Teacher fired for contacting student

[youveturnedupwelldone]

Trying to make sense of this a bit, and I'd be grateful for any insight.

I recently found out that a close and longstanding teacher friend of mine (male) was fired for contacting a student (female, 6th form age) outside the school network - I assume on social media, personal email etc, that detail wasn't shared with me.

I know this is a safeguarding issue, I understand the school had to take action. What I'd like to understand is the likely context, as he was sacked very fast after the incident. I have strong views about this sort of thing, having been a school governor and done all the training, and once my disapproval was sensed the exact details were not forthcoming which make me think there is a lot more to it.

Does anyone have any experience of this and how these sorts of transgressions are treated generally? For instance if it was a quick dismissal is there a likelihood it was sexual in nature, or would the simple fact of contacting the student at all be enough to be dismissed without notice? I assume it was reported to the school which makes me think there was something very off about the communication.

And grooming generally starts off with supposedly innocent contact

So the policy is there for a reason

Must be pretty bad - when I was at school my friend dated one of our teachers at 16 from when she left. He's still teaching at the same school and they've been together 25 years
No disciplinary or anything

@youveturnedupwelldone I'm ex police. Got chatting to a guy in the pub with DH a few summers ago who admitted he was also police but was suspended pending an investigation into spurious complaints from his ex which he was sure would be binned shortly. Yeah yeah, heard it all before from the likes of him, finished my pint and we headed home.

Guess who got banged up for 4yrs for stalking his ex. He pleaded guilty about 3 months after we met him.

These types use their jobs as shields and it's never their fault, it's always someone else's.

Ugh - that he is going on about it being unfair does not bode well.

Good people make mistakes and do stupid things - but what would be the reaction from a good person in this situation? I'd expect something like: I was so stupid, I can't believe I did that, I hold my hands up to my mistake understand why the school had to make the decision they did.

I would be demanding to know exactly what the messages contained. If it’s innocent he has nothing to hide. If he won’t tell and continues to “be cagey”, that’s all you need to know.

Contacting students for any reason outside official channels would be a stackable offense, although if it was a genuine, well meaning act of stupidity he might get a second chance.

I don't think it necessarily means he's done anything really dreadful. As in any other job, the appetite to get rid of him quickly/give him a second chance will also depend on how he was performing generally.

A family member of mine was married to a teacher who was suspended pending investigation of inappropriate contact with a 16 year old female. Family member and wider family supported him (attended court, paid legal fees etc). Turned out it was a sexual relationship spanning months. Arrested and convicted, he spent some time in jail, placed on sex offenders register and struck off from teaching. Family member now divorced and no contact with him.

I suspect in your case it may come out in the news eventually if the contact was sinister. I'd agree with you to steer clear especially if he's withholding details.

He would have had training and regular reminders about appropriate and inappropriate contact between pupils and teachers. Anything outside of official school channels is inappropriate. There is no need whatsoever for a teacher to be contacting a pupil via private whatsapp/text/facebook etc.
It could be that the act of contacting outside the school network is sackable, no matter what the content of the message was.
Perhaps he had already had a warning for similar.
It could be that the messages were extremely inappropriate or of a grooming nature and that's why he was dismissed instantly rather than warned.

You can't know the exact details BUT he has crossed a boundary which he would have known perfectly well exists and exists for a reason - to protect pupils but also to protect teachers from false accusations.
No decent teachers would contact a pupil outside the school network.
That means he acted inappropriately and I would have major concerns about his intent with the messages - even if they were seemingly related to school work and the like.

I think it depends on the content of the messages at that age tbh. I used to have my college tutor as a Facebook friend when I was about 17 18ish. I remember him once asking why everyone seemed so tired this morning and to go to bed earlier and me telling him it was a bit rich considering he had been on Cityville at half 2 that morning. There was never anything inappropriate, we just chatted and sent materials requests for games.

We were becoming adults and our relationships with other adults in our live were changing with us.

It is a hard no, regardless of the reason. Groomers start off innocent with nothing inappropriate, games requests… and once a relationship is formed taking it from there.

And also, and under 18 child knowing their teacher is gaming until 2.30am is unprofessional and crosses boundaries. Teachers aren’t your friends.

Absolutely not ok in this day and age. No teachers should be SM friends with any learners of any age. It's a conflict of interest at best, and an abuse of power at worst.

@Balloonhearts no matter how recent or how long ago that was, it was a deeply inappropriate relationship I'm afraid.

You as the child did nothing wrong. The adult, however, as a teacher in your life was way over the line of I'm propriety no matter how well meaning you thought it all was.