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Principal censured for pursuing female teacher in drunken late-night visits

By SIMON COLLINS on Tuesday, 10 October 2017

A school principal has been censured for pursuing a female teacher in drunken late-night visits.

The married principal turned up without an invitation at the home of the teacher, a solo mother, at least three times between August and October 2015, the last time at 2am.

The first time, when he arrived soon after 8pm, the teacher let him in but "made it clear that he would not be sleeping in her bed" and let him sleep on her couch.

The next two times, she and her teenage son pretended not to be home and did not let him in.

The teacher, a senior staff member at the same school, told the Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal that the late-night visits and a series of texts, also often sent early in the morning, made her feel scared.

The tribunal has found the principal guilty of serious misconduct, censured him, and barred him from any school leadership role until he has proved that he is "maintaining proper boundaries".

"We wish to make it clear that the respondent's conduct is not befitting of any teacher and is even less acceptable in a principal," it said.

"We accept that it is not easy for a woman on her own to deflect the unwanted advances of an intoxicated visitor late at night, and particularly when that visitor is her boss."

The principal applied for name suppression "on the basis of the interests of himself and his wife".

The tribunal agreed to suppress all names, including the name of the school, because of the principal's "ongoing mental health concerns".

 

Source: NZ HERLD http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11931347

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