education

Teacher wrote ‘anonymous gossip column’ about pupils snorting coke at prom

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Alexander Price vented about students as the ‘Provoked Pedagogue’ (Picture: Wales News Service)

A teacher used an anonymous gossip column to rip into the ‘Kardashian-clone girls’ and boys ‘puffing on reefers’ at prom, a hearing was told.

Alexander Price, 43, offended pupils, parents and colleagues with his mystery blog called ‘The Provoked Pedagogue’.

But union representatives say that his comments were ‘true’ or a reasonable professional opinion’, no matter how unpalatable they might be.

They say attacks on him are an attempt to ‘cover up failings’ at Denbigh High School, Denbigh, North Wales.

In one article titled ‘The Problem With Prom’, Mr Price called the event ‘a shallow, vacuous affair, about nothing more than who has spent the most on looking nice’.

He said girls often ended up looking like a cross between ‘Eastern European prostitutes and trans-human Kardashian clones’, describing their silicone bra inserts as ‘shameless chicken fillets shoved into criminally expensive and ill-fitting gowns’.

He added: ‘I have seen vodka-filled teens covered in their own vomit and doorstaff leering at underage girls and lads barely through puberty acting like Jordan Belfort or Bob Marley puffing on reefers and snorting coke at the back of poorly prepared venues.

The 43-year-old teacher faces being struck off the register for his blog (Picture: Wales News)

‘In reality the only thing you can actually congratulate them on is the fact that they look nice.’

He said the girls would spend ‘nine out of 12 months’ planning for prom when they should be learning.

Mr Price added: ‘The prom means more to them than GCSE results, the pressure builds and builds and when they should be studying they are on ASOS.

‘Young girls in school fresh-faced or pimpled are plastered in make-up because they feel pressure from all angles, often including the school.

‘Parents getting paid alone to pay for hair extensions and lip pumping, botox for some and dermal peels for others – make-up so thick that when it cracks it rivals tectonic plates.

Mr Price’s representatives say attacks against him are an attempt to ‘cover up’ failings of Denbigh High School (Picture: Google Maps)

‘Then there’s the fake tan: ludicrous shades and colours that defy even the unlimited variations provided by the human gene.’

He said some pupils had ‘literacy so poor they cannot read the instructions on sachets of brown goop that leak into every pore’.

Describing the prom as ‘the ugly end of society where only the rich has value and everyone else has to emulate’, he added: ‘Anxious young teens shoe-horned into gowns and paraded into towns like cattle.

‘Tears are assured and will have been flowing freely, family relationships are stretched to breaking point in the quest for the perfect combination of overpriced tat that the teenager thinks they want.’

Mr Price said female students at prom looked like a cross between ‘Eastern European prostitutes and trans-human Kardashian clones’ (Picture: Wales News)

The Education Workforce Council hearing was told the 540-pupil school had been in special measures at the time of Design and Technology teacher Mr Price writing the blog.

In other posts he made up nicknames for his former head teachers, calling on ‘El Supremo’ and another ‘Grima Wormtongue’ after a character from Lord of the Rings.

Colin Adkins, Mr Price’s representative from the NASUWT teaching union, said the comments were fair and his own ‘reasonable professional opinion’.

He pointed out that neither the school, nor any parent or pupil was identified.

Mr Adkins added: ‘The contents of the blog are true and the attack on Mr Price is an attempt to cover-up the failings of the school.

‘Just because these facts are inconvenient to the school should not allow the school to succeed in this cover up.

‘The blogs are totally anonymised. There is not one article which mentions a pupil by name, a parent by name, or a member of staff by name.’

Mr Price left the school in 2019 and now could be struck off the teaching register after being accused of unacceptable professional conduct over the blog posts.

He admits writing the blogs but denies they amount to unacceptable professional conduct. If found guilty he faces being struck from the teaching register. The hearing in Cardiff continues.

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