Monday, December 10, 2007

Bullying claims of suicide teacher

Stan Miller and Blaise Tapp - Manchester Evening News
July 7, 2003

A FORMER teacher killed himself after claiming he had been bullied by the head teacher at a leading Manchester school, an inquest heard.

Jonathan Thompson, 46, hanged himself at his Whalley Range home in November, after complaining to friends about the "oppressive management style" at Parrs Wood High School, in east Didsbury.

The inquest was told that he quit his £27,000-a-year post at the school five years ago suffering from ill health, including stress.

His friend, David Savage, 45, said he had blamed his condition on the head, Sir Iain Hall who, he alleged, had hounded him out of his job and had embarrassed him in front of colleagues.

But after the hearing Sir Iain - knighted for his services to education - denied he had been involved in bullying.


Nightmares

Staff at Parrs Wood insisted the head had supported Mr Thompson and rejected any suggestion of heavy-handed management.

Mr Savage said: "In the last few weeks of his life Jonathan felt he had been pushed out of Parrs Wood by Sir Iain's bullying."

He suffered nightmares over what went on at Parrs Wood and was devastated at the loss of his career. Jonathan had one of the most brilliant minds I have ever come across and was totally commited to teaching."

The inquest was told that shortly after leaving the school in 1998 Mr Thompson, of Hazel Avenue, began grievance proceedings against Sir Iain, but he dropped the action after breaking his back.

Coroner Leonard Gorodkin said Mr Thompson's life had "gone to pieces" as a result of what seemed to have gone on at Parrs Wood High School. He recorded a verdict that the ex-teacher had killed himself.

Mr Gorodkin said: "It's clear he had been distressed and depressed for a few years - and had expressed his regret at giving up his teaching career."

After the hearing Mr Savage, who lives in Burnley, revealed that his best friend had been studying for a PhD at Salford University on bullying at work and that he had asked for half of his estate to be used to help victims of bullying.

Mr Savage added: "He was born to teach and he could not cope with not being a teacher. He kept saying he shouldn't have left Parrs Wood. The thing that killed him was depressive illness, but if he had kept his job - who knows?"

After the inquest Sir Iain told the Manchester Evening News about his sadness at Mr Thompson's death and said he had tried to do everything possible to help him.


Difficulties

"Jonathan was a troubled person. "He did not have many friends and towards the end he rejected all the help he was offered. I am very, very sad that his life ended in the way it did. As a school we tried our best to help him through his difficulties."

Teachers at the school insisted that rather than hounding Mr Thompson out of his job, the head did everything possible to make sure he could return.

Deputy head Rachel Jones said: "Jonathan committed suicide some years after leaving Parrs Wood and there wasn't a close connection between the time of his death and his time at Parrs Wood."

Iain is known within Parrs Wood for his compassion. Sir Iain leaves the school in December to become associate director of the Specialist Schools Trust.

He will share good practice between schools in this country and he will be trawling classrooms around the globe for new ideas. He'll also be offering support to the aspiring headteachers of the future.

(Retrieved in full from Manchester Evening News)