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More parents and teachers have come forward about their experiences at a Feilding child care center, which is under investigation.
The Pitter Patter Education Center in Feilding.
Photo: Google Street View
This morning, RNZ revealed that more than 17 people had told the Ministry of Education (MOE) that the owner and manager of the Pitter Patter Education Center would lock young children in rooms as punishment and beat them.
The Pitter Patter Education Center had its license suspended for three weeks in November, but has since reopened.
The Education Ministry is still investigating and said it had passed the complaints on to the police.
This story has no connection to the Auckland kindergarten of the same name.
The complaints
The complaints center on the manager and owner Pauline Murphy and her treatment of children, staff and parents.
The investigation began after four Pitter Patter teachers resigned within a month and written complaints were submitted to the Ministry of Education.
In a complaint, a former teacher said she could no longer bear it after seeing the way Murphy treated children and staff for years.
Others said their mental health suffered and that more than 20 teachers had left in a two-year period.
“I was emotionally drained, my mental state was at an all-time low, and I was experiencing severe anxiety, caused by stress,” said one.
“I witnessed 80 percent of teachers being emotionally abused to the point of crying while still teaching on the floor.”
Another said: “I realized that he would like to attack and insult the teachers about his weight and appearance regularly and would do this with the parents of the center.”
“I witnessed how Pauline told the teachers they were stupid, yelled ‘what’s wrong with you’ and ‘if you don’t like it, go away’.
“She would also like to intimidate us with her lawyers and say that she had connections in the Ministry and the teachers council and that she could take away our jobs and certificates at any time.”
Staff had tried to raise the alarm about the center, but said they were never heard.
A former Pitter Patter teacher said the process was to go to the manager first, which made things difficult.
“Taking into account these complaints, many times it was the manager, people did not bother or go to the Ministry.”
The former teachers confirmed that the Ministry of Education had visited the center in 2018 to investigate complaints from parents that the sleeping room was being used as punishment.
“It is ridiculous and really disheartening that Pauline has been able to continue with her business for many years with so many complaints and investigations made against her center before the Ministry of Education and yet the Ministry of Education warns her that he visits her, allowing her prepare and practice fraudulent behavior to cover up complaints. “
A former staff member said that after a complaint from the Ministry of Education, Murphy tried to screen the staff and find out who did it.
“Everybody is probably going to say, ‘why didn’t you speak up?’ Or ‘why didn’t you do anything?’ But Pauline is someone you work for, she tells you from the beginning that she has a lot of power and connections and that she can end your career. “
Speaking to the Ministry of Education, the teachers detailed problems ranging from their own treatment to parents and children.
“Pauline’s attitude is to intimidate, humiliate, belittle, emotionally abuse, make favorites with staff, and encourage disharmony in doing so.
“Lying to parents and being deceptive, threatening children with being put in the bedroom if their behavior is not satisfactory to her.”
In other complaints, a mother detailed more than 14 incidents in which her children were abused and mistreated, or had witnessed harassment of teachers.
“Pauline hit my son when he was about 2 years old for no reason. I witnessed this with my own eyes, but she didn’t realize I saw her do this.”
“I never said or did anything about it, but I did tell a teacher.
“I also saw Pauline drag a child by the arm immediately after the parents left, the child had chippies in his mouth in the morning which Pauline disagreed with so I saw him scrape the chippies out of his mouth of the child with his fingers while the child cried. “
The same mother said her children would report the abuse.
“My son used to come home and tell us that Pauline had hit certain children that day.
“They often came home from the center very hungry because the food they received was lousy, especially when we paid for food as part of their enrollment.”
Another mother said her son told her that they would beat them if they did not sleep.
She said that many parents and teachers had more complaints, but were too afraid to speak out because of what she might do.
The investigation
Murphy has not responded to RNZ’s repeated requests for comment.
The MOE said that after the serious complaints, it completed an on-site assessment on November 17.
“At that time, we identified that the personnel had not been screened for security as required by the Children’s Law of 2014, so we immediately suspended their license,” the Ministry of Education said.
“Subsequently, the service provider has provided us with evidence that a security check of the personnel has been conducted. While this met the conditions of the first license suspension, our investigation is ongoing.”
He said a second suspension was then implemented and then lifted when he could determine it was safe for the children to return.
After a three-week closure, the center was reopened and will be reviewed by the Ministry of Education in January.
The investigation continues and the Teaching Council and the Police are also involved.
