Bream Bay teacher's wrongful dismissal claim fails

A former deputy principal of Bream Bay College who quit after being accused of doing his daughter's homework and awarding her fake grades has lost his claim of being wrongfully dismissed.

Eric Hansen, 54, was a geography teacher and deputy head at Bream Bay College, in Ruakaka, when allegations of serious misconduct were made in August 2010.

He was accused of helping his then 17-year-old daughter to write an assignment, giving her exam grades "bearing no relationship to her examination performance" and falsifying class results by incorrectly indicating they had been independently moderated.

At a school disciplinary meeting, Mr Hansen admitted falsifying the results document. He said stress, caused by a "horrendous" workload, had led to his mistakenly signing it.

But he denied the other claims, calling them the "imagination" of Bream Bay principal Warren Buckland.

He was later dismissed and took a case to the Employment Relations Authority claiming he was unjustifiably disadvantaged in his employment, and that he was constructively dismissed.

He said his daughter was on leave for an exam so her result was based on her performance and the results of similarly placed students. He denied helping her to complete an assignment, saying "the only assistance that girl got was I made her sit down and do it".

He was told there was a possibility he would be deregistered. Mr Hansen said the school threatened to involve the police, and he was "blackmailed" into resigning.

In its decision the authority said the school acted "as a fair and reasonable employer".

Mr Buckland said the board of trustees was happy the college's process had not been found wanting. "It's a real shame. Eric had been with the school a long time and ... had done a lot of good things. We had no other option but to investigate."

Mr Hansen, now at Tikipunga High in Whangarei, said he was considering fighting the decision. He said the allegations had affected his relationship with his daughter, who changed schools last year and had gone to live with relatives. "I'm not sure how much she blames herself."

Tikipunga head Peter Garelja said he was aware Mr Hansen had been involved in a disciplinary procedure and, on making checks, had been assured "he was a good teacher and the issues weren't about competency or him being dangerous".

The matter has been referred to the Teachers Council.