A school first aider faces the sack over her role in the death of asthma sufferer Sam Linton.
Governors at Offerton School in Stockport have recommended that Deborah Bouckley be dismissed as a result of the 11-year-old’s death in December 2007.
Three other members of staff – including Janet Ford, the teacher who was supervising Sam when he became sick – have been issued with formal warnings.
The fate of headteacher Evelyn Leslie will be decided in September.
Ms Bouckley worked in student services – where sick children were referred for basic first aid. Her pay was stopped as soon as the decision was made. It is understood she plans to appeal the decision.
The other two staff members to receive warnings – Ms Bouckley’s sister, Janet, and Pamela Banstead – also worked as student services assistants.
They will return to the school, along with Mrs Ford and Mrs Leslie, after the summer holidays.
Sam, of Dalby Grove, Offerton, died following a catalogue of errors when he suffered an asthma attack at the school.
An inquest in March this year heard how the youngster was seen wheezing and using his inhaler at school. But staff failed to dial 999 and told him to sit in a corridor.
His mother, Karen, was eventually called to take him to hospital and found him grey with blue lips. She immediately took him to Stepping Hill Hospital but it was too late to save her son. He died two hours later. The inquest jury found his death was caused by neglect after valuable time was lost while he waited in a corridor.
A source at the school claimed Ms Bouckley had been made a ‘scapegoat’ for the failings of others.
In April, 200 students from the school staged a demonstration demanding that Ms Bouckley, her sister Janet and Ms Banstead be reinstated.
A spokesman for Stockport council confirmed the school’s disciplinary panel findings.
Dr Paul Beatty, chair of governors at the school, declined to comment.
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Smells of the lamb to the slaughter to me,
This boy’s death was awful, but is singling out and sacking this woman going to bring him back? NO
I am not one for sacking people to make a bad situation better, but surely the head teacher of this school must take some of the responsibility.
From what I read about this case previously was it was the teacher who was negligent here. As usual the teacher remains in post and on full pay.
Janet Ford should hang her head in shame. How can she show her face at that school knowing others have lost their job over something she was implicit in.
Very soon the way this case went nobody in their right mind will be a first aider, the way the legal profession persue cases for their own proffit,will deter people going to others assistance. As a retired firefighter trained in first aid and medical assistance I now think twiced about going to anyones assistance. I feel this way because I a scared that if I go to a strangers aid I may be sued for damages
So the teacher who told him to stand in the corridor, and ignored the pleadings of other children gets a formal warning, while the school firt aider gets the sack? That just doesn't seem fair, hopefully she'll be able to sue the school for a similar amount to the fireman yesterday.
Smacks of a disgusting cover up to me. Why is the teacher still in a job?
They should be fired..
A very sad incident, but it does seem like systemic failure here, rather than gross negligence by the unfortunate Student Services lady who has been sacked.
Have things been changed to prevent this happening again? How can the “chair of governors”, decline to comment. This is a public school the “chair” should not have the option to decline to comment when a person in the school care has died.
A tragedy, heart goes to the parent. I dont know how it must feel.
Instead of dealing with grief we now focus on blame.
So you want to be a teacher, well the starting salary is £25,000 pa.
But now you need Professional Indemnity Insurance of £ 11,000 pa to insure you dont get sued by a parent, pta, governor, colleague or former pupil.
Welcome to the world of helping people, it's a minefield.
As a result of this we will now have the situation where if 1 kid gets a cold the whole school will be closed down because of the fear of being sued by people catching an infection at a public place.
We need tort reform. Yes if scaffolding falls on someone in the street they need massive compensation but if a postman trips up on your doorstep and sues you for £80k its lunacy.
Teachers in training are not required to take a first-aid certificate, and, you will not believe this, nor are practising teachers. Teacher training involves every bit of political correctness that exists :global warming; environmentalism; sexual orientation; homophobia; feminism; sexism; the evils of capitalism and Britain's imperial past; multiculturalism; how to show pupils how to fit a condom and to get an abortion without their parents’ knowing; the latest fads of so-called healthy eating; the wonders of the European Union; and all the other politically correct nonsense. But teachers in training are not required to be taught anything practical, like keeping discipline and order, and first-aid. All teachers should have an up-to-date first-aid certificate.
I know from bitter experience of Bramhall High that teachers tend to look after their own. Hardly surprising that a scapegoat has been found.
Solicitors only reflect the market. The general public see every incident now as a potential pay day and reach for the nearest telephone to ring a lawyer whenever they have an accident. Most people are driven by greed. You only have to look at the recent Raol Moat incident where his girlfriend managed to sell her story to the newspapers despite lying wounded in hospital. Solicitors are supplying a service to the market and we all need to look at ourselves and our greed-driven motives!
Clearly, so far as I am concerned, the principal failing was by the teacher and all she gets is a warning.
What on earth are those making the judgments thinking about?
