Somntawin School and treatment of staff

[dom77]

Dear All

I have recently quit as the Grade 4 teacher at Somtawin School at Huaymongkhol. This is due to an incident that occured at the beginning of December and the management of Somtawins refusal to act and back up its staff.

Basically I told a Grade 6 girl off for being disrespectful to the Thai flag (she is 100% Thai). A normal thing to doi during line up.

Her father then came into the school on the following Monday assaulted me and threatened to kill me in front of witnesses. The school REFUSED to call the police and do anything. All they wanted to do was save face.

The school then wanted a meeting with this psycho and me in which he continued to threaten me. The school then basically issued a letter to the guy saying he was a naughty boy and that he was to appologise to Thai parents who were angry at his actions but NOT to me. In the ensuing weeks I was run off the road by the guys brother! School still refused and to this day has refused to give me the guys full name and address.

This has resulted in me having to quit my job with immediate effect and also leave Thailand as I am in fear of my life.

I am now in a battle with Mr Mark for final salary.

Be aware that the school does not back its staff up and therefore do not apply there for a job.

[Mod edit: title changed slightly]

[GLCQuantum]

Dear All

I have recently quit as the Grade 4 teacher at Somtawin School at Huaymongkhol. This is due to an incident that occured at the beginning of December and the management of Somtawins refusal to act and back up its staff.

Basically I told a Grade 6 girl off for being disrespectful to the Thai flag (she is 100% Thai). A normal thing to doi during line up.

Her father then came into the school on the following Monday assaulted me and threatened to kill me in front of witnesses. The school REFUSED to call the police and do anything. All they wanted to do was save face.

The school then wanted a meeting with this psycho and me in which he continued to threaten me. The school then basically issued a letter to the guy saying he was a naughty boy and that he was to appologise to Thai parents who were angry at his actions but NOT to me. In the ensuing weeks I was run off the road by the guys brother! School still refused and to this day has refused to give me the guys full name and address.

This has resulted in me having to quit my job with immediate effect and also leave Thailand as I am in fear of my life.

I am now in a battle with Mr Mark for final salary.

Be aware that the school does not back its staff up and therefore do not apply there for a job.

Sorry to hear of your troubles Dom. I worked at said school for over four years from 2004. TBH I had a great time there. One thing you should be aware of in situations like this in Thai schools is... report the actions of the girl to a Thai Teacher and let them deal with it in their way. You are not Thai so you shouldn't be worrying yourself over what students should or should not be doing to the Thai flag. It's not your issue to deal with and the way you go about things could cause friction.

About the salary... if you haven't given a months notice then you are not entitled to the salary I'm afraid. Keep trying for it of course but I wouldn't get your hopes up.

Scratch it off as a lesson learned (things you should stick your nose in for and things you shouldn't) and move somewhere else to teach. Leaving Thailand is a tad drastic.

Good luck.



Edit: teachingthailand.com always has plenty of openings around thailand for various positions. Maybe worth a shot. Also... may I ask, when you said you 'told her off' - what was it that you actually did? Was it in front of the whole school at line up? Did you drag her out of line? Or did you quietly remind her that the national anthem was playing so please stop talking?

P.S. Getting extra money out of Mr 'M' (I say 'extra' as, if you haven't given notice it's 'extra'), is like getting blood out of a stone.

double edit: Mod's, you could get yourselves in trouble with the thread title. Defamation laws are alive and kicking here.

[Lev]

Defamation laws are serious in Thailand so we suggest you get a lawyer if you wish to take it up with the school further, this forum isn't really the platform for it.

Thanks for your understanding.

[falcon]

That's not exactly right though, Matt, is it?

The school told you that they would back you up in whatever action that you wanted to to take. I was there so know exactly what went on. Its really not fair on the school to make them the bad guys when they did everything they could to support you, as did my Wife and I, representing the PTC.

This all started out by Matt reprehending a grade 6 pupil over not singing during the national anthem, which, in ordinary circumstances, a teacher telling a pupil off for not singing and/or talking during a national anthem would not be seen as anything but a simple reprimand. However, this was not the case with Matt and the grade 6 child on that day. How this was handled by Matt was very disrespectful to the girl concerned as Matt said (loudly), in front of the classmates and other teachers was "just because you are from a rich family and a hi-so Thai, doesn't mean that you are too good to sing". Now, in Somtawin, there is no class system that is recognized, no matter rich or poor, Thai or foreigner, all pupils are treated the same way. I, just like other parents, would be annoyed if this was said to my own Son, especially in a condescending loud voice in front of others.

