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Banker wants teacher fired for ‘sleazeballs’ remark
Barclays exec’s son defended his father as history teacher attacked ‘dishonest’ bankers
An American who was reported earlier this year to be Wall Street's highest paid banker, Hugh 'Skip' McGee, has demanded that members of the teaching staff at his son's private school in Texas are fired after one teacher allegedly said all investment bankers were "sleazeballs" and "dishonest".
McGee was one of the team at Lehman Brothers who joined Barclays Capital in New York when the British bank took over the bankrupt American bank in 2008. He became global head of investment banking at Barclays.
His son, John Edward, is quarterback in the football team at Houston's Kinkaid School. Even so, he was apparently reduced to tears when his history teacher Leslie Lovett told his 11th-grade class that - in McGee's words - "somehow both Lehman and Barclays made a bunch of money on the Lehman bankruptcy, and that all investment bankers were 'sleazeballs' and dishonest".
John Edward stood up for his dad in class, saying he had been "working around the clock trying to save 11,000 jobs and that she had absolutely no idea what she was talking about".
In a five-page letter to the school's trustees, McGee claimed Lovett was "regularly ranked among the least desired teachers (at least on the parent 'whisper circuit')". He said her "leftist invective" was "neither accurate nor part of the approved curriculum". And he demanded that not only Lovett but the school's headmaster and upper school principal should all be fired.
The Kinkaid School, one of the most established private coed schools in Texas, has issued a statement, which reads: "We take concerns by each of our constituents seriously, and carefully analyse the message and the appropriate action, if any needs to be taken."
McGee was in the news in January when the Daily Beast reported that, at a time of salary and bonus cutbacks on Wall Street, he had somehow managed to negotiate a $25m-a-year contract with Barclays. "I'm feeling nauseous right now even thinking about McGee's deal," one of his former colleagues at Lehman Brothers told the website.
Barclays refuted the article, saying the figure was wrong, but declined to says what Skip was earning. This time, they have declined to comment at all on his row with the Texas school. ·
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If it behaves like a sleazeball.........chances are it's a sleazeball!
Rather than writing aggressive letters referring to the 'parents' whisper circuit' AKA childish playground gossip, why doesn't the father get down to Texas for a face to face discussion with the teacher concerned. He could opt for the privacy of the head teacher's office or have a public debate in front of the whole school. I'm sure the teacher will have no shortage of people offering to do her research for either meeting.
When are these grossly overpaid bankers going to realise that the vast majority of people think they are out of touch with reality and should stop ripping off their customers by demanding exorbitant salaries and bonuses? As Peter Simmons said, this guy sounds like an obscenely rich bully throwing his weight around! Perhaps he'd like to volunteer to act as an unpaid advisor to the school and also do some volunteer teaching, so's he knows what it's like to be a teacher rather than a prat on an enormous salary!
These amoral unprincipled banksters NEED A REALITY CHECK ! They have taken leave of their senses, and their consciences, and should be prosecuted for looting the Public on an alarming scale. They are 'inglorious basterds" to quote Quentin Tarantino
It is grossly unprofessional for teacher to express opinions such as those it is alleged this teacher expressed. It is silly to say "all", unless she had clear evidence to back the claim. It is the kind of claim I might expect to see in a red top tabloid. Good kick up the butt if she is guilty.
looks like ,leslie lovett, and peter simmons , both hit the nail right on the head !
Sounds like a sleazeball to me. Obscenely rich bully trying to get a teacher on a tiny fraction of his salary sacked for her opinion. Sounds like a fascist, smells like a fascist, must be a fascist. I do hope the school stand up to him and expells his odious brat who thinks he knows better than a teacher. But then money doesn't talk, it swears so he'll probably ruin her life. Anyone taking that kind of money is by definition dishonest, interesting he thinks anyone criticising abject greed has to be left wing, but that's America for you.