THE former head and his deputy at a special educational needs school in Henley have been banned from teaching after being found guilty of the “improper use” of £250,000 of school funds.
The verdicts were reached against Mike Turner, who became head of River House School in 2000 and Simon Constantinou, who joined as his deputy in 2004.
The orders banning them from teaching, after abusing their positions for more than ten years, were made by a professional conduct panel of the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) and rubber-stamped by the Department of Education in London.
Serious questions began to emerge at River House after a school employee – who joined in March 2015 – discovered “potential financial irregularities” and asked for an audit.
Constantinou, who is now over 70 years of age, was suspended in May of that year and Turner, who is now 70, retired three months later. Both were referred to the TRA in 2016.
One of the findings against Turner was that he accepted “overpayments” of £36,000 of a “recruitment and retention” allowance, in breach of the school governing body’s policy.
Simon Constantinou. Photo: Paul Beard
The governors had authorised a one-off payment of £4,000 for the allowance in 2005, but Turner continued to be paid the same amount every year until 2015, when the audit began.
One witness told the panel: “An overpayment of £36,000 had been paid to Mike Turner which he had failed to advise he was still being paid. He agreed to pay back. He was invoiced for the net amount… He has not paid any of this.”
In a statement to the TRA, Turner said: “I never made any claim for any of the payments. I did ask on a number of occasions that the payment to me was not described as a recruitment and retention allowance.”
In its report, the TRA says the panel concluded that Turner knew or should have known that he was only entitled to receive such payments for one year between April 2005 and March 2006. His comment that he had asked for the payment not to be described as a recruitment and retention allowance “was clear evidence that he knew he was not entitled to receive the payment”.
Between 2010 and 2015 Turner entered into a procurement contract for the provision of IT services on behalf of River House School to the value of approximately £180,000, without undertaking a competitive tendering process.
This was not approved by the governing body – which was required to approve all payments in excess of £5,000 – and was also in breach of EU regulations.
Michael Turner. Photo: Paul Beard
Turner was also found to have authorised “excessive and/or unnecessary claims” for overtime payments of £174,419 and mileage expenses of £21,000 made by Constantinou over the years.
In oral evidence, Constantinou told the TRA panel that the activities for which he was claiming overtime included dealing with issues arising from pupils’ behaviour and staff wellbeing.
“The panel concluded that these activities were management/leadership activities which fell squarely under the role of a deputy head-teacher and could not therefore be claimed as overtime,” the report stated.
The panel said that as an experienced teacher Constantinou should have known that he was not entitled to claim for overtime for the work he was undertaking.
And it noted that Constantinou claimed regular overtime payments, often amounting to eight to ten hours a week. “The panel felt that the time claimed by Mr Constantinou was beyond credibility,” it said.
The panel found that the conduct of Turner and Constantinou “fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession”.
Under the rulings, Turner will be allowed to apply to have the ban lifted after five years, and Constantinou after four years.
Turner and Constantinou were previously charged with conspiring to commit theft following a police investigation, but they were cleared in 2018 after prosecutors dropped the case.