Legal: No more “just between you and me”

A raconteur teacher may have been able to save his career, if only he hadn’t told students not to tell their parents about his stories of priestly toilet mishaps, teddy bears down pants and other assorted oddities.

The teacher in Chris Adams v Department of Education and Training FWC2942 had displayed a cavalier attitude to professional boundaries that was worthy of one of his own stories.

Fair Work Commission (FWC) Deputy President Gooley heard the unfair dismissal action in Melbourne recently. The Commission heard that Mr Adams accepted shoulder massages from female students, kissed a student’s hand and on one occasion burst into tears before his year four class. In addition, the flamboyant teacher ran an “Earn and Learn” program in which the kids wore badges with his face on them. He once rewarded a student for doing their homework by letting them watch a YouTube video of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s top fight scenes.

One particularly memorable story the teacher told his class involved a priest who managed to urinate over a bride on her wedding day, while another involved a girl who kept a teddy bear in her pants to stop a boy getting it.

Despite all of this, the recent decision at the FWC made it clear that the straw that broke the camel’s back for Mr Adams was not necessarily the things he had said and done, but the disturbing fact that he told students to keep his conduct from their parents. The students’ parents agitated for Mr Adams’ dismissal after the school’s initial investigation resulted in a warning for his conduct. A group of parents objected and the second investigation resulted in his dismissal.

In considering whether his dismissal was harsh, unjust or unreasonable, the FWC took into account all of his conduct but placed particular weight on his requesting that students not report his conduct to their parents. DP Gooley stated: “Of all the incidents, I consider his admission that at the commencement of each year he told students stories he had made up, he told the students not to tell anyone about the stories, this was a serious breach of his obligations as a teacher.

“That conduct, it was submitted by the department, put the children at risk and I agree… what Mr Adams did was legitimise children keeping secrets from others, including their parents.”

Ultimately, the decision to dismiss Mr Adams was upheld by the FWC on this point. This was despite the fact that there was plenty of evidence that, despite his unorthodox style, Mr Adams was an excellent teacher and it was broadly accepted that he had never intended anything improper in his conduct towards the children.

In conclusion, DP Gooley stated: “Had it not been for his statement to his students that they should not repeat the stories outside of the classroom, I may have reached a different view. However this conduct was particularly serious as it legitimised children keeping secrets from others at the behest of a person in authority.”

The clear lesson here is that nothing can ever be just between you and the students. Nothing is confidential in the classroom.

Edmund Burke                                                                                                                 Holding Redlich Lawyers