Teacher underfed children, locked them in sleep room

A Feilding teacher has been censured and struck off after being found guilty of locking children in rooms, smacking them and feeding them out-of-date food.

The Teachers' Disciplinary Tribunal has found Pitter Patter Education Centre's owner Pauline Murphy guilty of serious misconduct and the multiple breaches of the teachers Code of Professional Responsibility.

The centre was forced to close in 2021 after reports from former parents and teachers prompted a Ministry of Education investigation finding 33 breaches.

The Disciplinary Tribunal has found that the misconduct stretched over more than a decade between 2010 and April 2021.

It spoke to 11 witnesses about the allegation and incidents, all of which Murphy denied. A witness told the hearing Murphy used the sleep room as a way to seclude children and punish them for misbehaving.

A former teacher said: “If it was morning tea time during the time they were put in there, they would not be allowed to eat.”

“Children would be left in the sleep room for periods of an hour, sometimes longer... children would often be distressed and crying and she could hear banging from inside the room when a child was put in there for punishment,” said another witness.

The tribunal said it had “no hesitancy concluding the conduct amounts to serious misconduct”.

It noted the use of a sleep room for seclusion purposes was against the law and regulations and would likely have impacts on a child's psychological and mental well-being.

Murphy was also found to have encouraged both staff and parents to give their child ‘‘a good smack on the hand’’.

It was also noted on multiple occasions that Murphy was found to have forced children’s mouths open to scoop out food she considered to be ‘‘junk food’’, like chips or pancakes, with her fingers.

Murphy’s behaviour was not just towards the children at the early childhood centre, but also the teachers.

Former staff told the tribunal Pauline Murphy used to yell or shout at other teachers, often belittling them or demeaning comments towards them calling them “useless”, “stupid”, “lazy” and threatening their jobs.

In one instance she told a staff member eating KFC on her break, she was “too fat to be eating that kind of food”.

Others were made to scrub the floor on their hands and knees or pick weeds from between the concrete as a form of punishment – which staff described as demeaning and “embarrassing”.

Murphy also threatened not to pay a teacher whose brother had not paid his childcare bill at the centre.

Her management of the centre also failed to meet health and safety standards and guidelines around the Ministry of Education's food preparation.

The tribunal found as well as not being stored or prepared properly, vinegar was used as a disinfectant, dishes were handwashed in unhygienic water, the food provided was not nutritious and left children hungry and underfed.

Murphy told the hearing she was ‘‘the victim of a witch hunt by a small number of disgruntled employees and parents.’’

The tribunal rejected that. All but two charges against her were upheld.

Murphy has been censured and had her teaching registration cancelled. She must also pay almost $40,000 in costs.

Murphy had applied for permanent name suppression because of her concern of social media commentary about her.

But the tribunal said there was no risk of harm from this publicity other than what might be considered an ordinary consequence of an adverse disciplinary finding.