Struck-off teacher hits back

A teacher who continued teaching illegally after being struck off for verbally assaulting students is keen to return to work.

Aalan Marino, 39, of Kawerau, was teaching at Ngakuru School near Rotorua when he had his registration cancelled by the Teachers Council in 2002. Last year he took a job at Tawera Bilingual School near Whakatane and taught illegally for three terms.

The Herald on Sunday revealed last week that he was not caught until he voluntarily applied to the Teachers Council to be re-registered.

Mr Marino is adamant he did nothing wrong and says he just wants to be allowed to work again.

He said this week that he believed he had been teaching legally, and had been told by an official from the Teachers Council that he could continue at the school.

But at a hearing in February, the council dismissed that claim, saying that it "raised starkly the issue of [his] honesty".

And principals who know him have backed the council's refusal to grant him registration.

Mr Marino, who is also an Anglican minister, was forced to move out of the school-owned house he was living in and has been unemployed since. "My family and I have been through three years of sheer hell with this thing," he said.

"All I want is my name cleared. All I want is to be able to work. I've got a family. I've got a mortgage to pay. I'm not a bad person.

"I'm not a risk to the jolly children. In fact, the kids love me. I just can't believe it. I'm quite a respected person in the communities that I've lived in."

Mr Marino was originally granted provisional registration as a teacher despite having convictions, including fraud, theft as a servant, and unlawful conversion of a motor vehicle. He had spent time in jail.

While at Ngakuru he was accused of inappropriate behaviour in the classroom, including swearing, pulling the fingers, throwing a shoe at a student and taping over his mouth.

Mr Marino denies the allegations, which he says arose from a conflict with principal Sue Berryman. "It was a personal vendetta towards me because I wouldn't conform to some of her nonsense," he said.

Mrs Berryman said she stood by the investigation.

"He's a greatly talented person but that saying - 'wouldn't conform to nonsense' - is an immature way of talking for such a big thing actually," she said.

"The evidence is there and it's in black and white."

- Herald on Sunday