“The school have had the opportunity to properly investigate how this could have happened, and whether more than two staff should have been assigned for over thirty children. They have chosen instead to whitewash over the whole affair. We are not convinced that all the staff on the school trip fulfilled their Duty Of Care towards Marine. We were surprised that the coroner did not ask more witnesses to answer questions from the jury”, they added.
The local education authority said it would not be holding an enquiry into the death. A spokesman for the County Council said it was gathering information but was ‘perfectly happy’ the school had followed all procedures. A police investigation was opened and an inquest later closed when it was reported to the coroner that no one was criminally responsible.
The jury of three men and seven women, at Cormley Magistrates Court, heard four days of evidence, including eyewitness accounts from the teachers caught up in the tragedy.
At one point, the jury broke off from its deliberations to ask why David Walker, a Teaching Assistant who had not previously worked with the pupils, was recruited for the trip. Walker was asked if he could have done more to prevent Marine falling over the cliff edge, given that he first reported her ‘breaking away’ from the group.
Coroner Gillian Wetherton concluded her summing up this morning, by telling the jury she would only accept a verdict of accidental death.
Wetherton said, “I have evaluated the evidence submitted from the various investigations and they are not sufficient to fulfil criteria for an alternative verdict. This is not about determining criminal or civil responsibility. It is a fact-finding mission.
“However, I am going to make suggestions to certain bodies, including the education authority and Health and Safety Executive, drawing their attention to certain matters where I believe they should look at procedures and what has occurred here.”
She said it was “not a case where those involved were indifferent to the obvious risk or had showed a high degree of negligence. Emotions need to be put on one side. I know that by issuing this verdict I may be disappointing the family, but I have no other choice.”
ELEVEN
THAT MONDAY it felt wrong going to the school to do something other than teach. As I drove through the gates, I saw that my usual parking space had already been filled. Kraver had clearly decided that I was going to be on permanent leave, and that was the end of the matter.
His receptionist stood up and then sat down very quickly when I arrived on the floor. I pointed at Kraver’s door. ‘Is he in?’ I asked.
She flashed a finger against her lips. ‘You’ll have to wait, Mr. Pendleton. Please.’
I waited for two hours, increasingly conscious of the hushed, conspiratorial calls she was having with Kraver on the phone, that were just too quiet for me to hear. Clearly, he was checking to see if I was still waiting. But I was determined not to take out my irritation on the receptionist, who’d thereby serve again as a useful scapegoat for him.
‘Can I just see him for a minute?’ I asked her.
‘He says he doesn’t have a spare second,’ she answered, her face betraying a little more.
In the end, the rising nausea was too bitter for me to handle. I stood up. ‘I must demand that he spares me at least a minute of his time,’ I said. ‘He’s decided I’m not able to teach, and has sent me a letter informing me of that rather than saying a single word to me in person,’ I said.
‘Mr. Pendleton, you can’t go in there …’ she began.
I tore the door open. Kraver was smoking a cigar by the window.
‘You don’t look surprised to see me,’ I said.
‘Nothing surprises me,’ he said, brightly.
‘We received your letter on Friday, and I am just coming to let you know that we are not prepared to let the matter settle.’
‘Well, that really is the wrong move,’ he said, sitting down and weaving his fingers together.
He suspended the cigar in an ashtray on his desk. ‘Let me tell you a little about how this place works. We get resources, you see,’ he said, collecting an imaginary box with one hand and moving it to the other side of the table, ‘and we use those resources to do certain things. No resources, no doing. We don’t have the resources to keep conducting the kind of expensive enquiries you want.’
‘You did not have a full enquiry, as you well know. It is a toothless exercise in formality, a whitewash.’
He closed his eyes. I pushed on.
‘Lorraine Hannerty, and Katy Fergus, have both expressed concern to me about David Walker, who I understand has a history of interfering with young girls. A criminal record, no less - which you overlooked by employing him.’
Kraver stood up. It was sudden snap of movement which reminded me of a slack puppet being pulled taut. ‘Oh no,’ he roared, raising a fist. ‘I will not start listening to unsubstantiated rumours in my office. Won’t have it. No, no, no.’
‘They remain unsubstantiated,’ I said, raising my wavering voice, ‘because your enquiry did not even interview Katy Fergus, as you promised it would.’
He pulled his head to one side. Ash tipped from the cigar, and smouldered in the tray.
‘And as for Lorraine Hannerty,’ I continued, ‘you knew that she had raised concerns about Walker, so you had her moved from this school to get her far away from this scandal.’
The word ‘scandal’, for some reason, made him smile, revealing a gold incisor.
He shook his head, in a small spasm that loosened his hair. ‘Miss Hannerty?’ he started. ‘Who’s talking about Miss Hannerty? I’m not. It’s not the school’s responsibility to question everyone and everything. It’s our responsibility to teach, do you understand?’
‘So you don’t think Katy Fergus should have had her views on record? She led the trip!’
‘Mr. Pendleton,’ he said, waving a piece of paper. ‘I hold here in my very hand, permission from our statutory body to undertake an investigation, following your request. We did just that. The enquiry decided who to interview for it, who best to speak to, and then interviewed them. Bish bash bosh, job done.’
