‘It’s the worst thing they can say’: Teacher forced to flee Barossa high school after ‘vile false rumour’ spread through social media

A teacher quit his job at a Barossa Valley high school and moved away from the area after he was harassed by students.

A former teacher at an embattled Barossa Valley high school was forced to quit and leave the area after students circulated a rumour about him via social media.

The male teacher, in his 50s, who was at Nuriootpa High School for almost a decade until 2021, said he felt he needed to quit after he was harassed by students and called a pedophile.

The teacher said the harassment began after a meeting with school leadership, a student and a parent called him a pedophile.

“It’s completely outrageous and untrue,” he said.

“I couldn’t even walk out in the yard after that without kids yelling ‘pedo’ behind my back.”

The teacher said the comments infiltrated his private life too as “when you work in the Barossa, you can never get away from these students”.

“You go out in public and you see them all the time,” he said.

The teacher described that the situation became “untenable” and he stopped coming to school.

“I was on work cover for six months,” the teacher said.

“My self esteem was very low … they know it’s (‘pedo’) the worst thing they can say to a male teacher.”

And social media exacerbated the issue.

“The power of these kids is weaponised by Snapchat where they can do a snap and send a message to 500 kids at the same time,” the teacher said.

He said a fake Tinder profile was set up by students using his image and included “links to inappropriate content about date rape”.

The teacher felt he had to leave Nuriootpa High School after being harassed. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

Students were suspended over the harassment, but it did not stop.

The teacher said it took a toll on his mental health and he started seeing a counsellor through the school.

“I was quite happy working there until it all blew up,” he said.

He recalled that he asked school leadership to call an assembly to stop the rumours, but the request was shut down.

“I didn’t feel supported so I had to move on,” he said.

“It was pretty terrible to move on because … I’d bought a house near the school and I still have a house near the school that I can’t live in.”

The teacher is now renting a property in Adelaide and said he would put his house in the Barossa Valley up for sale soon.

Last week Education Department chief executive Professor Martin Westwell announced that “a number of measures are being immediately implemented at the school and an independent review of the school and student behaviour will be conducted”.

Professor Westwell said Nuriootpa High School has been identified as needing “extra support while they work on the issues being raised”.

“We will not comment further until that process has taken place,” Prof Westwell said.

It comes after another former teacher who worked at Nuriootpa High School for more than a decade, said there had been multiple members of staff who expressed suicidal ideation due to their working conditions.

“If I hadn’t gotten out of the school when I did, it could have led to the end of my life,” the educator said.

“I was one of the lucky ones, I got out.”