A school trust chief who sent racist messages to colleagues and called parents ‘low life’ has been banned from teaching.
Lee Hessey, who directed six primary schools in his role as chief executive officer of Nottinghamshire's The Forge Academy Trust, also referred to parents raising complaints as "scrotes, vermin and pond life".
A panel convened by the Teacher Regulation Agency (TRA) determined Mr Hessey described parents as "low life", a "stupid cow" and a "bonkio parent" in communications deemed inappropriate, derogatory and "potentially impugning a person’s mental health".
It concluded that had parents realised Mr Hessey, who also worked as a headteacher, held such views, "public confidence in both the individual and the wider profession would be damaged".
Findings showed he sent a message to a colleague reading: "Ofsted. I hope they all go under a f****** lorry in some black ice tomorrow morning just in time for Christmas. Complete set of sh**bags.
The panel said: “The panel found it wholly inappropriate to express the hope that Ofsted inspectors would die in a road traffic incident and to describe them as a ‘complete set of sh**bags’.
“The language was abusive, offensive and far removed from the standards expected of a headteacher.”
In another message to a colleague, Mr Hessey said “Buckingham Palace will be a lim city soon”, which the panel found to be a derogatory reference to Muslims, while in another he said: “A coloured character. Surprise, surprise.”
The panel regarded a message which said “Bongo Bongo land” as an offensive and racist expression directed towards black or African people.
The tribunal heard that he made references to “Tourette shoulder twitching”, which the panel perceived as mocking a disability.
The TRA panel said Mr Hessey became chief executive officer of the trust on September 1 2016.
The trust received complaints about his behaviour in 2023, including an allegation about the way he acted towards a pupil whilst acting as interim headteacher at a school during the 2021 to 2022 academic year.
During the investigation, text messages between Mr Hessey and two colleagues from September 2022 to April 2023 were disclosed in which it was alleged that Mr Hessey used inappropriate and discriminatory language.
The panel found there was no evidence to suggest that Mr Hessey’s actions were not deliberate or that he was acting under extreme duress.
It added: “Even if the tone of the messaging group was, at times, encouraged by others or reflected a culture of inappropriate ‘banter’, Mr Hessey was the most senior person in the group.
“He was the CEO and interim headteacher, and was expected to set the standard. The fact that others did not challenge him did not lessen his own responsibility.”
The panel said there was “substantial evidence” of Mr Hessey’s positive contributions to schools in deprived communities and that he had achieved “significant improvements”.
It did not suggest an indefinite ban, but this was overruled by a senior TRA official acting on the behalf of the Education Secretary, who said a prohibition order was “proportionate” and in the “public interest”.
Mr Hessey is banned indefinitely from teaching in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.
