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Times Radio producer Maxie Allen and his partner Rosalind Levine were arrested on suspicion of harassment and malicious communications after complaining about a teacher recruitment process at their daughters school<\/p>\n
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Schools are now asking lawyers to draw up codes of conduct to help police parent WhatsApp groups<\/p>\n
A mother, who posted anonymously on <\/a>Mumsnet<\/a>, recalled how parents began hurling vile comments and ‘ripping [a teacher’s] character to shreds’ because the educator gave a child a poor mark on a test.<\/p>\n The chaos was sparked by a parent, who had taken a swipe at the young tutor for her child’s poor performance, arguing that the questions were ‘ambiguous’ and ‘badly worded’, branding the teacher ‘an idiot’.<\/p>\n And when another parent pointed out it was ‘inappropriate’ to discuss her child’s teacher in such a way, citing it undermines the school authority, she was brutally shunned by the chat.\u00a0<\/p>\n ‘Several other women started having a go at me also stating concerns with the teacher due to her harsh marking and strictness,’ the woman wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n ‘They said the WhatsApp group was the place to discuss concerns about the teacher and if I did not like it, I could leave the group.’<\/p>\n She also noted several other vulgar comments about the teacher, including comments about the educator ‘need[ing] a good s**g’, as well as jibes that said: ‘She looks like a frump’.<\/p>\n Torn between the advantages of the group, such as staying informed on last minute school trip changes and more, and telling the teacher, the mother feared creating a ‘bad feeling’ between the mothers and the school.<\/p>\n ‘I also don’t know what it would achieve if I broach this with the school but I think that undermining a teacher is not the most appropriate use of the WhatsApp parents group,’ she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n Elsewhere, another distressed mother was on the verge of reporting her WhatsApp class’ chat which includes other parents from her son’s primary school.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a similar tale, a group of guardians took an ‘immense’ dislike to a year six teacher, who they believed was ‘expecting too much’ from their children on an upcoming grammar test.\u00a0<\/p>\n They took issue with the educator raising her voice with the students, warning them they could fail their upcoming exams.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to a parent, who was involved in the group chat, others began to ‘pile on’ the teacher, with the witch-hunt taking a nasty turn and another threatening to take the teacher on legally for ‘gross misconduct’.\u00a0<\/p>\n ‘I thought it would blow over and didn’t really want to get involved so kept my head down and didn’t comment either way,’ the concerned mother penned to the parenting advice site<\/a>.<\/p>\n ‘One parent seems hell bent on rallying the troops to get this teacher out, she has accused the teacher of gross misconduct, emotional abuse and is threatening legal action.<\/p>\n ‘I wonder whether I should inform the school,’ she added: ‘I come from a family of teachers so this may be clouding my vision.’<\/p>\n More than four in five school leaders say they have been abused by parents in the past year, a survey conducted by the National Association of Head Teachers<\/a> (NHAT) has revealed\u00a0<\/p>\n Verbal abuse was the most common suffered with 85 percent of school leaders saying they had experienced this in the past year.<\/p>\n Nearly half of educators said they experienced online abuse, with over a fifth having suffered discriminatory language.<\/p>\n Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders\u2019 union NAHT, said: ‘There is never any place for abuse of teachers, school leaders or any school staff by parents, but it is something our members tell us has increased in recent years.<\/p>\n ‘We have heard reports of trolling on social media and in parent groups on WhatsApp and Facebook, as well as appalling instances of hate campaigns and harassment and intimidation.<\/p>\n ‘While this abuse is perpetrated by a small minority of parents, it is completely unacceptable, and can have an enormous impact upon dedicated professionals trying to focus on delivering the best possible education for children.<\/p>\n ‘Schools will not always get everything right, but concerns should always be raised respectfully, and where they cannot be resolved all schools have complaints processes.<\/p>\n ‘We need the government to send a clear signal to parents that abuse \u2013 whether in person or on social media \u2013 will not be tolerated.’<\/p>\n But teachers aren’t the only ones to receive flack in the world of school WhatsApp chats, some parents have had their child publicly humiliated in front of an entire group of caregivers.\u00a0<\/p>\n A mother divulged how another parent, who also works at the school, shamed her young child by pointing out she had caused another child’s concussion.<\/p>\n The conversation began with a caregiver of the injured child asking how to treat the bump on her child’s head after the incident at school.\u00a0<\/p>\n However a staff member, who supervises the children at lunch, took it upon herself to share the name of the woman’s daughter who had caused the young boy’s concussion.<\/p>\n The girl’s mother asked the parenting platform<\/a>: ‘Is she allowed to do this? Would this be a breach in confidentiality?\u00a0<\/p>\n ‘I’m upset not only because I found out about this incident this way, but that this could have an impact on my child’s reputation,’ she said whilst sharing that both children involved were ‘best friends’.<\/p>\n Other mums have taken to TikTok to warn others of the clique nature of such group chats, urging parents to avoid them altogether.\u00a0<\/p>\n ‘Don’t join the WhatsApp groups. Stay out of it,’ Leanne Grant told her following of 28,700 TikTok followers.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n While acknowledging the benefits, such as quick communication and information about her child’s school, that came with the chats, she also unveiled the power struggles that go on behind the scenes between parents.