A much-praised teacher who persuaded difficult pupils to read by making them characters in their own, grittily realistic novel is about to find out whether an employment tribunal will allow her to relaunch her career.
Leonora Rustamova, nicknamed Miss Rusty by pupils at the high school where she taught English for 11 years, was sacked for gross misconduct in 2009 after the book appeared on an internet self-publishing site.
Its sexual references and a comparison between two teenagers and "gorgeous Mr Gay UK finalists" led to a furore. But Leeds employment tribunal heard from Rustamova's lawyer that the project had initially been encouraged by Stephen Ball, the head of Calder High school at Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire. He had described the printing of bound copies for each pupil as a "lovely" gesture.
Ball said he was initially supportive of the project to publish the book, Stop! Don't Read This, although he had some reservations.
The tribunal has retired to consider Rustamova's claim for compensation, after hearing that her life was "in ruins" because she became over-excited by the project's success. She told the hearing: "I am an idiot but I had good intentions." One parent had told her that the book was the first her 15-year-old son had read from beginning to end.
Rustamova, 40, wrote the 96-page story after taking charge of a recalcitrant group nicknamed the Commy Boys, who were allegedly given to sexist and racist language and showed little interest in learning. She wrote five of them and herself into a plot involving a drugs gang which was foiled by the pupils, but with sexual fantasies, bad language and truancy along the way.
The tribunal heard how Rustamova read draft instalments in class and pupils gradually became interested in adding their own contributions. Inevitably, this ratcheted up the tally of swearwords and risque episodes, but Matthew Pascall, Rustamova's barrister, said the book did not subvert "positive attitudes and values" and its denouement involved the teacher and her "five favourites" calling in the police.
Rustamova defended the Mr Gay UK passage, claiming she had thought it harmless.
There were pupil demonstrations and protests from parents when Rustamova was suspended, then sacked in May 2009 by the board of governors. Another former English teacher at Calder High, Stephen Cann, who was suspended over the project and later retired, told the tribunal that the head had praised Rustamova for "persevering with a group of lads who had largely been written off".
The school is a highly regarded comprehensive serving Mytholmroyd and the characterful community of Hebden Bridge. Andrew McGrath, representing its governors, said Rustamova had been dismissed for serious errors of judgement.
These did not only involve the book, he said, but also out-of-school activities with the boys and a "failure to acknowledge or comprehend sufficiently the seriousness of the school's concerns".
He said the text had been available on the internet for five months, after Rustamova's husband used a self-publishing site to provide 22 bound copies for pupils and staff.
Rustamova said she had been aghast when she was suspended from her £34,000-a-year job. She said: "I got a letter congratulating me on my promotion to social cohesion co-ordinator and then this happened the next day. I was in deep shock for a couple of days. I was utterly astonished."
Rustamova is out of work and relying on benefits to support her daughter. She said her sacking was wrong and her treatment by the school had "rendered me untouchable".