This whole episode was exacerbated by Matts inability or refusal to tell the father of the grade 6 girl anything, when asked what was said to his daughter and why. In fact, he (Matt) simply said that he couldn't remember and then ran in to the classroom. If he had spoken to the parent in a rational manner, this 'incident' would never have escalated to anything other than an exchange of words between the two people. As it was Matt plastered the incident all over Facebook and other social media sites, including ([Mod Edit] Links to rival forums are not permitted), line and hua hin after dark, giving his one sided version of things and making them seem far worse than they ever were. The full story of this can be found on the thaivisa link I have included where I reply to a person giving information on the "incident" in the form of a parent 'hearing about it' from his Thai wife. This, in fact is another of Matts pseudonyms and was in fact Matt writing, unbeknown to me at the time of my writing!

Matt has NEVER been run off the road by the grade 6 parents brother and is simply a figment of Matts highly adventurous imagination. In fact, Matt has been unhappy teaching at the school for some months and has made no secret of his wanting to leave. This 'incident' is merely an excuse for him to make himself feel better about leaving the school sooner rather than later.

Matt had a contract that said that he should give 1 months notice if he was going to leave, this he didn't keep to and gave, albeit reluctantly, as he was confronted by the headmaster and asked if he intended to leave or not as he had told most of the other teachers he intended not to return for term 2 but had neglected to inform either the headmaster or admin of this fact. Even then, he was told that the school would pay him for the work he had done as long as he handed in his reports. This he didn't do and made the excuse that, as he couldn't get the headmaster on the phone, he deleted everything on the computer. Therefore, under the terms of his contract, there is nothing owing to Matt as he broke the terms by not giving a months notice.

Finally, the school and we at the PTC gave Matt every support possible, both personally and emotionally but still this wasn't enough for him. No one could ever have done more for him. In our view, the school did nothing wrong in the way that they handled the situation and everyone involved acted professionally and gave full support to Matt [Mod Edit] Full name removed.

I am sure that other threads will appear under different pseudonyms of Matt [Mod Edit] Full name removedsaying other negative things about Somtawin school so I would advise the readers of such posts to use their own judgement when reading.

Thanks for reading and I hope that this puts another light in what seems to be becoming a vendetta by Matt [Mod Edit] Full name removedagainst Somtawin school.

[GLCQuantum]

There are always two sides to a story. Normally the side that comes onto a forum to give a different account of the situation (that was previously posted on the forum) is the right one. The first one nearly always tends to be a case of sour grapes - a disgruntled ex employee.

This may not be the case here... just going from experience.

I still know a few teachers at said establishment (the other 70 % have moved on mind) and I still believe it's a decent enough school in comparison to the other options you have there.

[cozza]

I still know a few teachers at said establishment (the other 70 % have moved on mind) and I still believe it's a decent enough school in comparison to the other options you have there.

Not trying to discredit here or anything but I took my daughter in to have a look at the nursery and was told it was an English program (at the International School) but 90% of students in the class didn't speak English. I know there are much better options now and my daughter is going to one.

[GLCQuantum]

I know there are much better options now and my daughter is going to one.

I can think of just the one place which, in my opinion, is better than Somtawin in the area. And it's a fair whack more expensive (you get what you pay for) than it.

This thread could benefit by yourself naming all the Primary / Mathiom schools that are a better option.

[dom77]

Well. I am the person who quit my job due to the lack of care of Somtawins Management towards its staff. I am not a disgruntled employee - I QUIT due to the fact my life was in danger and the school still continue to dismiss the incident. Being run off the road is not a joke but the school to this day stiff refuse to give the name. I was forced to give up my life of more than four years thanks to the psycho parent! I am not starting another life back in the UK which is not easy. I simply warn potential parents and teachers be careful the school does nothing to protect its students or teachers. [Mod edit: comment removed, could be taken the wrong way.]