An Orthodox Christian religion teacher has been dismissed by the municipality of Anderlecht for sending sexual messages to a fourth-year secondary school pupil, according to RTBF.
The teenager's mother discovered the messages in April 2024 and reported them to the police. The teacher appealed his dismissal to the Council of State, but lost the case. Now, Anderlecht councillor Bieke Comer (Vooruit) confirmed the dismissal to Bruzz.
The teacher, who taught Orthodox Christian religion, worked part-time at various French-speaking secondary schools in Anderlecht. He is said to have sent the first "love messages" to one of his pupils as early as December 2023. Assuming it was a mistake, the girl's mother asked her to block his number.
However, the teacher then announced in class that he would be communicating with his pupils via WhatsApp, forcing the teenage girl to unblock the number. She received new messages from her teacher, including love poems in French and Romanian, a photo of two people kissing and a message with sexual connotations.
There was reportedly also an incident in class when the teacher offered to accompany the teenager to the toilet. Afterwards, the man claimed that the incident was a misplaced joke.
'Unhealthy, inappropriate and ambiguous'
The municipality of Anderlecht suspended the teacher for "unhealthy, inappropriate and ambiguous behaviour towards pupils," after which he was suspended and dismissed on disciplinary grounds at the end of September 2024.
Although he had no criminal record, the municipality felt that the incidents would undermine parents' confidence in the school and could damage its reputation.
However, the teacher challenged his dismissal before an appeals committee and then before the Council of State. He believed that the school and the municipality had violated his right to defence and the presumption of innocence, and argued that his messages had not been translated correctly.
However, the Council of State has now dismissed those arguments, RTBF reports. The court ruled that the disciplinary investigation had been thorough and that the seriousness of the facts did indeed justify the definitive termination of the collaboration.
