S
upply teacher suspended for giving pupil ride home

Teacher Martin Davis suspended for giving a lift home to a 17-year-old pupil who had forgotten his bus fare.
Martin Davis, 58, thought he was doing a good turn by dropping the boy off but, instead of being praised for making sure the teenager got home safely, he was put under investigation for gross misconduct.
Mr Davis, a maths and science supply teacher for 23 years, is attempting to appeal against the decision by the recruitment agency through which he was employed.
He said: “I still can’t believe what’s happened. I was just trying to do this boy a favour and now I could be out of a job.”
Mr Davis had been a support worker at Tyne Metropolitan College in Newcastle since September, giving one-to-one support to boys with dyslexia on a preparation for employment course.
On Nov 18, a boy approached him after school and said he did not have money for his bus fare home.
“I said that because he lived on my route home I would give him a lift,” said Mr Davis, who has two children. “A week later one of the office staff at the college pulled me to one side, having heard about me giving the boy a lift, and said it was a stupid thing to do because I was opening myself to all sorts of allegations.
“I said I was sorry and she just told me not to do it again, and that seemed to be the end of the matter.”
Mr Davis was called by the Brook Street recruitment agency and told he would no longer be needed at the school because he had committed gross misconduct.
He said: “I spoke to the class tutor and she was devastated. I also spoke to the boy in question to say goodbye and he was upset and angry about what was happening because he said I had been a great help to him.”
On Tuesday, Mr Davis argued his case with staff at the employment agency but was told he had been “dismissed” and there was “no way back”. “I was very much under the impression I had been sacked for gross misconduct,” he said.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/ed ... -home.html