St Kevin’s teacher says witnessing hug ‘caused me concern’

The embrace that led to a St Kevin’s College teacher being sacked was described by a colleague who saw the footage as being “too close to a student”.

St Kevin’s College in Toorak.

The embrace that led to the sacking of a St Kevin’s College maths teacher was the kind of hug a parent would give a child, a court heard on Wednesday.

Discussion of the controversial hug of 16-year-old “Student A” by teacher Simon Parris dominated the third day of hearings in Mr Parris’s bid to be reinstated by the top Toorak school.

The hug was seen by another student and was also captured on CCTV footage, the Fair Work Commission heard on Wednesday.

A young man identified as “Student B” said he saw the hug and saw Mr Parris “stroking Student A’s cheek a number of times with another boy present”.

He said he believed Mr Parris had “touched him (Student A) before”.

A number of St Kevin’s teachers also gave evidence, including Colin Macfarlane, who viewed CCTV footage of the hug.

“The whole incident caused me concern,” he said.

He said the image of the teacher with his arm around the boy and across his legs crossed a boundary as Mr Parris was “too close to a student”.

Mr Macfarlane said the hug was “the sort of hug I’d give my two children”.

He said the CCTV vision showed two hugs, during which Student A was “prone” and not responsive.

But he admitted the alleged stroking of the boy’s thigh by Mr Parris could not be seen on the footage.

Mr Parris told the hearing on Monday the embrace was only a “half hug”, but agreed he sent a tweet talking about a “wet dream” and stored hardcore gay pornography on his school computer.

The matter will proceed in February.

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