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Nov 08, 2024

Mom could lose her job over daughter’s earrings

A mom is facing court action and could lose her job for refusing to pay a school fine after her daughter was banned from lessons for having her ears pierced. Helen Gent’s daughter Lucille, 14, was

A mom is facing court action and could lose her job for refusing to pay a school fine after her daughter was banned from lessons for having her ears pierced.

Helen Gent’s daughter Lucille, 14, was wearing “tiny” stud earrings when she returned to Magnus Church of England Academy in England after the school holidays, SWNS reports.

But the Year 10 student was told they went against uniform policy due to “health and safety issues.” She was put into isolation.

Gent said the school still refused to allow her back in class even after explaining they would need to stay in for six to eight weeks to heal and avoid the risk of infection.

The 45-year-old took her daughter out of lessons for five days to homeschool her but the teenager returned the following week wearing plastic studs.

Gent claims nobody performed a uniform check on the pupil and there were no further problems until the new school year started.

She then received a letter from the school saying as Lucille was absent for five days, they could take court action, which would jeopardize the mother’s employment.

The academy followed up by sending a letter fining Gent £60 ($77.79) if paid within 28 days or £120 ($155.58) if not paid within that period for “unauthorized absences.”

Gent said: “I said I’m not going to pay because I didn’t take her out of lessons, that was the school’s choice and I have now received a court summons for criminal action.

“I took her to school to register for classes every single day of those five days, and they refused to let her into class.”

She said it wasn’t as though she’d taken Lucille on holiday. She had taken her into the school and the teenager was turned away.

Gent labeled it a “massive over-reaction,” claiming she could end up with a criminal record.

“My daughter loves school, is a straight-A student, and has 100 percent attendance apart from these days. I just can’t get my head around it,” she said.

“To get a letter from the CPS essentially asking if I plead guilty or not guilty for sending my daughter to school with earrings is just bizarre.”

The taxi driver has had to hire a solicitor as the case is currently in the hands of Nottinghamshire County Council Prosecution Service and she will be taken to court.

She said if she wins nothing will happen but if she loses, she will cop a criminal record.

“I am just outraged that the result of me having a criminal record could prevent me from getting employment in the future and it could even affect the job I do currently,” she said.

“I’m a taxi driver, I work with vulnerable children and adults. I have got a clear DBS check because of working with children and adults.

“But it’s required as part of my taxi license, if I then have a criminal record, I would have to ask permission from Newark and Sherwood District Council to set that aside so that I can continue my work as a taxi driver.

“If they decide not to do that, I would be unemployed — this is absolutely ridiculous.”

Gent says she is waiting to hear back from her solicitor, and the date for her court case.

The fuming mom previously blasted the “Victorian-style authoritarian policy” as most schools and workplaces allow for simple stud earrings to be worn.

She criticized the uniform policy and branded the state-run school “sexist, archaic, and irrelevant.”

The mother is furious her daughter’s education has suffered a pair of stud earrings, calling forbidding her from accessing education “indirect sexism.”

Her daughter was offered to be taught in isolation in an office but the mother considered it a safeguarding issue.

“A single pair of tiny stud earrings should not be a problem. It is part of British culture and isn’t relevant to a child’s learning ability,” the mom said.

“It’s basically saying that piercing her ears is shameful and should be punished by removing her valuable education.

“Other schools have the common sense to realize having ear piercings doesn’t affect a child’s ability to learn.

“Even the NHS has revised its policy to allow stud earrings because they recognize it doesn’t prevent their staff from doing their work and is not a health and safety obstacle.

“A Victorian-style dictatorial, authoritarian policy, using strict military discipline across a standard state school, that reinforces ‘do what I say and not what I do’, is not the best way to get the most out of children.”

Magnus Academy’s policy on jewelry states that students may wear a watch.

However, health and safety issues, plus concerns relating to the loss of valuable items, and jewelry of any kind are banned.

A Magnus Academy spokesman said: “Our uniform standards are clear and available on our website.

“These have not changed in over six years, and reminders are sent home frequently throughout the year.

“On rare occasions, and where individuals do arrive at school having not followed our uniform policy, we always give them an opportunity to correct this.

“If they do not, or cannot correct their uniform, we provide work, along with full teacher support, for them to complete elsewhere within the school.

“We do not exclude for uniform breaches, and work with families to resolve them quickly.”