Well, Good Grief

[Piggywaspushed]

I am rarely reduced to gobsmackedness but this has me indignant, gobsmacked, dumbfounded and flabbergasted. Anyone else seen it?

www.tes.com/news/teacher-who-said-pupil-had-massive-breasts-avoids-ban

Wow is all I can say. Under no circumstances should this teacher have kept his position working with children...

I’ve seen it. He didn’t say quite what is being reported.

*Mr Lindridge said he commented on the girl's breasts after she took a photograph on his phone without his knowledge, and then asked him to look at the image.

He explained: "The picture was taken from stomach height angled upwards, so the lower half of the picture was much bigger than the top half…I laughed and said it wasn’t her best look.

"She asked what I meant and I said: 'Your head is tiny, your breasts look enormous and I can see up your nostrils'."*

Now, personally I wouldn’t employ this person to wash my car, but it’s not quite the same as it’s been reported. As awful as it is.

But other things in the article are waaaaaay worse than the headline!

And he actually said 'words to that effect' by his own admission..

And she took the picture on HIS phone!!

Wtaf???? Fucking speechless!!!!!!

And one of the 'witnesses' was his wife???

Or possibly his mum...

You’re not wrong. I don’t know what the standard is for a ban so I don’t know whether one was justified here. It surprises me that it didn’t happen.

Although I’ve just read the content of the messages he sent her. Fucking hell - major pervert alert.

But also, I suppose, he might be homosexual, in which case that might explain their confidence that his actions weren’t sexually motivated?

Stephen Lindridge, a former science teacher at Anthony Gell School, a comprehensive in Derbyshire, had told the girl that she "had 'massive tits' or words to that effect with reference to an image of her on his mobile phone," a Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) panel has found.

He was also found guilty of engaging in "inappropriate physical contact" with the pupil by hugging her and kissing her cheek, head and neck.

However, while the panel agreed that Mr Lindridge "clearly overstepped boundaries", it did not consider his actions to be "sexually motivated".

Oh my God that makes me feel sick

The teacher also admitted to sending the girl a series of inappropriate messages over text or Snapchat, including: "love you loads and loads xx xx xx"; "you had a very big impact on me"; "why did I get so distracted when you were sat in front of me in a short skirt having just taken your tights off!"; "you need to change your perfume. Men clearly can't help themselves around you"; "maybe I only miss your magic fingers"; "morning beautiful"; and "Mmmwwaa x".

Unbelievable that they thought it wasn't sexually motivated.

😮😮😮 makes you wonder what has to happen to get a ban.

Absolutely disgraceful behaviour

The thing is that he admits all of it, too! And yet they find it not sexually motivated, as they believe his wife who gave evidence to say he always puts xxx at the end of messages.

I see.

Clearly rape convictions aren't going to get anywhere.

So presumably they had evidence that he regularly hugs and kisses other members of staff, sends them xxx and calls them beautiful?

Or does he know it’s inappropriate with e.g. the Head, but ‘forgot’ with this pupil?

The actual DfE report is on public record :

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/856787/Mr_Stephen_Lindridge_-_Professional_conduct_panel_outcome.pdf

He has presented himself as a bit thick and naïve. This seems to be a defence.

The really disturbing subtext to all this is the unspoken suggestion that he couldn't help it.

The hugging lots of students and other staff never saying anything to him rings alarm bells too. Wow.

I'd definitely report a teacher to our DSL if I saw him hugging and kissing students!

Why were they even communicating over SM?

This is how he actually got rumbled in the first place it seems.

I just read the report and this comment which to me seems obviously sexual “why did I get so distracted when you were sat in front of me in a short skirt having just taken your tights off!"
Doesn’t seem to be explained anywhere and yet seems to be the thing that needs the most explaining.

Oh God I know!!! It absolutely leaps out!

There was a woman on the panel which I find deeply disappointing.

What seems to have happened is that the student disclosed something to him over social media (!) that he then reported as a safeguarding concern, and as a result he was investigated himself. Which I think, to some extent, bolsters his insistence that he wasn’t sexually motivated because if he thought he might lose his job, it’s doubtful he would make the safeguarding referral. Maybe he is just a genuine honest-to-god idiot.

Fucking hell i’m genuinely speechless