Hello everyone / Today I had bad luck with my son’s school / My son is six years old in the first grade / He pressed the alarm button and caused a false alarm and two fire trucks came to school / The school principal told me about the possibility of getting a bill estimated at 3000 dollars / I tried to discuss with her and she told me that the school will not pay this amount if there is a fine that will be paid by the father / What should I do?
Thank you
Yeah or something like does the department of fire price match or if I get cashback if pay through Cashrewards or ShopBack or do they accept payment by discounted gift cards etc.
Shouldn't the school be held responsible for a 6yo sounding out the fire alarm in the school compound?
As a parent, i ought to be held responsible for my kids smashing, breaking stuffs and rules at home…. and likewise the school needs to share responsibility to educate the kids what should or should not be done within the school compounds.
In this case, i will ask for a 50-50 if it did come to that extent.
50-50 are you kidding lol ?
I really can't believe people are falling for the principle's bluff :)
No wonder people fall for scams .
You got it right the first time. This is 100% on the school - legally (and morally) OP has zero to do with it as the school is the kid's legal guardian while he is there.
Was the alarm button correctly protected with a breakable caver panel? has your son broken this panel? Has the school completed education on the use of the fire alarm? Its most likely there wont be any charges forwarded to the school…more so if its also a state school.
Your son is completely responsible. You all need to stop blaming the teachers for these kids causing mayhem.
Maybe all these forum topics are just social engineering to educate the masses.
Look how much discussion a “possible” fine has generated 1000s of people educated for free!
Looks like during pandemic people are losing their minds and blaming 6yr old for pressing alarm button. Every alarm button is surrounded by protective case and should be installed at proper height. I suggest OP check whether this was the case or not? I am still struggling to understand how a 6 yr old reached to that height, broke the case and set the alarm. Negotiate with school if you get the fine by raising this concern. I know principals sometimes take this personal as they are at fault and try to shift blame on parent. Just my 2 cents..
"how a 6 yr old reached to that height, broke the case and set the alarm"
OP said the child doesn't respond well to alarms and so is drawn to set them off. The child knew it was such an alarm, but had only touched it 'gently' to see how much effort it would take to turn on.
Id tell em to bugger off. If he's under your supervision then sure, but if they're supposed to be supervising him and have a fire alarm within reach, then that's their problem. Even though i don't totally agree with that, the fact they were so aggressive to you means id be aggressive back. Probably a terrible approach to things. Bugger
Telling em to bugger off is indeed the right thing. The school does not have a leg to stand on - while the kid is under their care he is 100% their responsibility under law (the legal doctrine is that the school is "in loco parentis").
In my apartment building, there's someone smoking in the fire stairs.
Set off the alarm 3 times this week.
I'd say this was the Schools fault. They need to do some sort of education for the students saying something as simple as don't press this button only teachers
can do it and sign off on this by sending that this education is done to the parent and these are the consequences of a false alarm.
The kids have no idea what is does ie when they play a video game there is a a "fire" button they need to be taught this is different.
Even as adults ( I am a first responder for a company) we have to have education.
If you say it is the school's fault you'd be 100% right. Legally OP has absolutely nothing to do with it.
It sounds like she's panicking.
Wait and see.
This would happen occasionally w fire station.
So also not out of the ordinary.
I am confused, don't you have to smash a glass to hit the button or is it like one of those pretty red button that young kids read as please press me?
Did it happen during school hours? If so I would have lodged a complaint against the school for lack of supervision and not to mention the school should pay for the bill.
You can't monitor every single child, every single second. It's literally impossible.
If it was impossible for the school to monitor the child at school how was it possible for the parents to do so if they were not even there at the time?
By the way, there were news about children wondered off the childcare centres and it was the centres who were fined not the parents.
Never said anything about the parents or the school or the parents being fined, you said it.
Teachers can not monitor every single student, every single moment. And yes, parents can't monitor their kids either all the time. Even parents at home and they go to the toilet, their kids can do something within that time span. Not even stay-at-home parents can keep an eye on their kids 24/7.
A daycare centres have more staff to kids ratio in less space than a primary school. And if children wondered off in childcare centres, what makes you think a primary school with the teacher to kid ratio is greater can monitor all kids at all times.
What I am saying is, no kids in any type of situation can be monitored all the time. The park, the shopping centre, school, their friends house, pool, whatever the scenario is, the adult that is supposed to be watching them can take their eyes off them for a quick second and something can happen.
@hasher22: That’s right. Neither the parents 1:1 ratio, childcare centres 1:10 ratio, or the teachers 1:20 can 24/7 monitor the children so the excuse you made up is invalid or irrelevant to this topic. The key is who the child is under whose supervision at the time should be held responsible for.
