KEY POINTS:
An art teacher who posted hard-core pornographic pictures of himself and two women on internet sex sites - with messages for girls "the younger the better" to contact him - has been allowed to continue teaching.
A Herald on Sunday investigation has found the Post Primary Teachers Association
(PPTA) tried to keep the case secret and the Teachers Council would not reveal the teacher's name, even though two of the five Disciplinary Tribunal members who heard the case wanted him struck off the register.
This means principals, parents and students do not know anything about the man's past, even if he is still teaching in their school.
The tribunal clearly understood how parents would feel about the man continuing to teach, writing in their decision: "We have little doubt that members of the public would be disconcerted to know that a teacher who behaved in the way described in the agreed statement of facts was teaching in a New Zealand school. That, however, does not seem to be the real point here."
Peter Lind, chair of the Teachers Council, said the "point" was whether the teacher's behaviour was deemed misconduct, or serious misconduct.
He would not comment on the details of the case but said this was the first time dissenting members' views had been published alongside the majority decision.
Katherine Rich, education spokeswoman for National, said this was the worst case she had ever heard where a teacher was allowed to continue working.
The Herald on Sunday searched the teacher's online nicknames and found 50 different pornographic pictures still posted on various websites.
Most were too graphic for publication but included masturbation, oral sex and sex using toys.
Other pictures that were viewed by the tribunal involved the respondent "urinating into the mouth of his partner, his partner urinating into his mouth, and various sexual poses", the decision said.
The pictures seen by the tribunal involved the teacher, his "sexual partner" and his former wife. One was captioned with a line begging "friendly females" aged between 17 and 40 to contact them for "fun and friendship".
The teacher claimed "17" was a typing mistake but the council's Complaints Assessment Committee (CAC) did not accept that.
Another note, alongside a picture of the sexual partner, said: "Anyone would like to join me, younger the better contact us, he wants to watch".
On one site, 34 pictures of the teacher and his partners had been viewed 51,810 times.
The principal of the school where he worked between 2004 and 2006 contacted the Teachers Council after receiving an anonymous letter from a concerned parent.
The Complaints Assessment Committee reviewed the case early last year and referred it to the Disciplinary Tribunal in August.
The CAC said the photographs were "explicit" and one was "legally objectionable".
The five tribunal members ruled that the teacher's conduct was lawful, albeit "a matter of very poor judgment".
Putting the porn online was deemed to be misconduct - rather than serious misconduct - and the tribunal let off the teacher with a censure.
How they voted
Teachers Council
Disciplinary Tribunal chairman Kenneth Johnston and members Diane Leggett and Steve Wood made up the majority that ruled the teacher could keep working.
The two who disagreed with the majority were Lyn Brash, an education consultant working in the polytechnic sector, and Neil Shroff, a choir master with 25 years' experience as a principal.
They thought the teacher should have been struck off.
Nicole Carter, the PPTA lawyer who represented the teacher, asked that even anonymous details of his case be kept secret.
The tribunal did not think that necessary as the teacher would not be named.
