October 27, 2004
DONT CUM BAK 2 SKOOL
This is a first. I've heard of employees being fired by text message, even a school principal, but never a student expelled by SMS! It happened at the Cheam Common Junior School in south London.
An exasperated headmaster expelled one of his pupils by sending a text
message to the child's mother, according to Sky News.
"Roger Easterhope had been trying to contact the mother of Meshack Bennett all day with no luck.
At 7pm he gave up on special delivery letters and endless telephone calls and resorted to texting her the news."
Talking about the text message, Mr Easterhope, 52, told the Daily Mail: "I didn't think I had any other option - she didn't respond (to phone calls)."
He added: "As far as I'm concerned, all the correct policies and procedures have been gone through."
But Meshack's mother, Naomi Bennett, told the newspaper: "I was shocked the school would send me a text about something like that."
Related articles:
-- Belgian School Principal Fired by SMS - The Principal of a school in Belgium, Saint-Joseph de Presles, was fired by text message last year in June.
-- South Korean credit card firm sacks staff via SMS - South Korea's third-largest credit card issuer, KEB Credit Service Co, sacked a quarter of its workforce (161 employees) via text messages.
-- Thousands are sacked - by text - A UK insurance company fires thousands of employees.
-- Sacked by SMS - An Australian traffic controller is fired by SMS.
The first report of an employee being sacked by SMS I ever read about occured in England, in February 2001, when an office adminstrator, Zoe Halls, received an SMS from her boss, stating: "We don't need you in at work tomorrow, I'll phone you AM to explain - John". Other than calling him a coward, Zoe Halls had little recourse in fighting her case as she was still in a probation period. (cf archived article in The Register).
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