Hitler photo on strike school's Facebook page due to "technical error"

A PHOTO featuring Hitler and the titled War Declared published as part of a Facebook post about an impending school strike was included because of a “technical error”.

Listerdale Primary School said in a statement that the image which accompanied a letter to parents about the action had been used by mistake.

Teachers union officials had said the picture — which also featured an portrait of wartime PM Neville Chamberlain — “goes a bit far”, but the school said it was a photo of a “celebrated” piece of coursework by a pupil.

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The post in question was linked to a letter from the Children’s Academy Trust about next week’s planned walkout by Listerdale teachers over the nine-month suspension of head teacher Craig Roberts.

The academy trust’s statement said: “The trust is aware that a piece of celebrated work of a child at Listerdale has been posted alongside a letter from the Trust to parents on Facebook.  

“We understand that this was a technical error within the site and has since been rectified.  

“It clearly was not the intention to post the two items together.”

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The trust this week urged the NUT to call of next Wednesday’s strike action in another statement, saying: “Our overall commitment is to the children, their families, staff and the community of the school.

“That is why we share in their frustration that the NUT has called on its members to take industrial action following five months of calm and a productive period at the school.

“We would  once again press home the fact that it is the union and not the trust that holds the key to stopping the strike action planned for next week.”

 

A spokeswoman said the academy trust has met the NUT, brokered by an arbitrator from ACAS, earlier this week and listened to the one proposal put forward by the union to resolve the dispute.

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Although as a responsible employer they are not at liberty to share the details of this discussion, other than to say the proposal was not reasonable, she said.

The spokeswoman added: “The continuous attempts by the NUT to delay the process and drive a relentless campaign against the trust in the form of strikes actually targets the children and really cannot be justified.

“Despite numerous requests by the trust for the NUT to desist, they continue to use these methods, amongst others, to discredit and apply pressure to the trust.”

 The school will be partially closed due to next week's planned strike action and parents have been told about which classes will be affected.

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NUT divisional secretary Fred Sprague said the long-term absence of Mr Roberts had been “a matter of considerable loss to the school and the pupils, whose education has been affected by his absence”.

Regional officer Nick Raine said the school had incurred estimated costs of £50,000 in suspending Mr Roberts and clocked up £10,000 in legal fees.

He branded this “a waste of public money”, adding: “This is an amount greater than the entirety of the schools budget deficit for which they are unfairly seeking to blame the head teacher.”

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