A 51-year-old former director of Patong Thanoen Samakkhi School in Nakhon Ratchasima’s Bua Yai district, deemed to have breached a serious disciplinary code by having an inappropriate intimate relationship with a 14-year-old pupil, was given 30 days to appeal against the provincial authority’s decision to dismiss him without any pension and welfare benefits.
As the dismissal procedure was now in motion, Nathapop Boonthongtho could appeal against the provincial education committee’s dismissal order with the Education Ministry’s Teacher Civil Service and Educational Personnel Commission, said provincial head Kritapol Chutikulkirati.
This disciplinary procedure was separated from the ongoing trial for criminal offences in the case at the Bua Yai provincial court, he added.
The school committee and teachers in early January brought the allegations to the media’s attention by distributing Line chat messages from the Mathayom girl’s phone in which Nathapop appears to address her as “darling” and “dear wife’’.
The scandal was also probed by police who then brought three criminal charges including statutory rape of an under 15-year-old.
There is also a charge of libel linked to his dispute with a woman who reportedly told the school about the alleged scandal. Nathapop has denied the charges and vowed to fight them in court.
