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A Queensland teacher accused of attempting to kiss a student on the lips can now attempt to return to the classroom after being banned from reapplying for his teaching license for one month, according to a civil tribunal ruling.
The Queensland College of Teachers suspended the man’s registration in 2021, 14 months after a student made a complaint to the school, and launched a year-long investigation into the teacher.
It said it found 31 separate instances that amounted to inappropriate conduct.
A male teacher can now reapply for his license after having it stripped for misconduct with female year 11 and 12 students.Credit: Eamon Gallagher
These instances of misconduct – seven of which the teacher admitted crossed professional boundaries – began from 2018 after he had been the cohort’s year level coordinator for two years.
The QCT said the misconduct continued with several students until 2020, after the cohort had graduated.
It said one student reported that on her last day of school while the two were alone in his office, the teacher had hugged her and kissed her on the cheek.
She said he then attempted to kiss her on the lips.
In another instance in October 2018, he placed his hand on a student’s leg twice during a bus ride.
The QCT said the teacher had also messaged students, telling them he loved them, discussing his marriage, and offering to ferry students to and from parties, their homes, and other locations.
In one text message sent to one of the students and submitted before the tribunal, the respondent said he “should have known better”.
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“I guess I can only hope and ask that if you are able to ensure that its [sic] kept between us, as it may result in me losing my job and any chance of any other work forever,” he wrote to the student.
“Although no lines were crossed it was still not right and once again I am so sorry, I feel sick that its made you feel like this.”
The QCT said the teacher had spent time before school and during lunch breaks with students without a valid teaching reason.
After the students had graduated, he invited individual students back to his residence four times, documented between December 2019 and February 2020.
Two of those times, the QCT said, would have resulted in him being home alone with the former student, and in one instance he allegedly supplied a 17-year-old former student with alcohol for a house party and later invited them to spend the night.
It said one former student who had been involved in some of the instances had been “frightened to drop-off and pick-up her siblings from school” in case she ran into the man.
The QCT stopped the teacher from renewing his license in 2022, and the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal presiding member Dominic Henley Katter upheld the decision.
“There is no evidence that the respondent has demonstrated remorse for his actions, taken any steps to correct his behaviour or participated in any remedial programs,” Katter said.
In his ruling, made in November, Katter banned the teacher from reapplying for one month.
Future reapplications would requite standard background checks, which include a police and criminal history check, Blue Card check, and the details of any QTC disciplinary action or refusal of registration.
Katter also ruled the teacher would need to obtain a psychological evaluation that showed development in maintaining professional boundaries, in particular with children and young people.
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