Teacher barred after sex with student
A teacher at a Dunedin boys’ school has been censured and her registration cancelled after having sex with a student.
Toni June Finch sought name suppression claiming any publication could negatively impact on King’s High School, where she was working as a provisionally registered teacher when she entered a relationship with a year 13 boy in 2015.
However, the school did not seek name suppression when the matter was referred to the New Zealand Teachers’ Disciplinary Tribunal.
The teacher, after disclosing her relationship with the 18-year-old student, resigned in February.
The story made national headlines after intimate photos of the pair in bed circulated on social media.
Following that decision the school’s rector, Dan Reddiex, said: ‘‘Upon making this disclosure she was immediately suspended and has subsequently resigned from her teaching position at King’s acknowledging that she has overstepped professional boundaries.’’
After the release of the decision the school issued a statement yesterday.
‘‘We are confident that the NZ Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal followed a robust process in coming to its decision,’’ Reddiex said. ’’We are satisfied with the outcome.’’
The tribunal said the impact of the relationship on the former student’s s ‘‘well-being or learning’’ was unknown.
‘‘What we are satisfied of, however, is that the respondent’s conduct both reflects adversely on her fitness to teach and is of a nature that brings the teaching profession into disrepute.’’
The name and any identifying particulars of that student were suppressed.
The tribunal noted that’s Finch’s bid for name suppression was done in a ‘‘novel way’’.
‘‘The respondent squarely relied upon the detrimental reputational impact she says will be caused to the school if her name is published.
‘‘Under this approach, the respondent says that her name should be suppressed to protect the school’s interests.’’
The school did not seek name suppression.
Finch was censured for ‘‘serious misconduct’’, stripped of her registration, and ordered to pay 40 per cent of the tribunal’s cost. – Fairfax NZ