Scottish Teacher accused of Assault says CCTV should be installed in Schools

In Dundee, Scotland, a former math teacher who won an appeal against his sentence for assaulting two male students is calling for CCTV to be installed in schools. 

The case against 52-year old Mike Barile has been playing out for a couple of years now.  Barile was initially fired by Lawside Academy in Dundee in December of 2008, charged with assault, and found guilty.  His life was completely ruined, his home attacked, and his car vandalized, but now a judge says the he shouldn’t have been charged to begin with.

Barile had taught for 25 years before the incident that ended his career.  As the Scotsman reports, the original trial at Dundee Sheriff Court heard the math teacher lost patience after two students, both 15 at the time, told him to “f off” and called him a “walking penis”.  The father of two was found guilty of grabbing a 15-year-old boy’s shirt, pushing him, and threatening to put him “through the blackboard”.   He was also found guilty of placing his arm across the boy’s chest and preventing him from leaving the classroom.  However, Barile launched a legal bid to clear his name and ultimately he did.  Barile was also given an out-of-court settlement by his former employers.

As the Scotsman also reports, Barile was due to take Dundee City Council to an unfair dismissal tribunal after appeal judges ruled him to be the victim of “disgraceful behavior” by the youngsters.  But in a turn of events, just hours before his tribunal was due to open, the council struck a deal with Barile in return for his silence.  Reportedly, the council feared Barile would embarrass the district by giving evidence on teaching standards and conditions.

While Barile is keeping hush about legal matters, he did tell The Courier that the education system was doing youngsters “no favors” by failing to teach them about civilized behavior and that it was vital teachers and pupils were protected from unruly behavior.

“There are two things I think could be done to address the issue of discipline in the classroom—install CCTV Cameras in schools and also introduce detention on Saturday mornings,” he said.

“They wouldn’t necessarily require teachers to be present on these mornings, they could recruit job seekers, but once the youngsters were sent to detention that alone would stop them…Classroom teachers refer kids up through the system, but head teachers have their hands tied—there has to be some kind of sanction that’s unpleasant, something that pupils don’t particularly want to do.”

Barile says that while people might criticize the installation of CCTV, and brand it an invasion of privacy, “this was the reality of the world in which we now live”.

“If it means it’s for the greater good then it’s worthwhile.  It’s protection for everyone—for the kids and for teachers in the room.”

“Ordinary, well-behaved pupils would have absolutely nothing to fear and neither would any teacher worth his or her salt…The only people who would be worried are teachers who aren’t up to scratch and youngsters with something to hide.”