I would be asking where it is stated you become legally responsible for the outcome of your child under their supervision.
Unless your child were understanding the response to pressing a button with words some 6 year olds cannot even read I cannot see how they can be found negligent/responsible.
As others have said, the alarm was installed in the location under the schools instruction. If due diligence cannot be shown that the school had protections against children setting it off then it is on them.
OP what state are you in? 3k seems excessive! In WA fines are about $960 for false alarm callouts.
i suggest disciplining your child or seeking some therapy - he is clearly showing signs of behavioral or cognitive abnormalities
Just a wild guess.. you’re a recent immigrant with less than stellar English. The principal is 1/ using you as a punching bag for his/her failure to adequately manage kids in care 2/ trying you on to see if you can be fooled into paying a bill which will otherwise need to be explained to the bosses and finance department.
Stop worrying about this right now. Don’t pay any bill for fire alarm from school that shows up.
If they do try to charge you. Complaint to the department of education. The take it to vcat.
They won't issue it so it isn't worth worrying about. The only reason the account would be issued would be if the school has a history of really silly false call outs.
I worked in a big school - fire alarm in various parts went off about once every 6 - 12 months. We were always threaten that next time there might be one but each time no bill arrived. It was just accepted that kids are kids.
The point of the bill is to ensure that owners have a systems that prevents unneeded call outs. Do you really think it would be a good idea to reduce the fire system sensitivity in a school? Or is the cost of safety better born by the community?
Imagine the Fire Department explaining at an inquest they issued a bill so they would work on decreasing call outs.
Bill won't come so stop worrying.
If the call point had actually been pressed, then the school would have been notified of the event via letter and asked to provide further information.
If there has been no similar incidents in the past you are correct - it is not likely a fee would be levied.
Let's say, hypothetically - your son did not activate the manual call point (MCP).
Let say, hypothetically a teacher only thought they saw your son press the MCP. In fear that FRV would attend and potentially levy a hefty attendance fee - they preemptively made a "000" exchange call requesting cancellation (hypothetically).
In this hypothetical reality, no signal had passed from the MCP to the alarm signaling equipment (ASE).
FRV crews attended anyway - once an exchange call is made, the call details are required to be verified. (Furthermore, had there been a signal generated via the ASE - you cannot cancel it with a phone call). Hypothetically.
In this case, you may have found that at 1341hrs, code "609" (Manually initiated - good intent not classified) was given.
The school will not receive any further notification of this call.
I trust this assists. Hypothetically.
Given the negs, I was probably being too obtuse / trying to be funny.
I wouldn't worry about the fine until you see it, I doubt they will issue a fine.
FRV is not an enforcement agency and do not issue fines. Attendance fees are prescribed as a fee for service for when no reasonable excuse for the false alarm can be determined as per Section 32D of the FRV Act.
If they do issue a fine it will be to the school, not OP. And legally it is 100% the school's, not OP's, liability.
take away phone and playstation and tv and ipad for 3 months as punishment
In NSW an automatic fire alarm will not be charged if there has been more than 60 days between activation's as accidents happen, give your local fire station a call and ask their advice
"The school principal told me about the possibility of getting a bill estimated at 3000 dollars"
Possibility? Sounds like the school principal isn't actually sure…
I think because there is no guaranteed bill/fine when the trigger is pulled.
This is ridiculous. Just remind them its their job to take care of your child. There is also a duty of care, they are lucky he didnt get injured getting to the switch. They are blaming a 6 year old of activating a fire alarm. Are they even supposed to put it within reach of a 6 year old ? I always thought they were meant to look after the children at all times.
Every 6 year old causes mischief in their own way. Why would you punish someone for learning about things. Probably just learnt what a fire alarm was and wanted to find out.
"Probably just learnt what a fire alarm was and wanted to find out."
OP previously stated the child finds alarms disconcerting from previous instances… It seems like the child is drawn to alarms.
In any case, OP has long-gone from this thread.
Who get's the fire alarm bill from the fire department?
If you do get a bill, ask for the official bill from whatever department, cause to my understanding they don't just hand out bills to all alarms that go off.
I agree the responsibility lies with the adult reasonable for the 6 year old. At that time during the school day that's the teacher. Given the teacher was at work, their employer is ultimately responsible.
The school should pay.
Hey OP, any update to your post?
They haven’t logged on in almost two months. Only joined to leech off the community before buggering off
Hey kerfuffle, stop your Jedi mind reading tricks and posting exactly what I was thinking when I asked OP.
This is ozBargain. The question should have been ~
"how do I get a discount on the $3000 fine my son got…"