Craig 6700 Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 The parents of a girl who died suddenly have received a school letter demanding she improve her attendance. Megan Gillan, 15, was found dead in the bedroom of her home in Macclesfield, Cheshire, two months ago. Her parents say they were "floored" by a Macclesfield High School letter, which threatened to ban Megan from the end of year prom. The school has apologised for the mistake, which they said was down to an error on the computer database. The letter, dated 16 March, said "students must have at least 92% attendance and Megan's is currently 60.4%". Mrs Gillan, who works in A&E at Macclesfield Hospital, said: "I screamed when I first saw it. If they want her to attend that much I'll take Megan's remains. It's disgusting. "Megan doesn't go to that school any more. She's been dead for two months now so it's not surprising her attendance is low. "I was pulling myself together to go back to work, but receiving the letter has just floored me. "Megan would have loved going to the prom. She planned to go with a group of friends, she was really looking forward to it." Computer problem Cheshire County Council said the school's head teacher Ged Ward has telephoned the family to apologise. A spokesman said Capita software SIMS (School Information Management Systems) maintained Megan's details. "Megan's name had been taken off the school roll when she died, and removed from the main school database," the spokeswoman said. "However, unknown to the school, her details had remained in a different part of the computer system and were called up when the school did a mail merge letter to the parents of all Year 11 students about their prom. "The letter called up details of each student's attendance for the whole year to date and because Megan had been on roll in September, she was included." Phil Neal, managing director of SIMS, Capita Children's Services, said changes would be made to the firm's software to make sure the mistake was not repeated. "When a child is no longer attending a school, for whatever reason, the software will allow the school to continue to produce letters to their parents as occasionally it is necessary to do so. "It appears that this is what has happened in this case which everyone involved deeply regrets. "We have all been saddened that this caused so much distress to the family." Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/7963081.stm A database error?? You mean that someone neglected to remove her from the database? Absolutely disgusting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fop 1 Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 Well taken off the bits that would have generated that bit, allegedly. Still no excuse even if true (and you'd think the Headmaster would manage more than a phone call in such circumstances). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gejon 2 Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 Can she still go to the prom? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ayatollah Hermione 14094 Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 She's been dead for two months now so it's not surprising her attendance is low. Who knew bereaving mothers could have such pitch-perfect gallows humour? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now