A married female physics teacher was found guilty of kissing and flirtatiously dancing with a teenage male student at a local nightclub.
Ashley McConnell, 30, was in tears yesterday as she pleaded for her job in front of the General Teaching Council for Scotland.
The physics teacher, who taught at Thurso High School in Caithness, was discovered kissing the 17-year-old student at Skinandi’s, a local nightclub, in March 2018.
The married teacher, also known as Ashley Swanson, was accused of touching his bottom and crotch and holding hands with him on the night in question.
Miss McConnell, 34, admitted to holding hands with the student but denied kissing him.
However, the teaching panel has now judged her guilty after concluding that there was sufficient evidence to indicate that the married mother danced in a ‘flirtatious’ manner with him.
McConnell informed the GTCS that she had consumed too much wine on the night in question and couldn’t remember anything.
Miss McConnell admitted on that evening that she told other students to ‘f*** off’ after they questioned her behavior with the teenage lad.
She also acknowledged to giving one of her female students the middle finger.
The GTCS determined that there was insufficient evidence to establish Miss McConnell’s allegations of touching the pupil on the bottom or crotch area.
The panel must now decide if McConnell’s fitness to teach is damaged and whether she can remain on the teaching register.
Miss McConnell said yesterday that she had not touched alcohol since the night in question.