A married primary school deputy head has been permanently banned from the classroom after bombarding two junior female colleagues with sexual messages.
Ashley Kalnins, 39, who worked at St Francis Catholic Primary School in Warwickshire, pestered the women with messages asking about their underwear, requesting nude photographs and suggesting they share a shower – while concealing the exchanges from his partner.
A Teaching Regulation Agency panel heard that Kalnins sent the messages from inside his classroom during school hours, and on one occasion texted a colleague about a sex act while driving a car containing pupils.
He also told one of his victims he needed to ‘perve’ to cope with the stress of work.
Messages seen by the panel included texts telling one colleague to ‘wear something loose so I can get my hand down’ and ‘come sit on me’, asking ‘how wet do you get?’, and urging her to wear ‘sexy undies’ to work.
He told another colleague he thought about her in ‘pornstar boots’ and that he preferred short skirts because they were ‘easy to lift up’.
Kalnins pestered her repeatedly for massages, at one point saying he could be ‘half naked’ for the occasion.
Both women told the panel they had never encouraged the messages and lived in fear of being alone with Kalnins.
One colleague was so distressed she rang her partner to bring a cardigan to school because she could not face appearing in front of him without it – despite being entirely properly dressed.
Ashley Kalnins, 39, has been banned from the classroom after bombarding two junior colleagues with sexual messages
The panel ruled Kalnins’s behaviour was ‘exploitative towards junior female staff, extremely serious misconduct and entirely unacceptable’ and found the risk of him reoffending to be ‘extremely high’.
Kalnins started working at the primary school as deputy head in September 2016 until he left in December 2018.
He began bombarding one female colleague – whom he had previously taught PE – with sexual messages, just months after she started working there.
The panel heard he asked her to message him on social media so his then girlfriend wouldn’t see.
Kalnins would pester her for nude photos and massages, and on one occasion said he would like to see her in ‘porn star boots’.
He even messaged her after they travelled together with pupils in a car, saying: ‘You were in my car could have at least played with my hard stick? Lol x.’
The female worker, named as Individual B in the report, told the panel that he would sexualise all of his messages that he sent ‘consistently’ throughout the day, as well as early in the morning and late at night.
‘[Individual B] stated that to the extent to which she responded to these messages she did so in the hope that he would cease the correspondence if she made clear that his advances were never going to be accepted,’ the TRA panel said.
‘Individual B stated that her purpose in responding sometimes was also to keep the correspondence as calm as it could be and to prevent escalation.’
The panel heard how Kalnins had been described as ‘creepy’.
The married primary school deputy head pestered women with sexual messages asking for nude photographs while hiding the exchanges from his partner (pictured)
Another female, named as Individual A, said Kalnins had added her on Facebook where his messages quickly became inappropriate.
He would ask her to ‘get dirty’, and in one message asked if the toilets have ‘full covers’ before messaging: ‘Can we be a little naughty in school too?’
Both women said Kalnins told them to delete the messages he had sent them, and told Individual B ‘that we don’t want anyone at school finding out’.
In a statement given to the school, Individual B said: ‘He came and saw me in school to ask if I had deleted the messages and offered to go on my phone and show me how to and told me to give him my phone and he would delete them for me.’
Kalnins claimed his messages were a ‘joke’ and that he thought they were mutual and consensual.
He told the panel he was ‘truly sorry for his behaviour’ and that he ‘deeply regretted any actions and words that had unintentionally caused harm’.
But the TRA said Kalnins hadn’t appeared to ‘sufficiently grasp that his actions at the time were wholly inappropriate and unacceptable’.
The panel found his behaviour had been sexually motivated and his conduct towards the women was ‘wholly unacceptable’.
Banning him for life, Stuart Blomfield, for the education secretary, said: ‘In my judgement, the lack of full insight means that there is some risk of the repetition of this behaviour and this puts at risk the future wellbeing of pupils.
‘I have therefore given this element considerable weight in reaching my decision.’
He added that he was ‘particularly mindful of the finding of sexual motivation, and that the conduct was directed towards junior members of staff’.
‘In my view, it is necessary to impose a prohibition order due to the seriousness of the proven conduct and in order to maintain public confidence in the profession,’ Mr Blomfield said.
‘A published decision, in light of the circumstances in this case, that is not backed up by full remorse or insight, does not in my view satisfy the public interest requirement concerning public confidence in the profession.
‘For these reasons, I have concluded that a prohibition order is proportionate and in the public interest in order to achieve the intended aims of a prohibition order.’