‘They were people who you deemed fit for the enquiry! It wasn’t even an independent enquiry. You’ve inspected yourself. I can even tell it’s your choice of phrasing in the summary letter. You do know that we weren’t even given the whole report?’
He closed his eyes as he completed his statement. ‘This file is now closed Mr Pendleton. But I will add one thing, for you now. I think it is a great shame that you want to use the scant resources we have left to try and root around in the dirt even more.’
‘As my employer, you have a responsibility to record any of my concerns officially. I formally ask that you record today that I am unhappy with the validity of this report. That you recognise I will be pursuing it.’
‘But you don’t want to complain,’ he said, flicking a sheaf of paper on his desk.
‘Yes, I do.’
His voice grew rich. ‘No, you don’t. Because by so doing you will quite literally be taking facilities from the children’s hands.’ He mimed the grab with energetic hands. ‘Like snatching milk from a baby.’
‘You and I both know that the report is funded by the statutory body, not the school.’
This amused him. ‘When have you run a school? Do you know what it entails? What you don’t seem to understand,’ he said, his voice dropping, ‘is that to have an enquiry, you need people to take part in the enquiry. But who would have to take the time to take part in it now? We’ve got an Ofsted inspection coming up, parent’s evenings, sports days. We’re hard pressed enough as it is, and the Eden site needs help round the clock too. No, no, no. Lots to learn here. The legal enquiry is set to report soon. You want to wait and see what they say.’
‘No, I don’t. Because I suspect that if you have had anything to do with that report, it’ll be a whitewash too. I get the distinct impression from what you’ve just said that you’ve drawn the police away from the school
.’
‘If you look on the report, it gives you the people you can respond to,’ he said, his voice smooth. He placed the cigar back in his mouth, satisfied.
‘My complaint would go straight back to you. All you have done today is confirm that you tampered with the report to cover you and Walker.’
‘Hmm. And all you’ve done this morning, Mr. Pendleton, by bursting in here making such outrageous claims, is to make me wonder whether or not you should be a teacher at all.’
‘What?’
‘You’re making it hard for me,’ he said, closing his eyes, and blowing out smoke. ‘It’s very difficult for a headmaster, when a young teacher like yourself, barely out of training college, wet behind the ears, comes storming in here and making such demands. How am I going to be able to give you a good report at your next appraisal? The kind of report that’ll allow you to carry on at the school?’
‘I’ve never had any complaints from the pupils. Only praise, so far.’
‘Yes, but they haven’t had to deal with you as you’ve been this morning, have they? Do you deny that this behaviour is unreasonable, aggressive? Giving me no choice but to suspend you more permanently?’
‘Not at all – I -,’
‘The truth is, even before this enquiry there were doubts about you, you know.’ He looked out of the window, toying with the cigar. ‘Oh, yes,’ he said, ‘I heard some rumours. Worrying stuff. Very worrying indeed.’
‘What rumours?’
‘That your behaviour in this school, has at times gone far beyond the eccentric, and strayed into practices that we would have to see as … unfit.’
‘What behaviour? You let a film crew into the school to show off its attributes and I was featured prominently.’
‘Well yes, we had to make an entertaining package. But if you’re going to go giving out videotapes of your TV appearances in place of a CV...’ He laughed. ‘Well, good luck wi’ that.’
‘But in my last assessment I was given a mark of ‘outstanding’.’
Kraver winced. I wondered if he had considered this verbal rally in advance. Playing it out as he paced around his spacious, wood-panelled office, smoking and overlooking the foundations of his new empire.
‘I’ve seen your file. It made for very interesting reading. That mark was for the standard of your delivery in class. But your marking came up a bit short, didn’t it?’
‘It was just one point for me to develop …’
‘Exactly. You’re developing. That’s it. You’ve got it. I also have you on record you telling Mr Smythe that you have sometimes not had the time to take breaks at work?’
‘That is normal for any teacher. Are you saying you are never rushed off your feet?’
‘Oooh,’ he said, shaking the cigar. ‘This confrontational attitude is not doing you any favours when I am trying to help you, is it? If you are asking if I am busy every minute of the day then naturally, yes, of course. But any teacher worth his salt knows when to take breaks. I’m sure you don’t want to officially tell me that you didn’t know that?’
‘What exactly are you accusing me of?’
‘Well, it is my duty to inform you that the wheels are in motion for us to now start to evaluate your Fitness To Practice.
‘Fitness To Practice?’
‘I’ll be giving the National School for Teaching and Leadership a ring, to tell them of your behaviour this morning. Some people at the top will need to know about this. The office of the Secretary of State will be the ones to confirm that this matter needs a closer look and we will then organise a hearing.’
‘I don’t believe this.’
He carried on reciting, eyes closed.
‘It’ll be an informal Fitness To Practice hearing. You can fight against me about it now, if you want, of course. But it would be far better for you to engage with the process. I’m sure you can see that.’
‘This isn’t happening,’ I said. ‘I can’t believe that I have to prepare for a farcical hearing, when I have just lost my daughter. I was the one to raise a concern about the school’s role in that.’
