A design and technology teacher has been banned from the profession after police discovered “multiple” bags of cocaine at his home.
William Evans worked at Queen Elizabeth Humanities College, in Herefordshire, between January 2013 and October 2016.
The drugs were found when Mr Evans’ house was being searched by police in relation to a separate alleged offence on 2 October last year.
Despite Mr Evans not being charged for the original offence, the police found multiple small, sealed bags of cocaine.
Admitting that they were for personal use, Mr Evans tested positive for cocaine use.
Following a caution from police that same day, Mr Evans was suspended by the school. Later that month, he resigned.
‘Misconduct of a serious nature’
The National College for Teaching and Leadership found that Mr Evans did not act within the standard expected of the teaching profession and that his behaviour amounted to “misconduct of a serious nature which breaches the Teachers’ Standards”.
Mr Evans was said to have had a previously good teaching record, and the NCTL panel referred to comments from his former headteacher stating that he was “a strong teacher with valuable skills” and that Ofsted had recently said he provided “exemplary teaching which was clearly rooted in a student-centred approach”.
However, he was found to have breached several teaching standards, including “upholding public trust in the profession” and not undermining the rule of law.
This was Mr Evans’ first criminal offence and the panel noted that he had “expressed regret and remorse for his actions”, but that did not counteract the seriousness of the crime.
The final decision, taken by Dawn Dandy, was that Mr Evans would be prohibited from teaching indefinitely “and cannot teach in any school sixth-form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England”. He cannot ask for the decision to be reviewed until October 2020.
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