On Friday the 2nd October 2020 it was Caroline’s weekend on duty. However Caroline was off work “with significant symptoms” of Covid 19. This was a key weekend in Caroline’s victimisation of me. I was not on duty, in fact, I was signed off sick for 2 weeks with work related stress. Wholly due to my concerns NOT being listened to!
I received this text from Caroline on 2nd October 2020 at 12.21:
First of all there was no ‘Jenni’ the gap student, she was called Jane. This speaks volumes to me and should with anyone who knows Caroline.
Anyway, Caroline tells me that Mariarita will be in room 7 which was just up the corridor from my flat, an empty 6th form room. Also Brian and Lulu, Mariarita’s 2 large greyhounds were going to be staying in the room too. This raises several questions for me. 1. How are dogs allowed to stay in a boarding house room? 2. Where is Mariarita supposed to shower and use the toilet? The only available washing facilities would be the girls’ bathrooms. I believe this is wrong. I just don’t feel right about it.
Caroline also tells me that the Head, Jonathan will be covering in the boys house. She asks me NOT to through the house.
I must admit I did assume that she meant when I was going in and out with my dog – as she is referring to Mariarita having her dogs in the house.
Isolating Student
Earlier that morning I had received a text from Ruth Hong, who was on duty. A boarder was suspected of having Covid and had isolated in the Medical Room / Sick Bay in house as planned. I was informed that the whole of that part of the house had been isolated.
The disinfecting guidelines at the time, following a suspected case of Covid can be found here.
These specifically state the necessity to deep clean the entire area and remove all fabrics, linen etc for deep cleaning and disinfection.
Evening 2nd October 2020
I was in my flat, when two girls came to my door. I can’t remember what time it was, but it was after dinner, I would guess around 7pm. They were looking for whoever was on duty. I don’t think they knew who was on duty. I told them Dr Martino was on duty, and that maybe she was in room 7 as that was where I had been told she would be sleeping.
They came back a few minutes later saying they couldn’t find her. I went to the room myself, she wasn’t there. The girls just wanted permission to do some cooking so I told them to go ahead. I said that Dr Martino was probably just outside with her dogs.
I was a bit concerned, but guessed that if Dr Martino was having any problems she’d contact Jonathan in the boys house.
Caught Out
On Saturday 3rd October, I was out early, walking the dog. On the way back to school, about 10.30am I saw Dr Martino out walking her dogs. I was a bit surprised and did wonder who was covering her on duty as this was early to get cover. When I returned, I went into the house with a basket of washing, to use the house laundry.
I walked past the office, checking that everything was ok and was shocked to see Caroline in the office! Caroline was just as shocked and a bit embarrassed to see me! She got very flustered and blurted out that she had got the all clear. I said ‘Oh that was quick‘ and she said ‘no-one is as surprised as me!’. I went on up to the laundry.
Later, I got this text message from Caroline.
Ummm. Wow! So Caroline was really not happy that I had caught her out it would seem! She is saying that I am not allowed in the boarding house at all when I am off sick. [Strange that she was in the house when SHE was off sick, supposedly ‘ISOLATING’??]
Worrying
I spent a lot of Saturday night worrying and mulling all this over. It seemed to me that Caroline had purposely told me not to go into the house that weekend. It appeared that Caroline was not being completely truthful about her ‘covid symptoms‘. She did not want me to find her in the house [looking well!] when she was saying she was off sick. She had been caught out! It seems this had made her angry.
Deciding to write to Jonathan and query what was happening. I asked who was on duty and asked where they slept, thinking I should not mention Caroline being in the office. It was correct, in my eyes, to address Jonathan as Caroline had told me that he was on duty in the boys house and he was therefore the most senior person working that weekend. My email to Jonathan was sent just before 10 am on Sunday 4th October.
I admit my email was not ‘chatty’, a bit direct and to the point, but there was no ulterior motive. I was not trying to undermine Caroline. Which was what Jonathan said in his statement for the ET. I was concerned about me and I was concerned about the lies, and I was concerned that the girls were not being looked after properly.
