Struck off, head who called in sick so he could f ly to Cuba
A heADMASTeR got himself signed off sick so he could go on a charity bike ride in Cuba after being refused permission to take leave during term.
Before the trip Ian McCann, 59, told another teacher that he had spent £2,000 on a deposit and was taking the eight days off ‘regardless of the consequences’.
Yesterday he was banned from teaching after a fitness to practise panel concluded that his ‘flouting’ of his school governors’ authority amounted to misconduct.
handing down its decision, the national College for Teaching and
‘Difficult to think of a worse example’
Leadership panel said Mr McCann’s behaviour was not fitting for the head of a school. ‘The findings of misconduct are very serious,’ it said.
‘The panel is particularly concerned that Mr McCann, as head teacher, had deliberately flouted the authority of the governing body and taken leave of absence to go to Cuba during term time which had not been authorised by the governing body.
‘It is difficult to think of a worse example that he could have set to staff and pupils at the school.’
The misconduct hearing was told that in March 2015 Mr McCann, who was head of Rosewood Primary School in Burnley, submitted a written request for unpaid leave to go on the charity bike ride in Cuba, but it was denied. A second application was also refused.
Undeterred, he then obtained a note from his doctor that said he was not fit for work due to a ‘ stress- related problem’ and handed it to governors in October that year. he then went on the trip to the Caribbean island but on his return found he had been suspended from his job.
In a statement, he told the panel he had been suffering from stress after the death of his father in 2014, and as a result of the challenging behaviour of some pupils at his school.
But the nCTL said: ‘The panel finds that it had always been the intention of Mr McCann to go on the cycle trip to Cuba during the autumn term of 2015 irrespective of the decisions of the governing body in March and April 2015 refusing his request for authorised leave of absence.
‘ The panel is satisfied that obtaining a doctor’s note stating that he is unable to work due to sickness between October 12 and november 2, 2015 and his subsequent absence from work between October 12 and 25, 2015 was a deliberate course of conduct on his part to enable him to participate in the charity cycle ride in Cuba.’
The panel found that Mr McCann had acted dishonestly and was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.
he resigned from his post in February last year. In a letter to the Lancashire Telegraph in April 2016, Mr McCann said: ‘I never meant the negative impact which ensued and I am truly sorry.’
he has been told he can apply for a case review in three years.
Children have been banned from taking time off school during term time for since 2013, when former education secretary Michael Gove declared it was bad for their education to miss classes.
Since then, thousands of parents have been fined for their children’s absence. In April, Isle of Wight father Jon Platt lost his battle in the Supreme Court to overturn a fine for taking his daughter out of school for a trip to Disney World.