Is it too unreasonable to expect all of those who displayed very considerable failings to lose their jobs and that includes the Headmistress when her position is considered?
Non-teaching staff in schools have increased dramatically in number over the last few years. Many of them are unskilled people whose main qualification is that they fancy a bit of part time work close to home. They are ten a penny and very easy to replace. That's why the school is trying its luck at sacking such a member of staff in an attempt to end the matter.
Given the competence of many low paid staff in schools I wonder just what training this woman got in first aid.
As somebody with a lung desease i know how these people suffer from day to day and the teachers should have been aware of these children (asthma isnt seen as a serious condition for some reason) People need educating about people who suffer with these conditions.I hear people say things like its only a bit of asthma?. EDUCATE TEACHERS OF THE DANGERS.
The teacher and the first aider should be fired. No wonder they are going to close this school down.
Have to agree with Tezza on this, why has the Head and even more so, Teacher responsible for putting this child in the corridor not been held to account first? Was it not the teacher who isolated the child and ignored his pleas for help and is it not the Head's responsibility to oversee the conduct of their staff who clearly are at fault here? If this first aider does get sacked, let's hope they take the school to a tribunal.
This tragedy has highlighted the total incompetence of Stockport Education Authority. First of all the head of Stockport Local Education Authority should be sacked, secondly the head teacher of Offerton high School Evelyn Leslie should be sacked, then finally the teacher Janet Ford should be sacked and charged with manslaughter.
As a H&S advisor, in my workplace I make it common practice to set up a medical awareness log and all staff are informed of this. This makes sure that any medical condition, medications or procedures are known to the relevent staff. It might not be a bad idea for schools to take note.
You cannot be sued for damages under law. The "Good Samaritan" act says that unless you are a healthcare proffessional (doctor, nurse, paramedic etc.) and are acting in what you believe to be the best interest of someone suffering a medical emergency, you are not legally responsible for any further injury caused to that person, such as chest compressions breaking ribs etc.
Some of the staff have obviously not learned lessons about responsibilty. My daughter was sent home the other day to change form her PE kit to her school uniform as the kids sports day had been cancelled due to the weather. Her comments to me were " she could not believe that the kids were sent home by a senior teacher and no registration was taken as to the kids that were sent home and some of the kids had to walk to portwood to change their uniform. What would have happened had they had an accident, the school would not have even known they were not present"... these are the words of a year 10 pupil. The school does not communicate effectively and since the tragic events above it appears to me that they are seriously lacking leadership, reading between the lines and the fact that the school is under review for closure it seems that some staff are bailing out of a sinking ship.
What about police officers if they are arresting someone? bus drivers if a passenger becomes ill? priests if a member of the congregation has a heart attack? barmen if someone bangs their head whilst drunk? Utterly ridiculous to expect every teacher to attend a first aid course. They have to be renewed annually which means the cost of the course, plus the cost of a supply teacher from an agency every year for every teacher ( a total of about £600 per teacher, per day) costing a school tens of thousands. OR employ a percentage of people who are first aid trained, like every other workplace, and rely on them to do their job properly. This is a tragic case where a properly qualified person appears to have made the wrong call. The thousands of cases where kids hurt themselves, or fall ill and are treated by a first aider in thbe school properly are not reported. Just because it goes wrong once, however tragically, is not reason to introduce more distraction, and more courses for teachers. Leave them alone to teach our kids. That is what they are there for.
I am only going off the details in the media so I suppose that says a lot but it appears the teacher who made him sit in the corridor is the one who should pay the price.
You dont need to do a first aid course to realise that when a child is dying and other pupils are begging you call an ambulance that you shouldn't make him stand outside in the corridoor because you have a "Meeting"
From reading the ongoing saga of this, the fault lies firmly with the teacher who appeared to be on a bit of a "power Trip"
I guess its easier to replace people who work in "Student Services" though
I find it funny that as a country we educate ourselves with the needs of certain pupils HALAL foods and prayer Etc , for certain pupils but the important ones we are lacking "Astma,Epilepsy,Or even heart problems.Are not met in most of our schools.Do the schools have defibrilators or oxygen ..?Astma is on the rise in the west so i find that the staff in our schools should have the basic training to help children with these problems.
This is a desperate tragedy for the family and, understandably, they need closure. Their precious son was entrusted to the care of the school - teachers act 'in loco parentis', and must have the best interests of the pupil in mind at all times. The school FAILED! As a direct result of their failure, Sam Linton died. It is not 100% certain that, even had an ambulance been called and Sam received proper medical care that he would have survived, such is the awful nature of asthma, but the laws of probability would have been firmly on his side.
It is clear that there was a breach of the duuty of care by the school. This is clear by the findings of the disciplinary panel. Now, the Linton family must take recourse in law and sue the bejaysus out of the local authority. Only by doing this will there be suffficient attention paid and funds made available to provide proper medical care.
parents, check out the arrangements in your childs school. Are you quite certain they are adquate?
RIP, Sam & Ellanor.