BANNED teacher Stephen Parnell has hit back at Minehead Middle School and the man whose evidence saw him barred from the profession for telling racist jokes. Mr Parnell, who lives in Wootton Courtenay, accused the school of employing unqualified staff, an allegation strenuously denied by both governors and headteacher Paul Rushforth. As reported in last week's Free Press, Mr Parnell was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct by England's General Teaching Council (GTC) for telling jokes about "pakis" and "niggers" to a student on a school trip. Although he declined to comment on the case last week, Mr Parnell has now written to the Free Press claiming his accuser, Tony Bailey, started his school employment as a cleaner and was now a deputy head. He said that, contrary to information supplied to the paper, Mr Bailey was not a teacher at the school and had no formal teaching qualifications. He wrote: "Mr Bailey is not a teacher, as quoted in your report, and was first employed at Minehead Middle School as a classroom cleaner. "He was then engaged as a classroom assistant and to the best of my knowledge has no formal teaching qualifications. "In your article you quote Jon Rose, Somerset county education officer, 'All of our students . . . have the right to receive the excellent education provision provided by the school . . .' "I am intrigued to know if Mr Rose condones and, indeed the parents of children of Minehead, know that children are regularly 'taught' by unqualified staff at Minehead Middle School. "Mr Rushforth may well be able to justify this practice on the basis that unqualified staff are paid a much lower salary than highly qualified and experienced teachers such as myself, thereby stretching his limited resources. "However, it does not lie well with Mr Rose's pledge for 'excellent' educational provision. "I feel exceptionally fortunate that my children were educated at Minehead Middle School under the headship of Ron West and Mike Turner and that they were taught by fully qualified experienced teachers who, among other qualities, had a sense of humour." Chairman of the school's governors, Simon Stokes, again refused to be drawn on the details of the original complaint as Mr Parnell - who now describes himself as a "retired teacher" - left his job before an investigation was completed. He stressed it was the county council, not the middle school, which had reported Mr Parnell to the GTC and it was the GTC's sole decision to strike him off. Mr Stokes was quick to point out the school had achieved considerable success since Mr Rushforth was appointed in a bid to improve standards. He said: "The school had serious weaknesses when Paul Rushforth took over and it is now judged to be a good school which is rapidly improving. "In the last few days we have achieved our best ever English SATS results and that is due to the leadership and professionalism of our staff." He said Mr Bailey had worked at the school for well over a decade and had successfully completed all the relevant training. "It is correct to say he is not a teacher - we never said he was. He is a behaviour support manager and has worked brilliantly with many difficult children and achieved excellent results. "He is professional, fully trained and does a very good job." He said Mr Parnell's claims that Mr Bailey was deputy head of the upper school were correct, but not quite what they seemed. He said the school had a "double tier" with a head, deputy head and bursar who were more senior than two further heads of both the upper and lower schools. In turn, Mr Bailey was the assistant to the "lower tier" head of the upper school. Since last week's article, many people have written to the Free Press in support of Mr Parnell - who is the brother of district and county councillor Christine Lawrence, who was a member of the county council's lifelong learning sub-committee at the time of the incident last April - praising him for his work and criticising the GTC hearing and ruling. But Mr Rushforth said the joke reproduced in the Free Press last week was "the most innocuous" as the others would have been far too offensive to print due to their "vile and racist nature". He accused Mr Parnell of levying allegations at the school in a bid to "distract attention from his unacceptable behaviour". Mr Rushforth added: "Those who think this was simply a matter of a teacher listening to and telling a few 'dodgy jokes' would do well to consider why an independent jury of his peers would take such a drastic step. "Mr Parnell does, of course, have the right to appeal against the ruling if he feels it to be unfair. "As for the school, we have never been in better shape. Exam results are better than ever, we are in the top 25 per cent of school in terms of the progress of our children at key stage three and have been judged as an 'effective and rapidly improving school'." As reported last week, the GTC hearing in Birmingham was told that Mr Parnell was one of 12 teachers escorting 150 year eight pupils by foot to a performance of Macbeth at the West Somerset Community College in April last year. Mr Bailey was walking a short distance behind and overheard Mr Parnell telling jokes to a pupil. Mr Bailey told the council: "What drew my attention was the use of the word 'paki'. Mr Parnell seemed to find the jokes amusing and was laughing loudly." He said he had considered confronting Mr Parnell and the pupil, who were both telling jokes, but decided instead to report the matter to the deputy headteacher as he did not want the situation to become "inflamed". Mr Parnell claimed the boy was not "run of the mill" and he used jokes which he had remembered from when "he was young" as a means of developing a relationship with him. The GTC made a prohibition order banning Mr Parnell from teaching for two years.