Crypt School wages war on Twitter abusers
ONE pupil has been suspended and three people handed a bill for legal costs over insults about a school on the web.
It comes after remarks and allegations about teachers and pupils at The Crypt School were made on social networking site Twitter.
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Twitter
One boy has been suspended over the comments and at least three other people, believed to be former pupils, have been handed a bill of £680 each by the Gloucester boys' grammar to cover its legal costs.
They sought advice from lawyers over the comments, known as tweets, and passed on the bill. The four people have also been asked to remove the comments.
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Hundreds of tweets about The Crypt were made by past and present pupils on Twitter with some going as far as abusing teachers and staff at the Podsmead school.
Richard James, chairman of the school's governors, confirmed one pupil had been suspended.
And he added that three of those making comments from outside the school had been sent a letter and told to cover the cost of legal advice.
"The board of governors of The Crypt School view the use of social media to insult, abuse, bully or defame a student, a member of staff or the school with the utmost seriousness," he said.
"Should that occur, the governors would require the headmaster to respond to such incidences vigorously within the school's disciplinary policies.
"Should anyone not a member of the school community use the social media with the same intent, the governors will pursue those individuals through due legal process."
The comments, under the hashtag #controversialcryptmoments, ranged from memories of relatively harmless pranks and mishaps, to serious allegations about teachers and staff at the school, which is the oldest in Gloucester.
Mr James said: "We will do whatever it takes to ensure people's reputations, and make sure people are not bullied in this way.
"Those who have defamed or made cruel comments, we will pursue. We would simply wish to retrieve our legal costs."
Yesterday, one contributor posted: "The Crypt School have took [sic] legal action against me omg [oh my god]".
Between them they suggested making donations to the Crypt School Association instead.
But the school took a harder line.
Yesterday afternoon one was asked on Twitter about the action by the school.
He posted: "says what we put that was offensive then tells us we are libel [sic] for defamation and says the demands they ask for."
He said they "have had to remove offensive material and they (Crypt) have asked for £680 in expenses in seven days."
Headteacher Jonathan Standen is expected to address pupils in assembly about the matter this morning.
Ribston Hall High School headteacher Amanda Chong confirmed a similar incident involving 40 pupils happened at the Stroud Road school before the last half term.
"I wrote to all the parents, pointing out that the comments bring the school in to disrepute and if they were employed, doing that would get them the sack," she said.
"The comments were removed. What Crypt has done is the right thing."
Comments
by Kay_Powell
Sunday, March 18 2012, 4:38PM
“TheMoanerLisa, thank you for identifying the lingo. I did wonder what it was.”
by Grand_Fromage
Sunday, March 18 2012, 1:20PM
“Even more sad are those who post and then give themselves a green arrow. I wonder how insecure you have to be to do that.”
by Rimestock
Sunday, March 18 2012, 11:36AM
“Arrows are a popularity contest, L'Escalier, I get red ones all the time because I'm apparently 4000 other people. Not worth worrying about, it keeps some amused who'd be lonely otherwise.”
by L_escalier
Sunday, March 18 2012, 10:10AM
“I wonder, un-named Neggy, if you just follow me around red arrowing my comments?
It really doesn't take that much courage to unveal yourself, I don't bite...”
by L_escalier
Saturday, March 17 2012, 10:10PM
“The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself..."
http://tinyurl.com/85qm867”
by PubliusD
Saturday, March 17 2012, 9:02AM
“This is pretty typical of Crypt. They're a good school. I went there and did well. But they always did have a bit of a stick up their collective **** about appearance and public image. Couldn't take a joke. Don't know much about their headteacher but he is apparently much more prominent in the school than the last one was (rarely saw him). I've also heard he has short man syndrome. A tall friend was stopped for a chat on the stairs by him, and he made a point of walking several steps ahead so he could appear taller to talk down to him. LOL.
Always liked Bill Spear though. Sure he was senior, old-school even, but he had a sense of humour. In fact, I recall a lot of the older ones did. We had another great teacher who I won't name who once asked the class "what do you think of the school rules, out of curiosity?" which he then followed with "I think they're pointless. They have all these petty little rules which they just don't even bother to enforce. What's the point?" There's a teacher who made people think.”
by TheMoanerLisa
Thursday, March 15 2012, 8:57PM
“Crypt Management are clearly out of their depth now they have an intake of wannabee yardie speaking bumpkins. Lets face it any one can get into crypt and ribston as those with real intellect get into richians or denmark.
if anything the rigid routine crypt school prides itsself and history on is too much for the minority that cant hack it. blud”
by Rimestock
Thursday, March 15 2012, 7:33PM
“Something of a double standard here: 'The board of governors of The Crypt School view the use of social media to insult, abuse, bully or defame a student, a member of staff or the school with the utmost seriousness'.
So by taking a stand on bullying via social media, this board of governors is wrong?
The same people criticising them presumably showed horror and indignation at the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Tom Mullaney and Dominic Crouch.”
by L_escalier
Thursday, March 15 2012, 6:26PM
“The fundamental truth is that if you have a safe rep, criticism, even when it's valid, can't really hurt you. So let's say, someone says your books are a little out of date. You just say, yes, but it's hard to find the money to replace them.
Now, I haven't read the controversialmoments tweets back far enough to know if any of them could be considered hurtful to individuals, to the extent of 'bullying', but even with Twitter, I'm sure there are are other options besides legal action. Cyber-bulling is still bullying, so how many head teachers need a lawyer to tell them how to handle it?
Someone has said that it would never have happened if Bill Spear was 'still here'. Maybe it would, still, but would the response have been the same?
My son is hoping to go to Crypt, BTW (one point off the score, so appealing). I hope they get this sorted out.”
by gomums
Thursday, March 15 2012, 10:42AM
“I sincerely hope that The Citizen continues to run the story. I am sure Gloucestershire Citizens would like to know the outcome of this disgraceful behaviour by Crypt School. It is extremely worrying when young people are 'in the care' of such a 'bullying' institution.”