A married headteacher has avoided a teaching ban after he spent four hours having sex with a female colleague - while his pupils brawled outside.
Adam Price was having a secret affair with his colleague. But while the pair were 'engaging in sexual activites' for nearly four hours in his office during a working day, there had been three attacks on staff and four separate fights between pupils.
The secret affair came to light a month later, after two anonymous letters were sent to the school. After being issued with a letter of suspension, Mr Price - who had "an impressive track record in a challenging education sector" - immediately resigned in disgrace.
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He dodged a teaching ban as "no doubt had been cast upon his abilities as an educator", however watchdogs refused his appeal to remain anonymous. By naming and shaming Mr Price, it was seen to be sending an "appropriate message" that the "standards of behaviour that were not acceptable", BirminghamLive reports.
A Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) hearing, held in Coventry earlier this year, heard that Mr Price, 40, was the Executive Headteacher at Northern House School Academy Trust, in Wolverhampton, from April 2017 until his suspension and resignation in February 2020. A report of the findings revealed that Mr Price admitted he was in his office with the woman - referred to as Person B - for much of the working day on January 27, 2020, which amounted to approximately three hours 50 minutes in total.
Mr Price was referred to the TRA on February 20, 2020, after two anonymous letters were sent to the school questioning the behaviour of the pair, the nature of their relationship and what they had been doing during the day in Mr Price’s office when pupils and other staff were on site. A review of CCTV footage for January 27, 2020, revealed that Mr Price and Person B had been engaging in sexual activities in his office that day.
Mr Price immediately resigned when he was issued with a letter of suspension on February 20, 2020. During the professional conduct panel hearing, Mr Price admitted that he and Person B engaged in sexual activities and there were periods of time when they were unclothed.
The panel were told on the day in question there had been three assaults on staff and four separate fights between pupils. That day three members of school staff were off and Person B had requested additional cover - even cancelling one employee's scheduled offsite training. Mr Price admitted he had failed to place the safety and welfare of children above all considerations and failed to refrain from actions that would bring the school into disrepute.
Mr Price also admitted breaching Northern House School's 'Relationships at Work' Policy by failing to declare a personal relationship with Person B. However, the TRA decided not to enforce a teaching ban as Mr Price had made a valuable contribution to the profession and expressed remorse, which appeared to the panel to be genuine.
John Knowles for the Education Secretary, who had the final say, said: “In the light of the panel’s findings against Mr Price, there was a public interest consideration in respect of the protection of pupils, given that in acting as he did on the day concerned, he failed to place the safety and welfare of children above all considerations.
“However, based on all of the evidence presented, the panel concluded that the risk to pupils arising from his conduct was not significant. A prohibition order would prevent Mr Price from and clearly deprive the public of his contribution to the profession for the period that it is in force."
