Students are described using insulting phrases like “kn**head,” “b***end,” and “silly b***h” in a staff chat recorded from a student’s seized phone, reports The Mirror.
In response to the October event, Alex Burnham, the headmaster of Newhouse Academy, a school in Heywood, north of Manchester, UK, has written to parents.
After being taken, Burnham clarified, the child’s phone had recorded a private conversation between ‘a limited number of staff members’. According to the Manchester Evening News, it is thought that an audio recording app was on when the student’s mobile was taken away and continued to record, reports The Mirror.
According to a source, the audio clip that was sent to the M.E.N. was a duplicate of the original. The duration of the clip is 3 hours and 37 minutes. ‘Silly b***h’ appears to have been said about a pupil in the video. “Is she a kn**head?” someone else asks, apparently in reference to a student. Another voice asks, “Can be, why?” In another section of the video, someone seems to suggest that a youngster was a “b***end in class.”
According to Mr. Burnham’s letter, the staff discussion “in no way aligns with our school’s values” and “included negative comments about several students,” reports The Mirror.
The ‘proper disciplinary action’ was taken, he stated, and the event was examined.
Mr. Burnham stated that the students mentioned in the video were apologetic. The letter said: “As a school we believe that we should not only celebrate with you when there is positive news, but we are also open and transparent if there is more difficult information to share. That is why we wanted to notify you about an incident that took place earlier this term where a student’s phone was able to record a private conversation between a small number of staff members after their phone had been confiscated,” reports The Mirror.
The statement highlighted the gravity of the situation, adding: “The content of the discussion that was captured in no way aligns with our school’s values as it included negative comments about several students, as well as references to popular culture that have no place in a school setting. I want to stress that this should not have happened, and we have taken the strongest possible action against those involved. We expect our community to be a place of integrity and respect. Where those values are not upheld then we will address that fairly and robustly,” reports The Mirror.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.
