Smacking teachers stay on

Omaio School where children were smacked. Photo / Doug Sherring

Two teachers who used corporal punishment on primary-aged pupils at a tiny rural school have been allowed to retain their registrations.

Tangi Callaghan and Erueti Korewha were investigated by the Teachers Council after complaints from parents at the village school in Omaio, north of Opotiki in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.

Callaghan, who still works at the school, was accused of smacking a pupil and ordering a child to hit another child so they knew what it felt like.

Korewha, who quit as principal and is working as a teacher at a school near Tauranga, was accused of whipping a boy round the legs before a prize-giving ceremony, leaving up to four welts.

Both were allowed to carry on teaching, although the Teachers Council imposed certain conditions. Callaghan's case has only recently been determined, while Korewha's was dealt with about two years ago.

When approached at the school, Callaghan's only comment was: "We have ways and means of dealing with issues here."

Korewha said he did not wish to comment and his partner said they wanted to be left alone after moving to "start afresh".

The complaints against Callaghan prompted the Ministry of Education to appoint limited statutory manager Jack Hourigan to help run the school. Investigators then discovered a letter of complaint had been written to the school's board over the accusations against Korewha.

Hourigan's work is almost complete, but following Herald on Sunday inquiries, the Secretary for Education Karen Sewell said the ministry had been in contact with the school board and the Teachers Council.

"We are waiting for a full report from the board that is expected to arrive on Monday. Until then there will be no further comment," she said.

It is understood no police action was sought over the allegations because complainants believed the ministry and Teachers Council would take firm action.

Some are furious the duo retained their registrations and one told Hourigan he had wasted his time because Callaghan was still at the school. Others felt they just wanted to move on and forget the sorry saga.

"She abused the kids and is allowed to stay."

The woman said Callaghan had been hitting children until three years ago when the ministry intervened.

"I was forever going up to that school saying leave my kid alone".

One girl, now aged 15, said Callaghan had hit her and other students. She had witnessed slaps around the legs, face, around the head and "nearly everywhere".

"You could hear the kids screaming from the other side of the room and crying. It was really sad. The principal did nothing."

Another woman remembered a letter of complaint was written about Korewha's use of the rope to whip the boy.

"He rang up and apologised. I had wanted this in writing," said the woman, who relayed the incident to a panel of investigators almost three years ago.

The woman thought Korewha had left the profession and was surprised he was still teaching elsewhere.

"I wouldn't be happy if I was a mother and had a child at his (new) school," she said.

Several other Omaio residents said Korewha was a gifted and talented teacher and missed by the community.

But he is understood to have faced questions over whether he failed to provide a safe physical and emotional environment while principal.

Intervention was agreed after an Education Review Office report from June 2006 concluded the board was not managing the school in the interests of the students.

Hourigan, a former principal now contracted by the ministry, said it was left to the Teachers Council to deliberate on the complaints against the teacher, which he could not comment on.

"The school has a new board of trustees and principal and they're working to ensure the school is safe."

Teachers Council director Dr Peter Lind said he could not talk about individual cases but any abuse of a child was "very serious".

Lind said the number of complaints before the council related to less than 1 per cent of the 95,000 teachers in New Zealand and there had been only 200 in the past financial year.

Newly appointed Families Commissioner Christine Rankin refused to comment and Education Minister Anne Tolley's spokeswoman did not return calls.

But Sue Bradford, who spearheaded the so-called anti-smacking legislation, said she was shocked by the cases.

"I wonder what the Teachers Council considers too bad."