An elementary school teacher has been banned from teaching after a misconduct committee learned of his conviction for sexually speaking with a child.
James Young, 30, was arrested in 2020 and subsequently released from Romans Field School in Milton Keynes in 2021.
He had been given a suspended sentence before the Teaching Regulations Agency hearing in court.
The conviction did not affect any students at the school.
The decision of the Teaching Regulations Agency panel said: “Given the serious findings of inappropriate relationships with children, there was a strong public interest consideration in relation to the protection of students”.
It was heard that Young had used his job title — elementary school teacher — as his username in online adult chat rooms.
He had engaged in sexual and inappropriate conversations with a person he believed to be a child, despite being informed of their age on multiple occasions by the child, sources said.
His actions were intentional, the panel said.
Young was arrested on May 29, 2020 and suspended from his job on June 2.
The suspension was reviewed monthly, the panel heard, and after a disciplinary and police investigation, he was released on March 12, 2021.
In an email to the school in February 2021, Young admitted the incident was “an act of utter stupidity, a total mistake that was totally out of character.”
He said he’s been “struggling throughout Covid and lockdown, particularly not being able to do what I love – teaching in the classroom”.
The panel determined that the incident occurred outside of the educational setting and no students or other members of the Romans Field School were involved.
Still, it added that Young’s actions and beliefs are relevant to his work.
Young, whose address was in Warminster in Wiltshire at the time of his appearance in court, admitted to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child in one case.
On July 23, 2021, Northampton Crown Court sentenced him to eight months in prison suspended for two years.
His name was put on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years and he was sentenced to rehabilitation and 150 hours of unpaid work.
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