Gay teacher wrangle scars country school

By JAMES GARDINER

Churchgoers have seen Christine Law dancing under the influence of the Holy Spirit at the altar of Pahiatua's Christian Fellowship Church.

But it was fire and brimstone rather than warmth and fellowship that rained down on the Weekend Herald when it went to talk to Ms Law about her troubles as principal of Hillcrest Primary School.

She screamed "trespassers" and called the cops.

What followed was an example of heavy-handed smalltown police reaction, mirroring the fallout since the school's board split down the middle over complaints about its openly gay deputy principal, Linstead Allen.

Bitterness and anger has beset the once wealthy north Wairarapa rural servicing town.

Supporters of Mr Allen say they have been verbally harassed and threatened in the street by those who wanted him out.

They say there is a strong fundamentalist Christian element in at least some of the people involved in what they regard as a conspiracy against him - members of churches that follow the Bible literally and view homosexuality as sinful.

It is difficult to tell both sides of this story, because of the near-blanket refusal - or inability - of those who massed against Mr Allen to give their side.

Since reaching a confidential settlement that saw him leave the school, few details of the case have come to light.

Speculation on the reasons for Mr Allen's going have ranged from homophobic hounding to suggestions of inappropriate behaviour.

The national secretary of the teachers' union which represented Mr Allen insists there is nothing "murky" in the case.

Rather, says the New Zealand Educational Institute's Joanna Beresford, it highlights an inherent problem in Tomorrow's Schools, where boards are elected to the dual role of employers and as community representatives by parents who can demand an ongoing say in how schools are run.

"I'm not saying that interest isn't legitimate. Often it is, sometimes it goes too far. The potential for careers to be ruined is there."

Mr Allen, who is due to start work next week at a school near his new home in Tauranga, feels only tremendous sadness. He now regrets that he did not stay on to fight it out. "I did not realise at first how much support I actually had."

But he says his decision to go was made easier by his desire to move his 13-year-old daughter Amy-Rose away from the tension.

The feud has been continuing for much of this year. Some would have you believe it ended a fortnight ago when the settlement was struck, but in reality the passions that saw several parents pull children out of the school and two members of the board resign in disgust still burn.

This is not the first time the Hillcrest board has split over a dispute with a teacher. Last year Bernie Wills was ousted as board chairman and then resigned from the board followed a vote of no-confidence over the way he and the previous principal, Ron Lamb, paid $2000 to settle in secret a dispute with a former teacher.

Mr Wills is a teacher himself. He commutes daily to Palmerston North, as many in Pahiatua do, but no longer has children at Hillcrest.

Yet he was one of about nine parents who complained to the school about Mr Allen.

Most of the complaints arrived on the same date, August 29, some written by the same hand, but signed by different people. There was no investigation into their validity.

Mr Allen, aged 39, having heard that parents had been meeting and that children, including his own daughter, were being questioned, took sick leave. He was asked to respond to the complaints, did so and then waited another five weeks until a settlement was negotiated between the board, with help from the trustees association, and himself, backed by the NZEI.

It is understood the cash component of the settlement - footed by the taxpayer - is little more than that paid to the reading recovery teacher last year, but all parties refuse to go into details.

Ms Law said neither she nor the staff nor the board members could discuss it. But she said Mr Wills was not bound by that and recommended him to convey the other side of the story from the "garbage" she had so far encountered.

Unfortunately Mr Wills could not be reached, but the Weekend Herald understands the allegations include: Mr Allen swearing and name-calling in class, speaking in terms some regarded as racially offensive, allowing a "special needs" girl, Khalia Penman, to sit on his knee during a performance of a show and "manhandling" Khalia in class.

Khalia's mother, Sharon Brown, confirmed she was one of those who wrote to complain. She did so after several meetings with Ms Law who advised her to write. She also attended meetings with other complainants, including Diane Pettman, Rochelle Sullivan, Odette Timoti, Rose Larsen, Claire Bennet, Donna Kibblewhite and Liz O'Shea, and was aware they were writing to the board.

