Blind boy 'pinned against wall' at special school

By CATHERINE MASTERS

A school teacher who allegedly pinned an epileptic blind boy against a wall and shouted at him has been the subject of a police investigation.

The boy's parents told the Herald that witnesses said the teacher yelled: "I'm not your bloody mother. You will walk."

The distressed and screaming preschooler at the Homai National School for the Blind's early education centre tried to bite the teacher during the incident last month.

It is alleged the teacher shoved his hand in his mouth, saying words to the effect of "Here, bite on this. You're not biting me".

The boy has been at the South Auckland school for more than a year.

Witnesses said he was sitting down and the teacher wanted him to stand.

His parents, who formally complained to the police, say the 4-year-old is also developmentally impaired, cannot talk and often sits down when a seizure is coming on.

Despite finding that an assault took place, the police have decided against laying charges but will give the woman a warning.

The parents and advocates are angry and are taking the matter to the Police Complaints Authority, the Minister of Police and the Commissioner for Children.

They are also concerned about the way the Manurewa school handled the incident. They say policy was not followed and the school seemed more worried about keeping it quiet than the safety of the child.

Homai is the only school in the country catering specifically for blind and visually impaired children and a range of special needs at preschool and high school levels.

An internal investigation by the board of trustees found the parents' complaint justified but disputed the seriousness of the incident as it was described by several witnesses, all educational support workers.

"I'd have to say the board were not convinced that those things actually happened," said Ross Wilson, the limited statutory manager appointed by the Ministry of Education to oversee and work with the board. "They're not saying they didn't happen, but there was not overwhelming evidence that they did happen."

The teacher has been moved to an assessment unit, but Mr Wilson said she had the right to return to the preschool.

Police told the Herald that, from a purely criminal point of view, the case was relatively minor.

But in a letter to the boy's parents yesterday, Detective Sergeant Ross Ellwood, from the Papakura child abuse team, said an assault did take place.

The statements of the education support workers had been "compellingly consistent", there appeared to be no reason for them to fabricate or exaggerate and for those reasons he accepted their statements "in their entirety".

The teacher, on the other hand, had tried to downplay the incident, he said.

She would be formally warned and the warning recorded so it could be brought up if similar allegations were made.

Yesterday, a member of the early childhood centre's management committee resigned.

He is understood to be livid that the board did not tell the committee about the complaint or the police investigation.

The teacher's lawyer, Simon Mitchell, told the Herald that she denied the allegations of physical abuse of a child.

The school had fully investigated the incident and accepted that physical abuse did not take place.

He pointed out that the police had decided not to lay charges and urged the Herald not to identify his client.

The Herald has heard other allegations relating to the same teacher, although no complaints were laid.

A woman described seeing the teacher demonstrate how to snap the neck of a bird.

Her 1-year-old visually impaired child was scared of birds and the teacher took her to the aviary and told the girl's 4-year-old sighted sister that the best way to shut birds up was to break their necks. She then pretended to do it, the mother said.

Another mother said her blind son was now scared of water after an incident in the swimming pool with the same teacher.

She claims the teacher made him float on his back and although he was terrified and screaming she would not let him get out of the pool.

The mother said she was heavily pregnant at the time and was watching from the side of the pool crying and begging the teacher to give her son back. She says she took him out of the preschool.

* Email Catherine Masters