Headteacher who took sickie on last day of school sacked
21.09.07
A story that will make many parents smile. Air fares often rise by hundreds of pounds the day schools break up. Flights to New York increase from £230 on the day before schools break up next Easter to £380 on the day they break up, for example.
In order to save big sums (£600 for a family of four in our example above) many parents risk the wrath of their children's school by taking their children out one of two days early before school holidays.
Yesterday, it was revealed that headteacher did exactly the same thing. She called in sick on the last day of term, and was then spotted by a colleague at Leeds Bradford Airport queuing for a flight to Tenerife. She lost her claim for unfair dismissal.
Lesley Tidy skipped the last day before the spring half-term last year, at a time when education authorities were threatening sanctions against parents who took their children out of school in term-time.
The headteacher at Thackley primary school in Bradford phoned her deputy saying she had contracted winter vomiting virus. The following day she missed a staff training day she was supposed to lead - but bumped into another member of staff at Leeds Bradford Airport when she was queuing for a flight.
After an investigation she was first suspended and then sacked by the school governors from the job she held for six years. The hearing found there was no reason to overturn the governors' decision to sack her.
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