False accusations.... Any advice?

[funnymummy]

Wonder if anyone on here knows the legal stance on this....
I've been accused of taking photos of children at my sons school & posting them onto Facebook!
I know this may seem a trivial matter, but their school has a strict No Photo policy after an incident a while back.
But they did allow us to take pictures at the recent Sports Days, the school field is alongside a road, so they could not stop parents from taking pics from the pavement/out of school boundaries, so agreed to parents taking pics for this day - after all parents prsent agreed.
These are the pictures I have been accused of putting on FB, and 'tagging' people in them. Yes, I did take pics, but I never put them on FB - I'm not stupid!
This is also not the first time I have been accused of doing this, the previous times I proved my innocence. But my concern is that someone obviously has a grudge against me, the school have confirmed it is the saem person again, but will not tell me who, I used to work at that school & previous allegations caused me a lot of trouble until I was cleared, as another parent stepped forward & admitted the pictures were theirs.
My worry now is that, they may try to take a step further & make serious allegations against me.

I have an idea who it might be, but can't prove it, unless my sons school tell me.
Do I have the right to know who my accuser is? And is what they are doing an offence?

 

[gbb]

I can't really help you re the legal stance, but we were just talking about this tonight. My wife works as a LSA with severely disabled kids. She was at college today with one of them and another person there (female, not attached to the wifes school, probably the college) asked if she could take some photos of the kids together.

My wife had to decline, they're just not allowed to. I say that because she said in some cases they can, in some circumstances they can, with some children, they plain can't..its a minefield.

Its useless information..i hope you can get it sorted. I guessd the most immediate worry to you is how the heck someone managed to put them on your FB.

 

[Mark_Robson]

If the school allowed pictures to be taken then what exactly would you have done wrong? And unless the person making the accusations can prove that you have done something illegal then what grounds do the school have to make an issue out of it?. Ask them to show you the tagged pics and it will tell you who's account they are on.

 

[BSRU]

The same person has made two malicious complaints, both which you proved to be unfounded, the school should be giving you a name as the person obviously has it in for you.
You could always report the matter to the police as you have been slandered and maybe even libelled, as currently your accuser is still able to repeat the same shenanigans without fear of any consequences.

 

[G-Zero]

Wonder if anyone on here knows the legal stance on this....
I've been accused of taking photos of children at my sons school & posting them onto Facebook!
I know this may seem a trivial matter, but their school has a strict No Photo policy after an incident a while back.
But they did allow us to take pictures at the recent Sports Days, the school field is alongside a road, so they could not stop parents from taking pics from the pavement/out of school boundaries, so agreed to parents taking pics for this day - after all parents prsent agreed.
These are the pictures I have been accused of putting on FB, and 'tagging' people in them. Yes, I did take pics, but I never put them on FB - I'm not stupid!
This is also not the first time I have been accused of doing this, the previous times I proved my innocence. But my concern is that someone obviously has a grudge against me, the school have confirmed it is the saem person again, but will not tell me who, I used to work at that school & previous allegations caused me a lot of trouble until I was cleared, as another parent stepped forward & admitted the pictures were theirs.
My worry now is that, they may try to take a step further & make serious allegations against me.

I have an idea who it might be, but can't prove it, unless my sons school tell me.
Do I have the right to know who my accuser is? And is what they are doing an offence?

Just thinkin' out loud !!

Has the school made the accusation officially, or is it just tittle tattle from parents ?

If you are certain that the school have the information, an official approach to them under the 'Freedom Of Information Act' may allow them, or force them to release the information, especially if you tell them you are gathering the information to take to the Police or a solicitor.

Have you considered an actual approach to the Police, to see if they can get to the bottom of the matter - I know its fairly low down their serious crime scale, but if its affecting your quality of life, they should be able to assist, even if its only to point you in the right direction.

 

[funnymummy]

Cheers gbb

I can't really help you re the legal stance, but we were just talking about this tonight. My wife works as a LSA with severely disabled kids. She was at college today with one of them and another person there (female, not attached to the wifes school, probably the college) asked if she could take some photos of the kids together.

I now work in a Special Needs school, satff can take pics of children to dispaly round school/use in progress reports/send home, but all staff are aware that the pics are only ever to be used in school, we would never put them 'online' anywhere.

Its useless information..i hope you can get it sorted. I guessd the most immediate worry to you is how the heck someone managed to put them on your FB.

No-one put any pics onto my FB.
I took 2 pics one of each of my children. They are on my PC, but never made it onto FB as there were other chidlren in the background in them - and I am more then aware I do not have the right to post a picture of someonelse's child onto a Socail Networking site without thier permission.
That is what is so ridiculous, this person has made the claim that I have posted pictures of her child & tagged her in them...Simply untrue.
She is saying that she found it an invasion of her privacy & that as a teacher i should know better...etc!
I just can't for the life of me figure out why they are doing this

 

[aberal]

You can take pictures of anything you want or of anyone you choose and put them on your Facebook if you so choose. There is no law against taking photographs in this country, other than those areas where it is specifically forbidden, for instance MOD facilities. A school is within its rights to request that you do not take photographs on their property but that is the extent of it.

