Former teacher takes Christchurch Boys’ High School to Employment Relations Authority

• Susan Mowat claims she was unfairly dismissed from Christchurch Boys’ High School after resigning in 2019.
• Mowat alleges a deteriorating relationship with headmaster Nic Hill, being blamed for incidents she wasn’t involved in.
• The Employment Relations Authority hearing began today, with Mowat giving evidence about her experiences and health impact.

A former Christchurch Boys’ High School teacher claiming she was unfairly dismissed is giving evidence at an Employment Relations Authority hearing today.

Susan Mowat taught at CBHS for more than a decade until she resigned in December 2019.

Her resignation followed what she describes as several issues with headmaster Nic Hill.

Mowat has now taken the school to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA), claiming she was unfairly dismissed.

A five-day investigation hearing before ERA member Lucia Vincent began today in Christchurch.

Mowat told the hearing about the “deterioration” of her relationship with Hill and how she was “blamed” for things she did not do.

Christchurch Boys’ High School headmaster Nic Hill. Photo / Supplied

Hill did not attend the hearing. The school was represented by Board of Trustees chairman Michael Singleton and lawyer AJ Lodge.

CBHS will give evidence later this week.

Mowat began her evidence by saying the work culture at CBHS was “positive most of the time” and “things started well initially” with headmaster Nic Hill.

Hill started at CBHS in 2013.

“[CBHS] was a brilliant place to be, that’s how I felt,” she said.

“I actually got on really well with Nic … our paths crossed on so many different levels. I had a lot of communication with him on that.

“Did it deteriorate – yes … 2018 was the year that it really took off. A lot of things happened … in the first six months of that year."

Mowat gave evidence about several incidents that she said occurred during her time at the school.

Her evidence included:

• Clashing with Hill about a traffic safety issue.
• Being accused of organising a protest on International Women’s Day when a group of female teachers did not sit with Hill and male teachers on the stage at assembly.
• Being “blamed” for several things she “had nothing to do with”.
• Being “blamed” by Hill in an email to parents after consent was not sought before they were filmed at the school by TVNZ.

Mowatt also spoke about being “targeted” by Hill after a series of anonymous letters were disseminated about him.

Over 18 months, a series of typed letters – in handwritten envelopes sent through the post – were received by the school’s board of trustees, all making allegations about Hill and how he was running the school.

Mowat said a staff member later said to her: “(Hill’s) on a roll - he’ll blame you for everything”.

“That unsettled me,” she said.

She told someone the next morning: “I think I’m going to get blamed for these.”

“I don’t know anything about any letters,” she told Vincent today.

“Apart from the email to staff and Nic speaking, addressing us all about it.

“But it was quite well known amongst some staff that I seemed to be (Hill’s) target for 2018.”

Mowat was later told she was being investigated in relation to the letters.

She engaged a lawyer and “offered to take a lie detector test”, maintaining she “didn’t even know the letters existed”.

It then emerged the school had already investigated her.

She learned a sample of her handwriting, understood to be taken from school files without her knowledge, had already been sent to a forensic police expert and analysed.

A barrister undertook the investigation and interviewed seven people, including other CBHS staff members.

It is understood her findings were inconclusive.

“At no point was I ever told I had already been investigated,” Mowatt said today.

Mowat says she has been unfairly dismissed by CBHS and says she has a number of examples of "being targeted" by headmaster Nic Hill. Photo / 123RF

Mowat said that by the end of 2018 she was “looking to leave”.

“I had lost all faith and trust in CBHS,” she explained.

“I felt like I was going to be even more of a target for Nic… receive more negative stuff from him.

In early 2019 a colleague suggested she speak to a school guidance counsellor because she was “really upset” about the situation.

“I was petrified that my name was muck at leadership level… I felt that Nic was going to give me a really hard time,” she said.

“That time was hell.”

Mowat told Vincent that she was “broken” and she suffered anxiety.

“After the letter wasn’t me… I thought Nic would be furious at me…."

She was desperate to restore her reputation, which had motivated her to take action against CBHS.

“It’s really hard to shift... something you absolutely weren’t involved in... hence the reason we’re still here today.”

Mowat said she was scared for her safety and went to the police to report her concerns.

She said Hill lived in the same neighbourhood as her and she worried about possible repercussions.

In her evidence, Mowat said Hill had been “dishonest” in his communications with her and was “like a yo-yo”, which she found “unsettling”.

“I couldn’t remove myself from Nic’s negative actions and they just kept coming – one after the other after the other,” she said.

“And they made me unwell ... not just emotionally, but physically ... my haoura (health) took a huge tumble.”

Susan Mowat in her evidence said “things started well initially” with headmaster Nic Hill (pictured). Photo / George Heard

She was diagnosed with “stress-induced bronchitis” and a rash because of “the school”, the hearing was told.

Mowat also wanted to make it clear that her relationship with Hill was only professional.

She told Vincent she had been approached by a colleague and journalist asking her if she “had an affair” with Hill.

“I certainly did not have an affair with Nic Hill. I am squashing that down,” she said.

The hearing continues.

Anna Leask is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 18 years with a particular focus on family and gender-based violence, child abuse, sexual violence, homicides, mental health and youth crime. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz