By ANGELA GREGORY
The Kerikeri schoolteacher who resigned after complaints that she sprinkled children with "fairy dust" said she cried for days after a parent accused her of being a witch.
Linda Stubbing told the Herald yesterday she had been devastated when the mother complained to the principal of Riverview Primary School about her teaching techniques.
"She told him I was a wicca [witch], sinister and irrational. I hit the roof. I was dreadfully hurt and cried for two days."
Linda Stubbing said her motives in using a little magic in the classroom had been the "highest and most noble," because they were generated by her love for the pupils.
She had used a reward system which included wands and wishing stones since she had returned to teaching in 1996 after a long break.
The "magic" class times were restricted to "fun Fridays," she said.
There had never been any complaints until the mother asked her if she was a "wicca, which was someone interested in the moon."
"I didn't know what it really meant until I got home and looked it up. It is a Middle Ages term for a witch. I was offended," Linda Stubbing said.
Two mothers later withdrew their children from her class.
But like a fairytale with a happy ending, Linda Stubbing has gained another job as a relieving teacher at Moerewa Primary School, where she still uses wands and wishing stones.
The principal, Geoff Neville, said he was very happy to have her on his staff. "She has a slightly different approach but I am 100 per cent behind her. Some teachers give out stickers, she gives out wishing stones - I don't see the difference."
An Auckland mother, Denise Shepheard, contacted the Herald yesterday to say Linda Stubbing had been "cherished" by the children she used to teach at Rosebank Primary School in Avondale. She had used similar techniques, dishing out colourful glass blobs she called "frozen fairy puddles."
A mother of a girl in the Riverview class approached the Herald yesterday to defend Linda Stubbing. The mother said she used to spend a lot of time in the classroom and never saw anything of concern.
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