Foul-mouthed Blackburn teacher is banned from classrooms (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Foul-mouthed Blackburn teacher is banned from classrooms

1:00pm Saturday 27th October 2012 in News

A foul-mouthed teacher who swore at pupils, threw a piece of wood across a classroom and told pupils he thought the deputy head was a vampire has been banned from the country’s classrooms.

In a decision just announced, Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove banned Frank White, 61, from teaching for at least the next four years.

The ban follows Teaching Agency disciplinary panel find that he was guilty of “unacceptable professional conduct” whilst employed as a teacher at Witton Park High School, Buncer Lane, Blackburn, between 2008 and 2010.

The panel found that, in November 2009, White threw a piece of wood across a classroom and shouted overly aggressively at two pupils. One of them claimed that it made her “really, really scared.”

He also made inappropriate comments to a third pupil, saying: “If I were a member of Joe Public and money didn’t change hands then I would probably rip off your head and s*** down your chuffing neck”.

It found, based on pupils’ statements, that he rubbed garlic on his hands and chased pupils before wiping his hands on them, and made intimidating comments towards pupils during lessons on several occasions.

The findings say: “There is clear evidence which establishes on the balance of probabilities that Mr White regularly made comments such as that if a pupil was his daughter, she would have a red bum, he regularly banged down a mallet on to a table close to a pupil, and he spoke aggressively, and threatened to hit pupils with pieces of wood, when the pupils believed that he had actually hit pupils previously.”

The panel also found that he made inappropriate and unprofessional remarks about members of staff, including by imitating the accents of other people, and telling pupils that he thought Mrs Barnes, a Deputy Head, was a vampire.

It said that he repeatedly swore and made a racist remark to a member of staff.

It added that he failed to implement the necessary health and safety requirements by not ensuring that pupils wore safety goggles and aprons during design and technology lessons.

Giving the decision on the Secretary of State’s behalf, Teaching Agency deputy director Alan Meyrick said: “Mr White has evidenced unacceptable behaviour across a number of areas and over a period of time. His behaviours fall significantly short of the standards expected of qualified teachers and they have the ability to undermine the public’s trust and confidence in the status and standing of the profession.

“Mr White dealt with both pupils and colleagues in an unacceptable way and his language and attitudes are wholly unacceptable. This pattern of behaviour therefore amounts to a serious departure from the expected standards and I accept the recommendation of the panel that it is in the public interest and proportionate to prohibit Mr White.”

Setting a four year period before White can apply to be restored to the profession, he added: “Mr White has shown little insight and the evidence appears to be clear that Mr White has a deeply entrenched attitude to authority.”

The decision means that White is prohibited from teaching in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. He may apply for the Prohibition Order to be set aside, but not until 18 October 2016, and if he does so, will have to persuade a panel that he is fit to teach again.

He has a right of appeal to the High Court.