VCAT decision allows ‘creepy’ teacher back into classroom despite ‘flirtatious’ interaction with previous student

A Melbourne Year 9 co-ordinator has blamed the stress of teaching during Covid for the ‘creepy, flirtatious’ messages she sent to a student.

The female teacher sent text messages to a student during a four-month period in 2020.

A Melbourne teacher who sent “concerning, over-personal and emotional” to a teenage student has been cleared to return to the classroom.

The 31-year-old mother and Year 9 co-ordinator, who cannot be named for legal reasons, self-reported the messages she sent to a 16-year-old student in July 2020, a VCAT hearing was told, and was put on non-teaching duties until she resigned in October that year following a formal investigation.

The investigation found the woman had “engaged with inappropriate, unnecessary communication and physical contact with a child, which amounts to sexual misconduct against a child.”

The tribunal heard she characterised her behaviour as an “error of Judgement,” denying, however, that the messages constituted “sexual misconduct”.

She said the incident had “profoundly impacted” her, saying she had experienced a large amount of personal growth, had a support network in place and was seeking psychological and psychiatric assistance.

Tribunal Member Jonathan Smithers, in a decision released on September 21 this year, concluded that it was appropriate the teacher be reinstated with her working with children’s check, clearing her to work inside the classroom again.

“I do not believe she tried to minimise her actions in any way, readily acknowledging her wrongdoing,” Mr Smithers said.

The inappropriate communication began in April 2020, after the teacher was promoted to Year 9 co-ordinator.

She claimed she was “promoted too soon,” and “didn’t have the experience” to handle the workload.

The female teacher sent text messages to a student during a four-month period in 2020.

Over the four-month period, she engaged in communication that became “more and more personal and emotional in content”, where she offered to hug him over multiple messages and later encouraged him to call her on her personal phone.

The investigation found that physical contact between the teacher and student was limited to her poking him in the back to get his attention, and sitting unnecessarily close to him on one occasion when chairs were arranged in a circle in the classroom.

The tribunal heard she believed she was “acting cool’ and joining informal discussions.

After offering the student a hug and her personal number over messages, the teacher realised she had gone “too far”.

She further implicated herself, messaging the student “I was worried you were going to think I was creepy, I did want to give you a hug, I don’t know why, I just wanted to … I would literally do anything for you.”

In another message sent at 2.56am on July 25, she wrote “you know I have been thinking lately how weird things have gotten between us … how many times do you want me to pour my heart out to you. Standing in the corridor on Monday just begging you to talk to me was so embarrassing. I think you’re worth it. I miss you.”

The student asked her to stop messaging him on July 28. She immediately responded seven times apologising.

It was after this that she self-reported the interactions to the school, before she stepped down from teaching.

Following an investigation in October, she resigned as a teacher, blaming the conditions during Covid on her decision making.

“My inexperience and lack of support, followed by my late hours and the pressure from teaching during Covid affected my decision making when I reached out to the student,” she said.

“I will forever regret my part in this incident.”