Hull: More teachers suspended after ‘crude’ remarks on Facebook

Just days after a teacher in Hull was suspended over derogatory comments on Facebook, it has emerged two others at a secondary school in the East Riding could also face disciplinary action over a conversation about groups of children at the school.

An investigation was launched after pupils at South Holderness Technology College, at Preston, near Hull, passed round copies of the messages, which apparently contain crude language and originated from an online chat between three members of staff.

Coun Julie Abraham, portfolio holder for children, young people and schools, said: “The school has worked swiftly and staff have been suspended.

“We need to send out the message that it is not acceptable for professional people to be acting in that way.

“I can’t believe that people don’t know what they are doing and they are not likely to be caught out – because clearly people are caught out.”

Last week a teacher at Westcott Primary School in Hull was suspended after she branded locals “thick” and “inbred.”

Coun Abraham continued: “I think it is all very similar (to the case in Hull). It was a conversation between school staff. I don’t think individual children were named, I think it was a comment in general about groups of children, which went beyond the bounds of what is acceptable.

“They shouldn’t be discussing school business or pupils on a social networking site.”

An investigating officer has been appointed to carry out inquiries, which may lead to a disciplinary panel later this year.

The National Union of Teachers’ county secretary Brian Swinton said the union advised teachers not to criticise the school in public or discuss pupils outside school.

He said: “Facebook is a great thing but it is not a great thing for teachers who feel they might want to unwind with colleagues. The staff room is a secure place supposedly in which it is acknowledged that you blow off a bit and say what you feel; but of course Facebook is rather more public – or can be more public.”

Beverley and Holderness Conservative MP Graham Stuart, who is chairman of the education select committee, said the boundaries about the use of social networking sites needed to be made “crystal clear.”

Mr Stuart said: “What is undeniable is that teachers need clarity as to what is or is not acceptable; there probably needs to be serious discussion at a local and possibly national level about coming up with such guidelines.”

Meanwhile Hull Council is investigating after being called in by the Interim Executive Board at Westcott Primary school, in east Hull.

The head of governors apologised last week to parents for remarks made during a conversation between the female teacher, which also apparently involved headteacher Debbie Johnson and other staff.

When one of them said he was in town and fed up of bumping into children, the teacher apparently responded: “do you mean top end of holderness road? that’s bout as far as anyone in east hull goes! no wonder everyone is thick... inbreeding must damage brain development.”

Copies of the chat appeared afterwards posted on lampposts near the school.

An investigation by Hull Council is expected to take a couple of weeks.

The council has said all professionals “need to be mindful of professional expectations in relation to all communication, even in their own time.”

The primary school went into special measures last March, but was removed from the blacklist after an inspection this month. South Holderness Technology College, which has more than 1,800 pupils, was last inspected in July and judged to be making “satisfactory progress,” after having the best set of GCSEs in its history. Last year the proportion of students gaining the benchmark five or more good grades at GCSE, including English and Maths rose to just above the national average.