded in putting a communication and behaviour agreement in place to regulate parent A’s access to the school and her communications with staff members.

Considerations for schools

Our case studies demonstrate that schools can successfully combat abuse and send a message of no tolerance to abusive parents, to create and maintain a respectful, safe and positive school environment.

Our clients upheld their duty of care (both physical and mental) to all members of the school community by identifying risks, monitoring communications and regulating the parents attendance.

No matter the type or level of abuse or behaviour, early intervention is crucial to effectively hold abusive parents to account and prevent further abuse. Staff and school leaders should stay alert to behaviour which may become a cause for concern. Effective reporting and complaint channels should be implemented so that risks are noted and dealt with at an early stage.

Schools should establish, and make accessible, a robust code of conduct setting out a no tolerance policy for abuse and threatening or intimidating behaviour. In the event of abuse or breaches of the code of conduct, a detailed and carefully drafted communication and behavioural agreement is a useful tool to ensure compliance by the abusive parent(s).

As we have done for these two schools, we are here to support your school and help put you in a position to take the necessary steps to comply with legal processes and enforce your legal rights, to ensure the safety and wellbeing of your pupils, staff and parents.

If you require assistance in managing abusive parents and safeguarding your school community, please contact us at nick.hobden@ts-p.co.uk.