PE teacher banned after calling migrants 'illegal invaders' on X despite being cleared of racism
Sam Everett, 29, shared his political views on his X account while working as a PE teacher at Haughton Academy in Darlington between 2022 and 2024
A PE teacher who called migrants "illegal invaders" and said they should "respect our laws or leave" has been banned from the classroom, despite being cleared of racism.
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Sam Everett, 29, shared his political views on his X account while working as a PE teacher at Haughton Academy in Darlington between 2022 and 2024.
He did not mention where he worked in these posts, but one user was able to find out and reported him to the school.
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An investigation was subsequently launched, and Mr Everett was hauled in front of a Teaching Regulation Agency professional conduct panel.
During the three-day hearing at the end of January this year, the PE teacher admitted the Twitter account was his but denied that any of his posts were racist or sexist.
The panel agreed with Mr Everett and recommended he should keep his job, concluding that publication of its findings alone would be sufficient punishment.
But officials at the Department for Education overruled this decision and banned him from teaching indefinitely.
They concluded the panel had "failed to give sufficient weight" to the seriousness of his conduct.
Mr Everett posted on X under his own name and said he was a teacher, the panel was told.
The panel looked at posts he made between December 2023 and February 2024 and found some were offensive.
In a judgment which has been published online, it was found that he wrote, "Deploy the navy", in response to a post saying "more boats filled with illegal migrant invaders are approaching our shores every day. Only Britain First would stop the boats and deport all illegal migrants".
The panel said that Britain First was "widely known as a far right organisation".
It said: "The post to which Mr Everett was replying used the word 'invaders', which was relevant to the context of Mr Everett's reply to the effect that the navy should be deployed.
"The purpose of deploying the navy, in the context of the word 'invaders', was offensive as it implied advocating the use of military force against unarmed people in small boats."
Another post read: "Completely agree, if you don’t respect our laws, culture and way of life you should leave, nobody is forcing you to stay. We don’t go to other peoples countries and tell them they’re wrong for how they go about things."
Mr Everett also posted "just get rid of the lot of them, if they hate this country so much they should f*** off", in response to a comment which said "... we have imported many more who hate the country. The only way we survive is through patriotism and understanding our history".
Mr Everett was employed by Haughton Academy, which was part of the Education Village Academy Trust, as a PE teacher from 2022 until he was dismissed in June 2024, after someone raised concerns about his posts on X.
The panel recommended that Mr Everett be allowed to continue teaching, given his remorse and a successful placement at another school.
He had deleted the posts and closed his account, the panel was told.
But decision-maker Marc Cavey, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education, ruled that Mr Everett should be barred from teaching for life.
Mr Everett may apply for the order to be lifted after two years.
Mr Cavey found: "In this case, and while noting the evidence of insight and remorse found by the panel, I have placed considerable weight on the seriousness of the misconduct that it has found, which included a teacher engaging in offensive dialogue on a public social media platform thereby demonstrating a lack of tolerance and a lack of respect for the rights and beliefs of others.
"I have also placed considerable weight on the likely negative impact of this behaviour on the reputation of the profession.
"I have also noted the panel's findings that Mr Everett's behaviour was deliberate and that there was no evidence that he was acting under duress.
"In my judgment the panel has, in making its recommendation that a prohibition order should not be imposed, failed to give sufficient weight to these factors."