 

[rodgy-dodge]

If you work with children it may be worth your while going to get leagal advise from a solicitor they're usually free for the first half hour or citisens advise then you have it on record so to speak that you where not taking these allegations lightly. Looks like someone is out to make things unpleasant for you.

 

[funnymummy]

Oh gosh... You all replied while I was replying to the first reply LOL!!

So....
No my sons school has not made an official about it, both times previously the head 'had a word' with me about it & both times I logged onto FB in front of her & she looked at my pics, agreed that there was nothing out of order, so no further action was taken.
I asked then who it was who had complined but she would not tell me as she did not feel it in my best intrests!!

I am going to speak to the Head were I now work in thw morning, i'm sure there is something our HR/legal dept can do - Both schools are under the same council, so if a compliant is being made at one it could affect me at the other. The old saying 'No smoke' etc... If this person carries on bad mouhting me then it could have long term repercussions

 

[Vapin' Joe]

You can take pictures of anything you want or of anyone you choose and put them on your Facebook if you so choose. There is no law against taking photographs in this country, other than those areas where it is specifically forbidden, for instance MOD facilities. A school is within its rights to request that you do not take photographs on their property but that is the extent of it.

That would be my take on it too.

There is a lot of hysterical rubbish talked about what you can and can't photograph in the wake of our paedo mania obsession fueled by the tabloids (thanks Rupert).

 

[vernon]

The same person has made two malicious complaints, both which you proved to be unfounded, the school should be giving you a name as the person obviously has it in for you.
You could always report the matter to the police as you have been slandered and maybe even libelled, as currently your accuser is still able to repeat the same shenanigans without fear of any consequences.

An accusation has been made. Nothing more. In child protection issues, especially within the context of education, the procedures are very different from what a lot folk would consider to be fair.

To be honest. Although the accusations have been made, they have to be proved. Let the accuser prove the existence of tagged photographs on the Facebook page.

The OP has nothing to fear if the pictures were never there.

Ask the school to provide the evidence.

Sadly I don't think that the accuser has committed an offence.

I'd go on the offensive and demand an interview with the school head teacher and demand that they have the evidence of your 'guilt' present when you attend the meeting. I would also demand to know what exactly they intend to do as a consequence if they are convinced that you posted the pictures. You have not committed any offences. The most extreme they can be is very cross. Take a clear headed friend with you and make it clear to the school that your friend is there to provide support and take notes of the proceedings.

You could also consult your union and seek their advice. They might intervene on your behalf.

 

[Night Train]

Is it the school who is accusing you based on someone's accusation?

Has the school looked into the accusation to acertain that there is substance to the accusation, ie. checked for the alleged images on your FB account?

You should challenge the school to look into this.

As a teacher, and alongside many teachers, I refuse to have any social networking account to avoid this. However, there are/were apparently a few FB accounts in my name set up, I guess, by some 14 year olds I taught a few years back.

 

[summerdays]

If the school allowed you to take the photos then I'm not sure that they can actually say where you can then subsequently post them unless they said that at the time - although there are places it wouldn't be sensible to post them.

As a side issue have you looked at your privacy settings on Facebook to see what your standard privacy settings are - any photos I take are only viewable by my friends, not friend of friends, or for some photos I literally make them viewable to specific people or groups of people only. Though obviously those people can take copies themselves and then re-post it with different privacy settings.

Could you ask to see the photos - presumably the person has provided a screenshot to the school. Or go into the school, log on to your account and show them your Facebook account to prove they aren't there. [EDIT - I see you have done that already] Have you had a look to see if your suspect has Facebook themselves, or whether they are friends with some of your friends?

Good luck - it isn't nice when you are being falsely accused of anything.

 

[vernon]

That would be my take on it too.

There is a lot of hysterical rubbish talked about what you can and can't photograph in the wake of our paedo mania obsession fueled by the tabloids (thanks Rupert).

It might be hysterical rubbish but it causes all sorts of problems for those working with children. Managers are so risk averse that the banning of photography is the easiest way out of trying to manage situations where parents and children share the same space as cameras.

 

[rodgy-dodge]

I am going to speak to the Head were I now work in thw morning, i'm sure there is something our HR/legal dept can do - Both schools are under the same council, so if a compliant is being made at one it could affect me at the other. The old saying 'No smoke' etc... If this person carries on bad mouhting me then it could have long term repercussions

I was going to say is there anyone from your work that you could get more specialist advise from. as long as you let the school know you intend to find out who it as it could have a detrimantal effect on your working position. As an x teacher I know how twitchy they can get with such things....hope you get it nipped in the bud soon