Teacher loses job fight over prom antics
Drunk sir kissed student and passed out
A SENIOR teacher sacked for drunkenly kissing a pupil and passing out half naked at a school prom has lost a battle to win his job back.
Head science teacher Richard Hutchison was dismissed from Johnstone High School in Renfrewshire for gross misconduct in June 2015.
After arriving for the senior prom at Burnhouse Manor in Beith, Ayrshire, the teacher of 34 years drank to excess and kissed a male pupil in a prank known as “gaffing”.
Too drunk to drive home, he undressed to his shirt and underwear in front of five pupils before sleeping on the hotel room floor.
Colleagues discovered his indiscretions the next day after pupils showed them Snapchat images.
Hutchison, 58, was allowed to stay in the teaching profession by the General Teaching Council for Scotland earlier this year despite admitting misconduct and being impaired in his ability to teach.
He took bosses at Renfrewshire Council to an employment tribunal in a bid to be reinstated after claiming unfair dismissal. He claimed his actions did not amount to gross misconduct.
However, after a six-day hearing in Glasgow, his claim has been dismissed.
Employment judge Robert Gall said: “The tribunal accepted that the claimant had not arrived at the senior prom intent on behaving as he did.
“He did not however, as events unfolded, take the opportunity to step back from the situation.
“In the view of the tribunal, reasonable grounds existed for the respondents to determine the claimant’s conduct amounted to gross misconduct.” In March, Hutchison escaped a teaching ban but had restrictions placed on his registration for two years.