TEACHER IS STRUCK OFF OVER ‘B ***H’ TIRADE
Panel probed message exchange threatening to ‘kick’ woman in Clyde
A SCHOOL teacher who branded his sick colleague “a lazy b***h” before posting threatening Facebook messages about her has been struck off.
Alan MacOnie said he could “happily kill” the woman after his retirement was “hijacked” before stating that he felt like “kicking” her and her pet dog into the Clyde.
The 58-year-old, who was employed as a principal teacher at Rothesay Academy, in Argyll and Bute, made the disparaging remarks to a former colleague who later raised the alarm.
MacOnie was placed under investigation by education chiefs after it was discovered that he forged the sick colleague’s signature on examination paperwork.
He later accused the female educator of “leaving me in the s***” and said she should “pull herself together and get into work”.
All the allegations against MacOnie were found proved after a hearing in front of the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS).
The watchdog found that in 2019, MacOnie lied to colleagues about sending French verification materials to Dunoon Grammar School to be cross marked.
He also forged the signature of his sick colleague – who was in hospital at the time – on SQA external verification documents for National 5 German and National 5 French.
In April 2019, he made offensive remarks about the woman and accused her of faking her illness.
The chilling Facebook messenger exchange took place in November of the same year and was deemed to be of a “threatening nature” by the GTCS.
The messages read: “My retirement was hijacked and every time I see that dog walking her dog rat along (redacted) I feel like kicking them both into the Clyde. Hate that b **** .
“Really totally ruined my retirement. Would happily kill her. Not even good at her job, far from it lol.
“I know (redacted) but sometimes a wee walk to the sea is so tempting. Maybe one day soon. R A (Rothesay Academy) thanks for nothing. Not the first treated like an animal.”
The hearing was told police were contacted about the threats but that no further action was taken.
MacOnie did not attend or take part in the hearing but had denied all the allegations made against him.
The panel found he was unfit to teach and ordered his name to be removed from the teaching register.
In a ruling, they said: “The panel regarded the conduct as very serious due to the teacher’s dishonesty, lack of respect for colleagues and threatening behaviour.
“The panel recognised that acting dishonestly is often an indicator of an attitudinal issue that is difficult to remediate.
“The panel considered that the teacher’s conduct was not remediable. The teacher had apologised when confronted by colleagues, but he had not demonstrated any insight or genuine remorse.
“The panel considered that in all the circumstances there was a high likelihood of recurrence if the teacher were to continue to teach.”