Black teaching assistant loses job at school for ‘smelling of cannabis’

A black teaching assistant was kicked out of a school in Buckinghamshire after staff “racially profiled” him by saying he “smelt of cannabis”.

Eli Belmar, 28, was working as an agency worker at Bridge Academy in Coffee Hall, Milton Keynes, a secondary alternative provision school for students in Key Stage 3 and 4.

However, his working agreement with the school was terminated in November after just a week and a half.

His agency told him he had been accused of using the illegal drug and the school did not want him back.

Stephenson MK Trust which runs the school said the decision was “not related” to Eli’s ethnicity”.

“It was a crazy experience,” said Eli, who is originally from Islington and had only been in Milton Keynes for two months but had to leave the city for a week due to the “mental effects” of the incident.

“It has affected me a lot,” he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service, “I have experienced subtle racial stuff in work prior, but nothing to this level.

“This was very surprising. What really stood out to me was that I never got the chance to speak to anybody.”

Eli said he was “irate” after hearing of the allegations against him as he “does not smoke” and is iron deficient, meaning his eyes can naturally become irritated.

The university-educated former youth worker, who has over seven years’ experience and has worked in prisons, said he was “completely confused” after a teacher claimed he used cannabis.

Eli claimed staff assured him that “everything was fine” but was dismissed “without having a conversation with anybody”.

He added: “What I really didn’t like is the fact that they said they don’t mind me doing [cannabis] for personal use. That means they’ve already built up a story in their heads.”

In an incident report given to the school he wrote that a “racial pre-conception” had occurred and that he had “been labelled and put in a box as the young black male who comes from London”.

Eli, who has Grenadian, Guyanese and Venezuelan heritage, was previously involved in a project to help young people manage their money.

He also hosted a festival in London supporting R’n’B, grime and drill artists through his Young Blessed Gifted events firm.

During his short time at Bridge Academy, he said he was a “role model” for children who have behavioural issues and cannot attend mainstream education.

Eli said he saw “side eyes” from other teachers due to his positive interactions with many of the children, “not just young black males”.

The teaching assistant added that by his fourth day he had already come up with a way to help students struggling with English by focusing on spoken word and lyric writing.

Kathie Hughes, CEO of Stephenson (MK) Trust, said: “The agreement with the agency was ended due to concerns raised about the member of staff that were not in line with Trust expectations and policies.

“No part of the decision made was related to the agency member’s ethnicity.”