Sacked St Kevin’s teacher Simon Parris initiated hugs with students

A St Kevin’s teacher sacked amid a child grooming scandal has admitted to initiating hugs with students and storing pornography on his work laptop.

Five teachers left St Kevin’s amid a child grooming scandal earlier this year.

Explosive testimony involving sexual misconduct has been heard about a sacked St Kevin’s College teacher who is seeking reinstatement.

Maths and drama teacher Simon Parris admitted to initiating hugs of students, sending a tweet about wet dreams and storing hard core pornography on his school computer.

A four-day Fair Work Commission hearing into Mr Parris’ termination on February 20 this year is underway before Commissioner Tim Lee.

Mr Parris was one of five teachers to leave the top Toorak private school amid a child grooming scandal earlier this year.

On Monday afternoon Mr Parris admitted to used his school laptop to access hard core pornography from a USB and storing the images.

The hearing also heard Mr Parris was warned in February 2019 by then headmaster Stephen Russell not to hug students, but in June 2019 he was seen hugging a 16-year-old boy known as Student A.

Mr Parris admitted to calling the student out of class, and sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with him on a couch on that occasion, but denied hugging him.

He called it a “shoulder tapping half hug” and said he had “one arm across both shoulders of the student”.

Mr Parris agreed his behaviour was impulsive, but denied he couldn’t control his impulses around the student, whom he called “Sweetie”.

He said he did not say the student “had a strong diver’s body” and did not stroke his face as he has been accused of doing.

Later that night Mr Parris sent a tweet with a reference to a “wet dream”.

Mr Parris described it as a “lapse of judgement at the time” and agreed it made the student feel uncomfortable.

But he denied giving another student, known as Student C, as “full frontal hug”.

Witnesses at the hearing will include the school’s acting principal John Crowley and two students from the college, known only as Student A and Student B.

Barrister Jamie Darams for Mr Parris told the hearing the school’s treatment of his client was “nothing short of deplorable”.

He said Mr Parris should not have been terminated.

“Mr Parris was dealt with egregiously,” Mr Darams said.

The hearing was delayed so a year 12 student from the school could finish his final exams before giving evidence.

Mr Parris is seeking reinstatement.

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