School principal who sexually harassed student teacher struck off register

The three-person panel found five allegations of professional misconduct proven beyond reasonable doubt, including that the principal had sought to use his position to pursue an inappropriate, sexual relationship with the teacher. File picture

A school principal who sexually harassed a student teacher at his school in the West of Ireland eight years ago has been struck off the Register of Teachers after being found guilty of professional misconduct at a fitness-to-teach inquiry.

An inquiry panel of the Teaching Council also ruled the man cannot reapply to have his name restored to the register for at least 15 years after finding a series of allegations of inappropriate conduct by the principal towards the young female teacher proven.

In an email to the regulatory body last July in response to the inquiry’s findings, the married father of adult children, who cannot be identified, said: “I used to think I was a good man, husband, father and member of the teaching profession. I’m now a pariah and treated as if I had committed a murder. I’ve lost the life I used to have.” 

The three-person panel found five allegations of professional misconduct proven beyond reasonable doubt, including that the principal had sought to use his position to pursue an inappropriate, sexual relationship with the teacher.

Other findings against the principal included he had locked the student teacher in the school on April 20, 2017, after all the students had left and tried to persuade her to have a relationship with him that he pointed out would be beneficial for her career.

The inquiry heard evidence the principal had told her there would be opportunities if she was “willing to treat him well” after declaring that he liked her.

The principal suggested during the same incident they should book a hotel room in Dublin to get to know each other.

The panel also concluded he had placed his hand inside the teacher’s jacket and touched and rubbed her back and waist during a variety show in the school on March 24, 2017, which was also attended by his wife and teenage daughter.

The panel, chaired by Paul Moroney, ruled the teacher had also committed various breaches of the Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers over his failure to maintain professional boundaries.

The inquiry heard the woman — who is now a fully qualified teacher in her 30s — only felt able to come forward to make a complaint about the principal in 2022.

The panel said she was “credible and consistent” during her appearance before a two-day inquiry last March, while it observed her testimony was “compelling”. 

The principal told the inquiry his accuser’s testimony was “fantasy”. The inquiry panel was repeatedly told he would not have risked his job and family for “some cheap sexual thrill”. The principal claimed he was being targeted as a middle-aged man and the teacher’s allegations had “everything but race” in them.

However, the panel found that he was “not a convincing witness”.

It noted his response to the allegations relating to the variety show and locking the teacher in the school were “utterly void of substance”. 

Counsel for the Teaching Council, Kate Egan BL, had called for the sanction to reflect the regulatory body’s view that the principal’s behaviour was “extremely serious” and “not an isolated event”.  

Announcing the sanction, the inquiry chairperson said the principal’s actions had involved conduct of a most serious nature from a teacher in a position of power and authority, which included an unsolicited and inappropriate invitation and surreptitious physical contact.

Mr Moroney said he had also engaged in predatory behaviour as well as proposing a relationship of a sexual and inappropriate nature with an attempted use of inducements and suggestions he had also offered similar assistance to other women in the past.

“The events which occurred were frightening and intimidating for a young, quite vulnerable student teacher,” said Mr Moroney.

“This was not an isolated lapse in judgement. The conduct involved repeated deliberate boundary violations and an abuse of power.” Mr Moroney said such conduct could not be tolerated or it would undermine confidence in the profession.

Mr Moroney said the principal’s removal from the register was the only sanction to mark the gravity of the case and which would protect the public and maintain confidence in the profession.

“A strong message needs to be sent that the conduct engaged in by the principal was absolutely unacceptable,” he concluded.