Catholic School Teacher Reportedly Sent Home On First Day Of School To Cover Tattoos


Catholic school teacher Charlotte Tumilty was reportedly sent home for having tattoos on her neck and arms. Tumilty, who was hired as a trainee teacher at St. John Vianney School in Hartlepool, claims school administrators insisted she wear clothing that will conceal her “inappropriate” body art.

According to the Daily Mail, Tumilty has “a ‘full sleeve’ of tattoos on her arms and legs, smaller inkings on her fingers, hands, back and chest and an eye emblem on her neck.” There’s still another issue: Clothing won’t necessarily cover the tattoos on her neck, hands, and feet, or the piercings on her face. So she’s reportedly taken drastic measures to cover all of her body art.

Mirror UK reports the 26-year-old mother of two recently recounted the series of events that led to her being sent home. She also recalled the conversation she had with one of the school administrators about her body art.

“A woman asked to speak to me in the office and said ‘what we need to discuss is you can still see a bit of your neck tattoo peaking out of your top?'” she explained. ”I suggested wearing a higher-necked top. The woman said ‘that’s not the point, it’s a strictly Catholic school and tattoos are forbidden.'”

“She said they do have teachers with tattoos, but they cover them up.I said ‘yes, I have covered mine up’, but the woman said ‘to be honest, I don’t think it’s appropriate.’ She then suggested I might be able to uses plasters and bandages to cover them up. But I’d look ridiculous,” she explained.

Tumilty stated that she doesn’t understand why her tattoos are an issue because no one addressed her about it when she was interviewed for the position. Although she did promise to remove her piercings, she revealed school administrators were present when she was interviewed, and no one expressed that it would be an issue. Tumilty is considered a level-two teacher training course at Hartlepool College of Further Education, so she’ll be working at the school twice a week for the next year.

“It ticks me off. They said I could maybe start later but I don’t think it’s going to get anywhere because you can still see bits of my tattoos. They are prejudiced against me because they could see a few tattoos,” she said.

However, school administrators say otherwise. Deputy headmaster Martin Boagey released an official statement in response to Tumilty’s claims. He admitted that she was asked to make a better effort to conceal her tattoos and piercing, but she was never forced to leave the school. Although school administrators are denying Tumilty’s claims, they are still adamant about faculty and staff adhering to the school’s code of conduct, which she allegedly violated.

“Ms. Tumilty was politely asked to consider how best to cover up her tattoos and it was suggested that she should. At no point was she ever told that she could not work in the school.”

There are reportedly no other training positions available at the moment, so Tumilty’s training may be delayed, reports Buzzfeed.

Do you feel Charlotte Tumilty’s tattoos should be concealed while she’s at work? Share your thoughts.

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