\u00a0<\/p>\n Discussing her experience in a Parent Teacher Association (PTA) group, she said: ‘One time, head of the PTA sent a message into the group, in capital letters…basically shouting at us all saying ‘Some of you lot aren’t contributing enough.’<\/p>\n ‘And I said “hey not me getting shouted at by a woman I don’t even know.” There were loads of people in this WhatsApp group who had never spoken before and when they got that message everybody rose up.’<\/p>\n Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n She added: ‘Safe to say that lady who sent that text was no longer in charge of the PTA after that message, she stepped down.’\u00a0<\/p>\n Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National Education Union: ‘WhatsApp groups can throw up some tricky issues for school leaders, although they can be really useful to publicise school news like fundraising or school events.<\/p>\n ‘What\u2019s key is that dialogue between parents and schools must be respectful. While parents will find WhatsApp groups useful, they aren\u2019t the way to resolve concerns that families may have.\u00a0<\/p>\n ‘Schools always have clear procedures for dealing with parental questions or concerns about the school and these should be used, not whats app.\u00a0<\/p>\n ‘Resolution though the correct channels is to the benefit of all and it\u2019s not good for children or young people if an individual situation is discussed publically\u201d.<\/p>\n Last March, Times Producer Maxie Allen and his partner Rosalind Levine were held in a police cell for eleven hours on suspicion of harassment and malicious communications after a ‘trivial’ dispute.\u00a0<\/p>\n The couple had complained about recruitment process of a new headteacher<\/a> at the primary school attended by their eldest daughter.<\/p>\n In their messages, the couple were disparaging of the hunt for a new head led by Jackie Spriggs, the chairman of governors.<\/p>\n CCTV shows six uniformed police officers descending on their suburban home before they were led away in front of their crying daughter.\u00a0<\/p>\n After a five-week investigation, Hertfordshire Constabulary finally concluded there was no case to answer.<\/p>\n Ms Levine wrote in the WhatsApp group: ‘Can you imagine what the ‘action’ is? Hello, 999, one of the school mums said something mean about me in a school mum WhatsApp group. Please can you arrest them?’<\/p>\n Mr Allen chipped in and wrote: ‘No public body has the power to control what people say about it.’<\/p>\n Another parent replied: ‘This should be a safe group where parents feel free to speak and share opinions about how they feel about the school and its actions and activities, nothing more or less, end of story.’<\/p>\n Supporting her view, another parent wrote: ‘Everyone’s talking about it in the playground as well. It’s ridiculous.’<\/p>\n Friends of a couple have spoken of their ‘shock and anger’ at the couple’s arrest for comments made in the WhatsApp group.<\/p>\n ‘Don’t join the WhatsApp groups. Stay out of it,’ Leanne Grant (pictured) told her following of 28,700 TikTok followers.<\/p>\n One fellow mother-of-two, a former member of the same WhatsApp group, told MailOnline: ‘I was utterly shocked when I heard that Maxie and Ros had been arrested \u2013 it was a hysterical reaction to the situation and I simply couldn’t believe it.<\/p>\n ‘I’ve known Ros for six years and she’s the nicest person I know. They are both lovely, reasonable people, and for anyone thinking there must be more to this \u2013 there really isn’t.<\/p>\n ‘There was nothing in those WhatsApp messages to take offence at \u2013 last time I checked, people are allowed to voice their concerns and criticisms without being arrested in this country.’<\/p>\n Mr Allen, 50, a Times Radio producer, has branded the police action ‘dystopian’ and a ‘massive overreach’, and accused Cowley Hill Primary School of trying to ‘silence awkward parents’.<\/p>\n Now, schools have asked lawyers to draw up codes of conduct to help police parent the groups.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The Employment Rights Bill, which is currently being debated in the House of Lords, could make employers liable if they do not take ‘all reasonable steps’ to protect their staff from harassment.<\/p>\n Such a measure may mean that teachers can sue their employer if they receive abuse in parent WhatsApp groups.<\/p>\n To prevent possibly having to pay-out to suing employees, schools are now reportedly rushing to have lawyers draw up codes of conduct for the online chats.<\/p>\n It is thought that concern is growing amongst headteachers that they could actually be found liable if parent WhatsApp groups are used to spread false rumours or racist and homophobic abuse about staff<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n And those concerns have arisen when teachers are usually not even a part of these WhatsApp groups, which are routinely made by parents of pupils often in classes together.<\/p>\n Head of the education group at the country’s leading law firm, Mischon de Reya, told The Times\u00a0<\/a>that both independent and state schools have sought his company’s advice over the possibility of drawing up a code of conduct for parent groups.<\/p>\n ‘Schools are very concerned about the impact on staff and being held liable, for what’s been said in class WhatsApp groups and are implementing codes of conduct for parents<\/a>.<\/p>\n ‘If a parent WhatsApp group was creating an intimidating or hostile environment for a teacher, for example horrendously homophobic statements, the school would in theory be expected to do something about it.’<\/p>\n As well as abusive exchanges, concerns have arisen over the possible spread of misinformation on these WhatsApp chats.\u00a0<\/p>\n History teacher Vanessa Brown said she suffered ‘unspeakable devastation and trauma’ after she was left to stew in a policy custody cell for more than seven hours\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Alistair Wood, chief executive of Edapt, which also offers legal support for teachers, said: ‘We frequently support staff where issued have escalated after misinformation or misunderstanding shared online.\u00a0<\/p>\n ‘These situations can quickly erode trust and take significant time for school leaders to resolve, drawing them away from their core role of running the school.’<\/p>\n![\"'Don't](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/97306823-14613687-image-a-8_1744728781049.jpg\")
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