Education Department investigate after allegations raised against relief teacher at Butler Primary School

The Education Department is investigating allegations a primary school relief teacher spent his first and last day on the job putting a student with special needs in a headlock and refusing to allow hysterical Year 5 students to go to the toilet for so long they wet their pants. According to an incident report from Butler Primary School he also told tearful students: “Santa isn’t real.” The report outlines how the teacher allegedly terrorised children on December 4, saying “it is not a right but a privilege to be able to go to the toilet” and telling one child to “write a persuasive essay to justify why he should go to the toilet”. “As a result of this it is alleged that several students wet their pants,” the report states. When two “bursting” students rebelled and raced to the toilet, the teacher allegedly “locked the classroom doors so they could not get back in”. The teacher also allegedly “wouldn’t allow a student to use his sensory fidget toy”, which is part of his behaviour management plan. “It is alleged that he grabbed hold of the student’s arm and then put him in a headlock to retrieve the toy”. “He grabbed my arm and he then put his arm around my neck and held me in headlock,” the student said in a statement. “I was screaming to stop and let go.” Another 10-year-old student has been undergoing immunotherapy treatment at Perth Children’s Hospital, a side effect of which is increased bladder function. In a statement he said he asked the relief teacher about 10 times in the 1.5 hours between recess and lunch, if he could go to the toilet and the teacher’s reply was that it was a “privilege, not a right, to use the toilet”. “I was busting, I kept asking to go,” he said in a statement. “I wet my pants and started to cry. It was the worst day I’ve ever had at school.” “I am truly mortified my son and other students have been subject to this incident,” she said. “My son now doesn’t want to return to school, he is anxious and hasn’t been coping or wanting to go to sleep.” The Education Department confirmed this week its Standards and Integrity Directorate was carrying out an investigation into the allegations while the school confirmed it would never again employ the teacher. It also said the teacher was removed from supervising the class for the rest of the afternoon, and the school and the department’s north metropolitan regional office were now providing support to students involved and their parents. “This type of alleged behaviour is unacceptable for teachers working with children in our schools,” Education Department director general Lisa Rodgers said. “Additional support will continue to be available for the students involved until the end of the school year and as long as they need it.” School principal Julie Woodhouse said in an email to the motherthat because their regular relief teachers were unavailable, they had to use a relief agency on December 4 and “this teacher will not be re-employed by us”. She added: “His approach with regards to classroom management, appropriateness of making comments about childhood beliefs and showing care to our students didn’t match our values and beliefs.”