Leonora Rustamova wrote Stop! Don’t Read This! which featured on a self-publishing website An English teacher who was sacked after she wrote a racy novel about her pupils believed she was “innovative”, an employment tribunal has heard.
Leonora Rustamova, 40, was sacked from Calder High School in West Yorkshire in 2009 after the novel appeared on a self-publishing website.
The story – Stop! Don’t Read This! – named several teachers and featured year 11 pupils.
Miss Rustamova is claiming unfair dismissal in Leeds.
The novel, which was later removed from the website, described teenage fantasies, violence and a criminal drug den.
One pupil is also referred to as fantasising and flirting with the former teacher.
Jean Bradbury, vice chair of governors at Calder High School, told the hearing the school governors were concerned about Mrs Rustamova’s safeguarding responsibilities.
She said: “Far from feeling she had done something wrong, the majority of her evidence was how she was an excellent teacher at the forefront of her profession and she was innovative and that didn’t marry with the concerns we had.”
She added that the story had brought the school into disrepute, because it was “available in the public arena” and the school had been named.
Miss Rustamova, who was dubbed Miss Rusty by her pupils, taught for more than 11 years before she lost her job in May 2009.
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