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A student at Colwill School in West Auckland had a plastic tag put on his mouth.
A woman pulled her son out of school after claiming a staff member covered her son and other students’ mouths for speaking in class.
The woman’s 7-year-old son missed the last two weeks of his school year and his Christmas concert because she says he was too anxious to go back to Colwill School in West Auckland.
She said her son was one of a group of children who had their mouths taped shut with plastic labels to speak in class.
A letter written by the school principal Rob Taylor to the mother, obtained by Stuff, acknowledged that the incident happened, saying the school’s investigation found it to be a “game that the children seemed to enjoy.”
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“Although I chose not to follow the school’s complaint process, this did not prevent me from treating this concern as if I had,” Taylor wrote in the December 11 letter.
“A careful and exhaustive investigation could finally be completed yesterday with the last of the parents of these children interviewed. These things take time, depending on the availability of key people who need to have the freedom to meet with us.
“All the children involved and their parents, excluding [student], I have now been properly interviewed by the school Social Worker who informs me that [staff member’s] perspective that this was a game [sic] that the children seemed to enjoy and wanted to play with her was, by all accounts, the correct version of this event. “
In the same letter, Taylor said that if the child had been traumatized by the experience, the Ministry of Education support team could offer some guidance.
But the mother said that was not enough and although the incident had occurred on November 25, no one had apologized to her son for what happened.
“I asked my 7-year-old son what he thought of all this and he said: ‘When we do something wrong in class we have to apologize and that we will not do it again, why can’t the teacher? ‘”
She said that while the incident was disturbing on its own, it was compounded by her son’s breathing problems for which he takes asthma medication on a daily basis.
“I am absolutely shocked that a teacher would do something like this,” she said.
Her son did not come to see her afterwards because he thought he had been mean and was being punished, for which he felt ashamed, he said.
Instead, he said he found out from his daughter, who also goes to school.
“One of the other girls came up to her and said, ‘Hey, your brother got tape over his mouth for talking too much in class,’” the woman said.
“He was a little worried about telling me because he thought he was in trouble.”
When Stuff approached the school for comment, Taylor said the complaint had been taken seriously but could not comment further as police were investigating.
RNZ
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Taylor did not mention why the school has yet to issue an apology, nor did he confirm whether the staff member involved had been removed.
However, Taylor’s letter to the mother included a statement from the staff member, which said: “I am very upset by what happened and I am very sorry [the student] and [the parents] for causing discomfort to your family. “
He said the school’s governing board will also conduct an independent review on handling the complaint.
The mother said that she would have liked the matter to be resolved internally, but said the response had been too slow.
Since then, she has been handing out flyers outside of school and talking to parents.
“I love parents,” he said. “We live out of the area… I drive 20 minutes just to come here. I do not want to go “.
Stuff understands that the Teaching Council has contacted the mother, but the formal complaint process has not yet begun.
Waitematā Police Detective Sergeant Major Kim Libby confirmed that the police were making inquiries, but said he could not comment further.
Comments have been requested from the Ministry of Education.
