Former teacher Mike Barile has promised to defend his reputation at a ”bizarre farce” of a disciplinary hearing.
He is due before the General Teaching Council for Scotland on Friday to face 11 charges of assaulting pupils at Lawside Academy in Dundee and using threatening and aggressive behaviour towards pupils and staff at the school and at Madras College in St Andrews.
The charges all date from between 2006 and 2008 and Mr Barile no longer works as a maths teacher.
He said: ”I feel this is completely unnecessary, but I am not going to stand back and let them make false accusations about me.
”I think this is to teach me a lesson and discredit me. I have a very low opinion of the teaching council, but I will be challenging everything they say. I regard some of the charges as frivolous.”
Two of the charges relate to allegations of shouting at and threatening two pupils at Madras. Another two allege that Mr Barile threatened teacher John Urquhart at the school during a phone call and shouted at teacher Dorothy Comber.
The other seven charges stem from his time at Lawside. They include charges of seizing one pupil by the clothes and pushing them from a chair, and grabbing another by the body and pushing them, causing the pupil to fall against a door.
They also include placing his forearm across the chest of another pupil and pinning them against a wall, and pulling another pupil by the hair. The final assault charge involves a pupil allegedly being grabbed by the arm.
Mr Barile is also facing separate claims of shouting at teachers Carol Scott and Kathleen Valentine.
He said the proceedings were ”absolutely ridiculous” and included allegations he had already been cleared of.
He added: ”There are about 80,000 teachers on the register and they have to pay a compulsory fee to the GTCS. I wonder how they feel that their fees are being wasted on solicitors.”
Mr Barile was also upset that the hearing was being split between dates rather than dealt with in one go.
”After Friday it’s down for another five days. We are scheduled to meet again on October 31 and again on November 8, although that might be changed, and on another three days they haven’t set yet.”
As Mr Barile is no longer teaching, the council’s options are limited. If they find the charges against him proven, striking him from the register of teachers may be the likeliest outcome.
Mr Barile was found guilty after trial at Dundee Sheriff Court in 2008 of assaulting two pupils at Lawside Academy, which has since merged with another Roman Catholic school to become St Paul’s Academy.
However, he was later granted an absolute discharge by the Court of Appeal.