Teacher sacked for racy novel loses employment tribunial
21 Mar 2011
Leonora Rustamova now plans to release Stop! Don't Read This! through Bluemoose Books
A teacher who was fired from her job after writing a "racy" novel about her pupils is getting the controversial book published.
Leonora Rustamova wrote 'Stop! DoN't ReAD tHiS!' which features teenage fantasies, violence and a criminal drug den.
The book also depicts pupils flirting with her and compares some of them to Mr Gay UK contestants.
The 40-year-old was sacked from her 34,000-pound a year post at Calder High School, West Yorks, after the risqué book was published on the internet in 2009.
The teacher, from Huddersfield, West York, launched a tribunal for unfair dismissal against the school but a reserved judgement has been handed down dismissing her claim.
The book is centred around a group of five year 11 students, aged 15 and 16 years old, and depicts Calder High as having a huge stash of cocaine hidden beneath it, which some of the pupils then steal.
One pupil is described as flirting with the English teacher, known in the book as Miss Rusty, while she says she would do "anything for a smile" from another.
She writes: "It's getting harder and harder to see them just as kids."
In a later passage she describes how the youngsters practise "orgasmic moans" which sound like "the soundtrack to teenage gay porn".
When the school became aware of the book's availability on the internet, headteacher Stephen Ball suspended Ms Rustamova before she was later sacked.
During a five day hearing held in Leeds the teacher said she had written it to encourage her pupils to read and didn't realise it had been made available on the internet.
She removed it as soon as she did become aware and was "utterly astonished" at her dismissal.
Mr Ball had initially told her the book was a "triumph" and had encouraged her to make copies for the students, but the tribunal heard he didn't know it was to be put online.
In a reserved judgement, the tribunal ruled in a majority decision that her dismissal was fair.
In their judgement, the three tribunal members said: "The majority conclude that a teacher has very high standards of professional conduct to maintain.
"Issues relating to confidentiality and propriety of professional conduct should be second nature to a teacher.
"In the circumstances of this case, Miss Rustamova repeatedly acknowledged her faults and acknowledged that, in many respects, she had failed to meet the standards that her profession was entitled to require of her.
"The Governors formed a view as to the seriousness of that conduct. The acknowledgement of fault on the part of the Claimant demonstrates to the majority that the Governors beliefs were reasonably held."
Judge Burton, however, added that he was troubled by the involvement of the headteacher Mr Ball.
Giving the minority judges views, the report states: "He knew that the claimant intended to provide copies of the book to the five young men involved and that, as a consequence, the book would be out in the community beyond the schools control
"He could have taken steps to prevent its distribution at that stage but chose not to do so.
"It is, of course, accepted that he did not, at that stage, know that the book was available on the internet."
The book is now due to be released by Hebden Bridge publisher Blue Moose Books at the end of April.
Ms Rustamova said: "We were proud of our project and what it achieved for us and we would like people to be able to read it and judge for themselves."
The chairman of the Calder High School governors, Rob Good, said: "The only comment I would have is that dismissing anyone is a serious matter and that the governing body takes this matter very seriously.
"We are pleased that the issue has finally been resolved and we can all go back to improving education at Calder High."
Ms Rustamova has the right to appeal the decision within six weeks.
By Jason Taylors
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