A teacher committed serious misconduct when he became a "father figure" to a vulnerable student. Photo / 123rf
A teacher invited a vulnerable student to his house to watch a movie and to bake a cake for what he described to her as a “father-daughter” day.
When police later investigated the girl’s home life, messages between her and the teacher were discovered.
He explained to officers that he had “felt like she needed to know that someone loved her in the world”.
And the teacher made sure the student knew, often messaging her that he loved her, and on one occasion kissed her on the head.
But the teacher stressed that his relationship with the 16-year-old was not indecent.
However, the Teachers’ Disciplinary Tribunal has now found he committed serious misconduct.
“We have difficulty in accepting that the respondent fully accepts that his behaviour was inappropriate,” tribunal deputy chair Tim McKenzie said in his recently released decision.
According to the decision, the teacher, who has name suppression, was working at a co-educational secondary school when the misconduct took place in 2018.
The student, whose details are also suppressed, was a Year 11 student at the time.
The teacher’s own child was in the same classes as the student and had revealed to him that the girl was having a difficult time at home.
The teacher took it upon himself to start “shadowing” her to monitor her welfare.
The student and teacher began regular contact, and the teacher encouraged her to visit him at school if she wanted to talk or was having a rough day, the decision said.
She began confiding in the teacher about her personal and home life, and went to him when she was upset.
As the pair’s relationship grew closer, the student often spoke to him about not wanting to go home and the abuse she was suffering from a family member.
She also shared with him details of her drinking, drug-taking and self-harm.
The decision described the student as being “particularly vulnerable”.
It also stated that the teacher referred to her as one of his children, and between May and September in 2018, they exchanged more than 1000 messages.
The communication took place on weekends and in the school holidays, and late at night or in the early hours of the morning. The pair also called each other often.
The teacher sent multiple text messages to the student telling her that he loved and cared for her, referring to himself as her dad, and sending her love heart emojis or an “x”, representing a kiss.
He also messaged her that he would miss her, that he was thinking about her, or offered to hug her.
According to the decision, he hugged her on multiple occasions and kissed her on the head.
On one occasion, the student messaged the teacher saying, “I don’t think i would be alive rn [right now] without you like genuinely”.
The teacher replied, “I’m glad u are. i love you so much. the world needs u. x.”
On Father’s Day, the student thanked the teacher for caring for her like “one of your own”.
On another occasion, when the student was intoxicated and walking home alone after 2am, the teacher offered to pick her up and drive her home.
“You are one of my kids. what i would do for any of u. I’d find you,” he messaged her.
During the school holidays, he invited her to his house to watch a movie with his children and bake a cake, like a “father-daughter” day, he wrote in a text.
The student made up an excuse, saying she could not go because she was working.
According to the decision, the teacher also gave her presents at school, which left her feeling confused, because no other students received one.
The teacher falsified attendance records for the student so she could skip classes and encouraged her not to mention parts of their relationship to anyone, including the gift-giving.
In September 2018, the student made disclosures to her mother about abuse she was suffering from a family member, which led to involvement from the police and Oranga Tamariki.
As part of the investigation, the police obtained copies of messages between her and the teacher. Police showed these messages to the school, which resulted in a mandatory report to the Teaching Council.
The teacher told police he’d gone into “protective dad mode” when she disclosed personal issues to him, and acknowledged he had breached boundaries as a teacher.
“I felt like she needed to know that someone loved her in the world,” he said.
He emphasised the relationship was not “indecent”. Charges were not laid.
During the school’s investigation, the teacher acknowledged he had breached its trust and the Code of Professional Responsibility.
He resigned before the disciplinary process concluded.
In the tribunal’s decision, Mackenzie said there was a difficulty in accepting that the teacher had fully accepted his behaviour was inappropriate.
“With the charge of misconduct now proven, it can be more difficult for the tribunal to accept pleadings of insight and responsibility,” Mackenzie said.
“That is all the more so when the respondent’s view of this conduct is that only sexual or intimate conduct would cross the line, and that he should just be seen as an overzealous fatherly figure.”
The teacher was censured, and an annotation to the teaching register was ordered for three years.
Brianna McIlraith is a Queenstown-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the lower South Island. She has been a journalist since 2018 and has had a strong interest in business and financial journalism.