A former Chatham & Clarendon Grammar School teacher has been banned from the profession for life after being caught on school CCTV kissing a pupil.
Lee Fountain, who was a Media Studies and English department teacher, admitted unacceptable professional conduct and/or conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute in writing prior to a hearing by a panel of the Teaching Regulation Agency last month.
The panel considered the allegations that married Mr Fountain was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct and/or conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute.
The panel was told that on or around 11 October 2022, he put his arm(s) around a pupil and kissed them.
On 20 October 2022, he accepted a Police Caution for Sexual Activity with a female (aged: 13-17) and adult abuse of position of trust.
CCTV footage at the school caught Mr Fountain as he approached the pupil while she was putting on a jacket and kissed her on the lips. The footage showed she put her arms around his neck and they kissed again.
The panel considered that the act of kissing a pupil, was done on the balance of probabilities, in pursuit of sexual gratification and had clear sexual motivation.
Mr Fountain said he had regret for his actions, which he attributed to “stress, a temporary massive lapse in judgement and through allowing myself to get too close to a student”.
The panel did not consider that this showed true insight and remorse on the part of Mr Fountain. The panel did not find any evidence of Mr Fountain acknowledging the impact on the pupil. Rather, the panel noted regret by him and concern at the impact of his actions on himself.
Hearing outcome documents say that although the panel did not consider that Mr Fountain intended to develop an inappropriate relationship with the pupil, and they noted correspondence between Mr Fountain and the pupil showing intentions to provide genuine support – they gave considerable weight to the girl’s background and Mr Fountain had been on notice of these difficulties and told to “treat her with kid gloves”.
The panel was satisfied that Mr Fountain was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct and made a recommendation to the Secretary of State that a prohibition order should be imposed with immediate effect.
The decision on behalf of the Secretary of State says: “Lee Fountain is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. Furthermore, in view of the seriousness of the allegations found proved against him, I have decided that Mr Fountain shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach.”
Chatham and Clarendon Grammar School had immediately suspended and then sacked Mr Fountain when the actions came to light and carried out an HR investigation.
