Former ‘superhead’ Curran cleared to return to teaching
A former “superhead” Derek Curran who was accused of failures over child protection is free to return to teaching, an inquiry has ruled.
A panel cleared Mr Curran over alleged failures to take appropriate action on reports of historic child abuse after a former pupil claimed she had a sexual relationship with him at 15 and later had his child after turning 18.
Mr Curran was made headteacher of Edinburgh’s struggling Castlebrae High School in 2013 but was suspended a year later and dismissed in 2015.
During the inquiry, Mr Curran’s lawyers said a letter from a lab purporting to be DNA evidence that he fathered a child with the former pupil was a forgery.
The General Teaching Council for Scotland hearing also cleared Mr Curran over the alleged failure to provide progress claims of sexual harassment by the same young woman, who reported explicit emails from another teacher at the school after she returned as an adult learner.
It was also found not proven by the tribunal that he had failed to provide adequate support to the young mother, who was 24 at the time of the alleged harassment.
She was later paid a sum of around £26,000 in compensation by Edinburgh City Council.
Closing stage one of the inquiry on Friday, the presenting officer took the position that all allegations should be considered as proven – and he found there was “no excuse” for the delay in reporting the child abuse claims to his seniors, including his line manager who was later sacked for her handling of reports about Mr Curran.
But, after reviewing the evidence, a panel of his peers ruled that his fitness to teach is ‘not currently impaired’.
It comes three years after an employment judge in a tribunal for unfair dismissal against the council ruled the city council failed to follow a fair procedure - but also found Mr Curran's failure to report the historic child abuse claim amounted to “a gross failure of his responsibilities, and thus gross misconduct".
Following a conviction it was found proven that Mr Curran did behave in a threatening or abusive manner in an incident at the Sick Kids hospital in January 2014.