Please remember that at this stage I had made 2 protected disclosures regarding Carolines actions, her behaviour and her lack of presence in the house. Neither Marita Murray nor Jonathan had listened to or responded to these concerns.
Jonathan did not reply. But Caroline did. So Jonathan had forwarded my email straight to Caroline.
Caroline replied to me
At 12.30pm on Sunday 4th October, Caroline replied to me
So apparently Mariarita slept in the sick bay which that morning had been used to isolate a girl who was suspected of having covid? Is it me? Do you not think this was wrong?
The sick bay or medical room did have a toilet but still meant that Mariarita would have to use the girls showers.
Emails to / from Jonathan
I must admit to feeling very vulnerable at this point. The victimisation had seriously started and I was 100% certain that this was because I had raised the concerns
I wrote to Jonathan at 1pm on Sunday 4th October, saying that I didn’t feel I would get an accurate reply if I had gone directly to Caroline. I explained that as I had already raised concerns and that these seemed to be falling on deaf ears I felt I needed to go to the governors.
Jonathans reply came at 3.20 on Monday 5th October;
Note the section underlined where Jonathan says he has my email of the 24th Sept. My Protected Disclosure. and he has “worked through those points you raise with Caroline and Marita”
Huh? He’s worked through the points I raised with Caroline and Marita? So no PROTECTION under the whistleblowing policy. No ANONYMITY?
He discussed my Protected Disclosure with Caroline?
My reply;
Caroline Complains to Helen
On Sunday 4th October Caroline writes to Helen Keelan-Edwards and copies Marita Murray at 4.50pm. Notice this is to Helen and not Jonathan. Helen replies to this that as Jonathan is her line manager she has forwarded it to him.
There is a lot to unpack here. Bear with me… I need to prove this, for myself mainly.
First of all Caroline is now saying that her illness is caused by me and that the boarding house is not a nice place to be and she feels unsafe in her own flat. [I will come to Dr Martino’s ‘statement’ later!]
The unpleasantness in the house was due entirely to Mariarita Martino and to Caroline’s absence. Mariarita was autocratic, and very much disliked by the girls and staff. Staff [coming from Ruth Hong] had nicknamed her the ‘Italian Job’, she spent the entire time on the computer, she did not engage with the girls at all. here are a couple of texts I get from Sarah saying what she was experiencing;
Unpleasantness
This was the 4th October 2020. Sarah was coming on duty 6pm – 10pm. I had made Italian bread for the girls and asked Sarah to bring in some balsamic vinegar so the girls could have bread with an oil/balsamic dip.
This was the 6th October 2020. Sarah was having a really difficult time with Mariarita and her autocratic ways.
I think its sweet that the girls said they wanted me back. It’s true though, they thoroughly disliked Mariarita. I have had many emails from previous students who have said as much.
Sarah was frustrated at the sign in / out sheets. I had created one that was on a single piece of paper and worked well, but Mariarita wanted to use the one she made for the boys house. This was 6 pages, double sided for EACH DAY!
Sarah is saying that Caroline will never do a morning duty. This involved getting the girls up, registered and go with them to breakfast at the main school. We had to register them in breakfast and check they were eating, then get back to the house to make sure they left for school on time. Morning duty usually started 7.30am, though Sarah and I were always there earlier. The shift ended at 8.45am once all the girls were gone to school. Morning duty is an hour and a quarter of non stop corralling girls to where they should be.
Caroline could not do this duty as her son left for school at 8.30am when a school bus came to collect him. Caroline’s husband generally left about 7.30am. Therefore, unless Caroline had a someone to look after her son she would not be able to do morning duty.
Sarah sent me a picture of the sheets / file she was referring to, with a joke that all other staff were still using our sheet, and hiding it underneath!
I can’t describe how utterly ridiculous the whole thing was! My system, all on one page, worked better, used less paper, less printing and was generally much easier to use. BUT this was the problem!
Sickness Record
My friend at Harrogate Grammar School, where Caroline had worked previously absolutely guaranteed that Caroline was off sick more than she was actually at work when she was employed there. And she knew – as she was the person you rang into if you were unwell! One day off sick in the last 6 years is a lie.