Mrs Brown said her complaint, which she regarded as "quite minor" compared with others, had two aspects. She had seen the class walking to the town swimming pool and noticed Khalia was being escorted by one of her classmates rather than Mr Allen, whom she believed should have been with her daughter. Khalia is a late developer mentally with a low reading age but no physical disability.

Mrs Brown also said that instead of treating Khalia like a normal 12-year-old as other teachers did, Mr Allen sometimes encouraged her to be silly and scream and shout.

Mr Allen told the Weekend Herald that Khalia was an asset to the class; her presence helped the others, but occasionally she had tantrums. Instead of sending her outside he would pick her up, chair and all, and carry her around. "She'd be screaming, then she'd be laughing. She loved it and we all loved her."

Of the occasion when Khalia sat on Mr Allen's knee, Mrs Brown said she did not think it was appropriate for her daughter to sit on anyone's knee. Mr Allen said Khalia was an affectionate child who often sat on adults' knees and at the show she later moved from his knee to that of the woman sitting next to him, another teacher at the school, Trish Molloy.

Of the other complainants, only Mrs Timoti could be reached. She said she had no comment.

Several of the letters, including Mrs Timoti's, are understood to have referred to Mr Allen's sexual orientation, though Mrs Brown said she had no problem on that score.

The two board members who quit over the handling of the complaints, Sharyn Boness and Liesje Harrison, said there were others on the board who opposed Mr Allen from the outset because, in their words, he was a "poof."

Mrs Boness and Mrs Harrison believe no natural justice was applied to the case because some board members had spoken out against Mr Allen from the outset. They say Ms Law should have been asked to address the issues with Mr Allen first and that in the end everyone had lost. The school had lost one of its best teachers and had not been able to replace him. The pupils' vital intermediate schooling years had been disrupted. And Mr Allen and Amy-Rose - who was present in his class during the alleged incidents - had been forced to make a new home in Tauranga.

Wairarapa MP Georgina Beyer tried to broker a peace between Mr Allen's supporters and opponents, but says: "I didn't think it was my role to take a side."

The Education Ministry's national operations manager, Alan Upston, said he was satisfied the situation was handled correctly. The School Trustees Association has made similar statements.

Joanna Beresford, although bound by the confidential settlement, said: "I am certainly very concerned about any perception or any behaviour which is seen by anyone to be discriminatory."

Pat Molloy, former principal at Pahiatua's Catholic primary school St Anthony's, said he had had an experience similar to Mr Allen's at a different school, where a feud developed and pressure was put on the school board to get rid of him.

Mr Molloy, husband of Hillcrest teacher Trish Molloy, said he was angry that something similar had happened to someone he respected.

"I was a principal for 10 years and I'd hire him any day."

He said teaching was a tough job and Hillcrest was a tough school, yet Mr Allen got the children on side and got results.

The complaints, however, suggest that not every child was won over; or perhaps they were swayed by their parents' views.

A letter Mr Molloy wrote to the local weekly The Bush Telegraph has activated both camps, with the paper's editor saying he has a dozen letters on the subject to publish next week.

The row is clearly far from over. For the Weekend Herald, its day in Pahiatua was an illustration of how bitterly drawn are positions in the dispute.

Ms Law, who was first contacted by phone and said she was "really sorry" that no one could talk, then said she did not want us on school property and that photographing school buildings was "not allowed."

When she summoned the police, Constable Regan Horsfall said we were trespassing and that "I'll come after you" if his photograph was taken.

Outside the school later, Constable Shane Brown threatened to search us, fingerprint our car and wanted to know where we were staying. Police cars followed us on several occasions during what was clearly a quiet day.

But at one of the local watering holes the reaction to the gay-teacher-being-run-out-of-town story is maybe not the one you might expect.

"It's a bunch of rednecks in a small town," says one man. "I don't know about the gay thing, but that guy, from what I've heard, is exactly what that school needs."