KEY POINTS:
A Remuera primary school has been blasted for the way it handled an allegation of bullying in an independent report commissioned by its board of trustees.
Victoria Avenue School has been told its process was "so badly flawed and biased that it has revictimised the complainant child", breached natural justice and its "sexualised" description and interpretation of the event was "unnecessary".
The mother of the 10-year-old who complained said she did not want to be identified because it would detrimentally affect both her son and the boy whom he accused.
Her son told her in August that he had been pushed up against a wall and "humped" (simulated sex). She then contacted the school to set a time to make a formal complaint.
Before her son's case could be heard, the school approached and met with the other boy's family.
In her report, mediator Barbara McCulloch said that was highly unusual.
"It would be regarded as natural justice and therefore normal procedure to hear the concern before hearing the defence - this set up a chain reaction of doubting the school's ability to deal with the matter and its impartiality.
"This action seems to be motivated by panic and certainly set the tone for reactive responses to continue."
In a letter to the complainant's parents in September, then principal Sue Mooney and assistant principal Jane Cameron said they considered the matter closed as the school had conducted a thorough investigation and could find no "conclusive evidence to support" the allegation.
However, Ms McCulloch's report said that conclusion was wrong. "In fact, two boys' stories confirmed that the incident did occur ... and the accused child was interviewed over the weekend by his parents, sent away, and then not interviewed by the school at all."
There were problems with fairness and consistency as different people interviewed different children, which was compounded by inadequate note-taking.
The complainant's mother says she wants "heads to roll" over the issue.
The Herald asked the school's board of trustees chairman, Vlad Kozak, if any staff members were facing disciplinary action over the handling of the incident.
"It's an employment matter," he said. "It's an issue that's really covered under the employment relationship we have so it's not something we're going to talk about."
In a further written statement Mr Kozak said the board had accepted the report and apologised twice to the family for the identified procedural deficiencies.
"The board has suggested to the family a meeting between the board and the family on two occasions but these suggestions have not been taken up by the family."
The Ministry of Education's Bruce Adin said his staff met the board yesterday and were assured that the school is developing a plan to follow up on the recommendations of the independent report.
Those recommendations include the board taking legal advice on whether disciplinary action should follow, a statement about the inappropriateness of "humping" placed in the school's newsletter and further mediation between the children, parents and school if the parties wish.