In 2020, 25 days into the term Caroline had in fact worked only 5 out of 10 shifts in the girls boarding house, and 3 of these were a weekend with very few girls in house! In fact she was only on the rota for 1 night a week [a Thursday] and she was off sick on Thursday 10th Sept [covered by Mariarita] and Thursday 24th Sept [covered by Sarah Williams].
Caroline’s Multiple Roles
Let’s look at this bit.
The ‘staff induction’ that Caroline is referring to is Mariarita’s description of a conversation that took place in July. Caroline had attached this to the email she sent to Helen. This is what Mariarita says:
This was the 15th July, we were walking from main school to Johnson House for Denise Addis’ leaving do. This was the first time I had met Mariarita, and Ruth Hong, the second or third time I had met Denise Addis [DA] and, I believe, the second time I had met Sarah and Liz Gibson.
Caroline had told us that morning, as they could not find a replacement for Denise Addis, that she would be the Senior Houseparent [SHP] in the boys house [School House / SH] as well as the SHP in the girls house.
On the way to JH, Denise Addis said that this was ridiculous, she believed [and she should know as she had been there for years!] that it would be impossible. How could one person do the role that previously took 2 full time members of staff at 40 hours a week and teach and SLT and Head of Boarding? That was when Denise told us all that Caroline’s son had cerebral palsy and was disabled.
To be honest we were all a bit surprised. Denise was the only person who knew this. We were all trying to take this in! And yes we all agreed with Denise. This seemed impossible for one person to do. It was Denise who said watch out as you two will be doing all the work. She said it half jokingly. But one couldn’t help think she was probably right, something would have to give!
Oh and yes, I had been asked to coach a hockey team, and yes I had said I was a bit old for all that, but I had also said that I felt there was a lot of work to do in the boarding house!
I did not say or do anything wrong here!
Sarah Williams
Caroline is saying that ‘this was repeated to me [Caroline] by Sarah Williams‘ This is absolutely untrue, Sarah would never say anything like this! One, Sarah knew I did not want to be the senior housemistress. Two, Sarah knew I loved my flat and was very happy there [apart from having to walk through Caroline’s garden!]. Three what on earth has Knaresborough got to do with anything? I cannot ever imagine Sarah saying that Caroline had ‘enough on with a child like Oscar‘.
But let’s see – what exactly did I do here? She says ‘If these ideas are not challenged’. Who’s ideas? I did not say that, Caroline says that Sarah said that?!
What exactly is making her feel unsafe?
Barbara Bashing
I did follow – all – instruction. Even the ones that meant using 6 pages of paper in a ridiculously complicated way to register the girls, when ONE page would have done!
The only time Caroline tried to arrange to meet with me was not with ME alone, it was with Mariarita too. I am not sure about the verbally challenging RH and AH [Ruth and Andy] I have no idea what she is talking about here – there is no evidence that I have done anything.
In fact the only thing I have done is catch her out. The only thing I did wrong was go into the house to do my laundry and find her where she absolutely should not have been.
And yes I did think she was being unfair and I said so.
Evidence
I like evidence, as you can probably guess. I like facts. What medical documents did I change? This is rubbish. The only medical document changed was when Caroline back dated and signed Lisa’s self-administration form!
If someone is worried that there is no staff responsible for the girls in the house, is this not a safeguarding concern?
If nothing was passed on to her, thats not my fault is it? In fact I did not have a ‘handover’ with Sue Rowe, I never met Sue Rowe. She had already left the school when I started. I started on the 23rd March 2020.
The Famous Final Scene
The threat to leave.
What is professional integrity?
“the practice of maintaining appropriate ethical behaviour. It is the practice of showing strong adherence to moral and ethical principles and values such as honesty, honour, dependability and trustworthiness”.
Ummmm. Ok Caroline, whatever you think!
No one told her to ‘watch her back‘ unless of course it was one of her flying monkeys. Every member of staff I met from the school appeared to like me, I certainly got on with them! Most are too terrified of their positions in the school to say anything. I completely support that. Unfortunately.
Sadly, I would not recommend blowing the whistle to ANYONE!
Certainly not in Ripon Grammar School!