Tattooed headteacher mocked by Piers Morgan for ‘lack of standards’ is defended by school’s parents
A TATTOOED headteacher mocked by Piers Morgan for a “lack of standards” has been defended by the school’s parents.
The Good Morning Britain host, 55, was branded “judgemental” by viewers yesterday after suggesting people with tattoos shouldn’t be headteachers.
Piers and Susanna Reid clashed over Lee Hill’s decision to replace its house names honouring national heroes with woke icons after a plea from an ex-pupil.
Mr Hill dropped Admiral Nelson, Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh at Howden Junior School in East Yorkshire.
Piers ranted about Mr Hill’s decision and raged about his “lack of standards” by being “covered in Beckham-style tattoos”.
But the parents at the school have defended Mr Hill, saying he is a “fantastic teacher”.
TATTOO RANT
One parent told Hull Live: “I can only go on my own personal experience of my son in his school.
“And quite honestly, I can stand for the vast majority of parents and the community that, as a headteacher, he is outstanding.
“He turned around my son’s whole attitude and school life, he has climbed over all the Covid hurdles and still put the children’s best interests at heart in every way he possibly could.”
Another woman, whose sister went to the school, said Piers was “bang out of order”.
She said: “It’s bang out of order to judge someone on their tattoos, does that affect his teaching ability? I don’t think it does.”
People say, ‘Why bang on about his tattoos?’ I am sorry but when I was at school, you couldn’t have a headteacher with a bunch of tattoos.”
Piers Morgan
Piers ranted about Mr Hill’s decision to let pupils choose who they could learn about – with students picking Greta Thunberg, Marcus Rashford and Malala Yousafzai.
He said: “I think young people should be told this, they should be told who Lord Nelson was and why most pubs in the country are called Lord Nelson.
“Why have we cancelled him?”
Susanna replied: “Well, it’s one school, and they have decided to have new, contemporary heroes, that their houses are named after.”
Piers said: “People say, ‘Why bang on about his tattoos?’ I am sorry but when I was at school, you couldn’t have a headteacher with a bunch of tattoos.
‘LACK OF STANDARDS’
“It just shows a lack of standards, Lord Nelson wouldn’t have allowed it.
“I just don’t think headteachers should be covered in Beckham-style tattoos.
“I don’t like it, I come from an era where appearance matters, you should set an example, you don’t want turn all our kids into ink-splattered tattoo blobs do you?”
Mr Hill told his 16,000 Twitter followers of the “courage of the child who made a stand”.
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He wrote: “During the Black Lives Matter protests, I received a passionate and brave email from a former pupil.
“This pupil not only educated me about the history of the three house names . . . but also explained the impact of seeing these figures — who have links to slavery, oppression and racism — had on her during her time at our school.
“Not only a brave email to send to a white male in a position of power but also an email that set off a chain of events.”
