Blaze fear of teacher sacked for striking student

A teacher sacked for striking a student while she was making a phone call about a fire was frightened because she had been involved in a blaze before, a tribunal heard yesterday.

Information technology lecturer Steph Crossley, of Huddersfield, allegedly struck 20-year-old Sabia Sajid on her hip at Kirklees College last year.

The tribunal at Leeds heard the 57-year-old was teaching a class at the college on January 27 when she and her pupils could smell smoke, but could not see any flames.

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As Miss Crossley made a telephone call regarding the fire and was taking instructions, she "needed quiet" and slapped Miss Sajid on her hip in a bid to get her to quieten down, the hearing was told.

Miss Sajid was not injured or seriously hurt as a result of the incident.

At her disciplinary hearing, which eventually led to her dismissal, Miss Crossley said she may have acted as she did because of an underlying anxiety about fires.

She said at the time: "I don't like fire because I was involved in a school that had a real fire, whether that's at the heart of it – I don't know."

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Miss Crossley, who is claiming unfair dismissal, also said she was prepared to handle most situations after having had nearly 25 years of experience and being used to the classroom situation, as well as being treated as an everyday member of staff.

College vice principal Andrea Machell told the tribunal Miss Crossley was given the chance to explain her behaviour but her previous experience of a fire was not considered a mitigating circumstance.

Mrs Machell said: "We were trying to find out if this member of staff had any previous circumstances we needed to consider... We gave Miss Crossley every opportunity to say 'that was unusual circumstances and I acted out of character'.

Miss Crossley's counsel, Jenni Watson, asked Mrs Machell if the

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previous fire and Miss Crossley's unblemished record had made a difference to the panel.

Mrs Machell replied: "We did consider that and asked her, 'Did you panic?' and her reply was, 'No, I absolutely did not panic."'

The case continues.

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