‘And as a result of your loss I think you are, at present, not fit to teach.’
‘So I will now be on leave until the hearing?’
‘You can call it that. But from the moment you receive the letter about the hearing in the post you’re suspended anyway.’
‘Suspended?’
He started smiling.
I understood then that I had been stupid enough to exactly follow the script he had planned for this conversation. I had been angry when he wanted me to be, and I had been shocked when he wanted me to be. Psychologically, Kraver had proven that it was not worth me trying to overcome him. With every attempt I sustained further damage. Until he had taken me to the point where I was almost obliterated from the game. In this game of chess, Kraver seemed to be staying a few clear steps in front of me. Having been raised to expect the mechanics of justice to whir into motion when required, this turn of events taught me something. Those mechanisms do not exist to allow fairness; they exist only so the powerful can engage with them, when they so wish.
Kraver smiled. ‘Now I know this is hard. But let me stress that this suspension is just a formality when issues of Fitness To Practice are being examined. It isn’t personal.’
‘It feels pretty punitive to me,’ I said.
‘If I was you, I’d be a smart lad and not share what I have told you today with your former colleagues,’ he said. ‘In fact, I will be making a formal note that I have requested that, so if you do prattle about this to them the panel won’t look kindly on it. You’ll know more about the enquiry soon,’ he said.
I pushed my hand through my hair. The situation had got worse since I had come in, not better. I had to go away and plan a strategy, I decided. So it was me writing the script now, not him.
Kraver’s smile remained fixed. He had me on the ropes. Exposed, surprised. Open to a pummelling as vicious as he wanted it to be. Which, for some reason, he wanted to be very vicious indeed.
I found myself unable to go home straight away. As I walked out into the car park, several schoolchildren cheered in my direction. As I drew close to my car a boy from Year Ten, with thick-rimmed glasses, asked me when I would be coming back. I found myself numbly saying ‘as soon as possible, Colin’. Two Year Eleven’s told me they ‘missed my classes, sir’. Somehow, I couldn’t bring myself to tell them the truth about the situation. I wanted to protect them from the confusion of this life, if only for a few moments longer.
I phoned Juliette in the car, and gave her a blow-by-blow account of the meeting. Every time I paused for breath, all she said was ‘Oh my God’. When I stopped speaking, I felt a nudge of disappointment as I waited for her elaborate response. ‘What do you think?’ I asked, putting the phone on speaker on the dashboard as I started to drive.
‘I’m flabbergasted. Regardless of the fact that Kraver’s turning the tables, did he need to suspend you? Do the regulations even allow him to do that in these instances?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘We’ll have to check it out. I just don’t know what you want me to say to you right now, Ben.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I don’t know if you should have gone in there, guns blazing. I just think you might have pushed him to the point where he felt he had no choice but to get rid of you.’
‘What?’
‘I got in touch with the school regulatory body this morning, to tell them that we would be formally contesting the outcome of their investigation into Marine. When I eventually got to speak to someone who knew what they were on about, they confirmed that Kraver had decided which staff members to interview for the investigation.’
‘So it was an internal investigation. Not independent at all.’
‘That’s right, it was completely biased. But I noticed that, having checked with a superior, the person I was talking to started to get a little sharp. She advised that I should b
e careful of going on record to contest the statutory body’s choice to let the school conduct its own investigation. She said that at the end of the day, as the teachers association, they would decide on your fitness.’
‘Which suggests Kraver had already told them I’d have a case to answer?’
‘Yes. But with this confrontation this morning, he might have been pushed to try and get rid of you all together, Ben.’
A burst of rain hit the window, and I found myself gridlocked. The bumper of my car pushed up against one in front. A tattered ‘Keep Your Distance’ sticker flapped in the wind. As I eased the window down, rain lashed onto my cheek.
‘But what else could I have done?’ I asked.
‘I don’t know. Maybe we should have waited a bit longer, for the legal enquiry to conclude, before going for Kraver. I’m worried that he’s going to influence the outcome of the legal enquiry.’
‘I think he already has!’
‘But before today he might have still been weighing up whether to look at your Fitness To Practice. Now, you’ve given him a proper reason to.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. He’s planned all this.’
A lorry roared by, kicking dirty water against my window. A few drops clung to my hair, one finding my hand and running down a groove in my knuckle. It was at that moment that I felt a hot mist curl in my mind.
‘Jesus, Ben,’ she snapped. ‘You can say all you want, but we’re going to be pretty desperate for money in a month or two if this doesn’t all blow over, fast.’
‘What do you mean, ‘doesn’t blow over’? Of course it won’t have blown over. Kraver is trying to destroy my reputation. It’s the only way to stop my criticisms hurting him!’
For a moment the line fuzzed.
‘The most important thing is that we can keep paying the bills,’ Juliette was saying. ‘But how can we do that now you’re suspended? It’s bound to be at least eight weeks until the hearing, and he’ll want to stretch it out as long as they can. To weaken your resources.’
‘You’ll just have to take the strain for a few months, Juliette. We’ll stick together. We’ll fight this thing.’
An Honest Deceit Page 8
