Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua early childhood teacher Sally Blumenthal deregistered after failing to reveal fraudulent past

Rotorua Daily Post
23 Jul, 2018 05:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
An early childhood teacher has been deregistered and censured by the teachers tribunal. Photo / Getty Images

An early childhood teacher has been deregistered and censured by the teachers tribunal. Photo / Getty Images

A Rotorua early childhood teacher has been censured and had her teacher registration cancelled after failing to reveal her dishonesty convictions when applying for a job.

Sally Blumenthal was an early childhood teacher who received five convictions in 2016 for dishonesty when she did not advise the Ministry of Social Development that she was working and earning an income.

She breached the Education Act when she did not report her convictions, according to a decision released by the New Zealand Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal.

The Education Council was informed of the convictions last year when a prospective employer became aware of them and told the council.

The council's Complaints Assessment Committee referred the convictions to the New Zealand Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal which has since cancelled Blumenthal's registration, according to the tribunal decision.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Blumenthal was convicted in May 2016 to two charges of wilful omission and three of making a false statement. She was sentence to five months' community detention and 80 hours' community work.

The charges related to incidents in 2014 and 2015 when Blumenthal twice failed to tell the Ministry of Social Development she had received income, and three times made a false statement that she had not received income. Blumenthal pleaded guilty to these charges at the time.

She was also convicted of 11 dishonesty offences between 1989 and 1998 which she was not obligated to report to the Education Council when she applied for provisional registration in 2011, as they had happened more than seven years prior.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

When applying for work later, Blumenthal failed to meet her obligations under the Education Act to report her convictions, according to the tribunal decision.

The Education Council told Blumenthal it would investigate the convictions in May 2017 and she was given multiple opportunities to explain them. In December they were referred to the tribunal.

In its decision the Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal stated it had to consider if the behaviour which resulted in conviction "reflects adversely on the fitness of the respondent to practice as a teacher".

"The tribunal's mandate is to protect the public through the provision of a safe learning environment for students, and to maintain both professional standards and the public's confidence in the profession," the decision said.

Discover more

New Zealand

Trike escape: Staff should have called for back up

18 Jul 07:00 PM

Learning support symposium held in Rotorua

22 Jul 09:00 PM
New Zealand|education

Educators to vote on pushing strike to full day

22 Jul 07:41 PM

Dancing Delta takes out Rotorua Intermediate's Got Talent

24 Jul 03:00 PM

"We accept that the respondent's [Blumenthal] conduct adversely reflects on her fitness to teach. Practitioners have an obligation to both teach and model positive values for their students.

"Defrauding the state, and thus the community, is the antithesis of the standard of honesty expected of teachers."

The tribunal finding stated while the 2016 fraud convictions in isolation were not a "clear-cut example of the worst kind of misconduct" Blumenthal had previous dishonesty convictions which, while historic, "satisfied that she has a propensity to act dishonestly".

"The Education Council's Complaints Assessment Committee submits that nothing short of cancellation of the respondent's registration will meet the obligations owed to the public and the profession. We [the tribunal] agree," the decision states.

"We simply cannot be assured that the respondent is a fit and proper person to be entrusted with educational responsibility towards children."

Blumenthal's registration was cancelled by the tribunal and she was censured.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Blumenthal was not employed as a teacher at the time of the decision, which was delivered in April but released online last week.

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua Daily Post

Council defers water agreement with iwi until after elections

Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua begins major upgrades to water and wastewater infrastructure

Rotorua Daily Post

'Urgent advice': Govt considers backdown to address homelessness spike


Sponsored

Kiss cams and passion cohorts: how brands get famous in culture

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Council defers water agreement with iwi until after elections
Rotorua Daily Post

Council defers water agreement with iwi until after elections

The trust board says the decision shows a double standard on consultation.

03 Aug 06:18 AM
Rotorua begins major upgrades to water and wastewater infrastructure
Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua begins major upgrades to water and wastewater infrastructure

03 Aug 02:01 AM
'Urgent advice': Govt considers backdown to address homelessness spike
Rotorua Daily Post

'Urgent advice': Govt considers backdown to address homelessness spike

02 Aug 11:23 PM


Kiss cams and passion cohorts: how brands get famous in culture
Sponsored

Kiss cams and passion cohorts: how brands get famous in culture

01 Aug 12:26 AM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP