A Fife teacher who turned to drugs to cope with the stress he was under has been struck off, it has emerged.
The General Teaching Council for Scotland ruled David Young should be barred from teaching for at least the next year.
However, the GTC’s disciplinary sub-committee decided he can apply to rejoin the register after the year is up.
Young, of Saline, was caught by police in possession of heroin and the tranquilliser diazepam as he sat in his car.
The 45-year-old high school teacher admitted two drug offences when he appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court in October last year.
Following the court case, Fife Council said it would do all it could to support him following his arrest and conviction.
His fall from grace took place in February last year when police officers spotted him sitting in his car.SuspiciousThey thought his behaviour was suspicious and when they went over to speak to him saw a piece of burned tinfoil in his lap.
Young pleaded guilty to being in possession of the class A drug diamorphine (heroin) on February 20 last year.
He also admitted being in possession of the class C drug diazepam.
His pleas of not guilty to two further charges of being in possession of ecstasy and cannabis resin were accepted by the Crown.
He committed the offences on the A909 road between Burntisland and Cowdenbeath.
Sheriff Craig McSherry heard last October that Young told the police after he was detained, “I have had a lapse.”
The sheriff also heard Young was a full-time teacher, who, in his own words, had “drifted into drug taking.”StressHe was under stress at the time and several factors in his personal life were said to have been the cause.
Young was fined £440 for the offences.
Yesterday, GTC Scotland’s disciplinary sub-committee was told of his court appearance last October and heard submissions from Fiona Dalziel, on behalf of Young, in which he admitted his conduct had fallen short of the standards expected of him.
He also acknowledged there was only one option open to the sub-committee given the circumstances and his conviction and he told the panel he intended to return to teaching once he had addressed his drug addiction.
A GTC Scotland statement issued yesterday said Young’s name would be removed from the register.
It said, “In the whole circumstances of the case, it was the sub-committee’s view that the ultimate sanction of removal was the most appropriate and took into account the terms of the Code of Professionalism and Conduct for Teachers and in particular the provisions that a teacher should avoid situations in which they could be found to be in breach of the criminal law, that their standards of personal and professional conduct should be upheld to maintain public confidence in teachers and the profession and they should maintain an awareness of their position as role models to children.
“The sub-committee was satisfied that for a teacher to possess class A drugs was conduct that could not be tolerated.”
There are around 82,000 teachers on the GTCS register 13 were removed between 2005 and 2006, eight between 2006 and 2007 and 10 between 2007 and 2008.
Alister Hendrie, area education officer for Fife Council, said, “I can confirm that David Young is no longer an employee of Fife Council.
“We have been actively managing this situation over the past months and all proper procedures have been followed.”