Disabled students taken out of school
Concerns raised over special needs unit, write Amber-Leigh Woolf and Andre Chumko.
A disabled student has suffered unexplained injuries, including a bruise on the back of her head, another on her shin and a swollen lip, at a school described as suffering from a culture of bullying.
The girl’s parents said staff at Wellington East Girls’ College could not explain how she was hurt, and their daughter did not have the language capacity to tell them.
Another disabled student, Holly Reed, was bullied at the school last year, including being asked by mainstream pupils to flash her breasts. Pictures were taken and the images were then shared online.
Both girls from special needs unit different school.
There are also allegations the school has a culture of bullying of both students and staff, after the head of the special needs unit left and filed a personal grievance.
The teenager at the centre of the most recent allegations arrived home from school with unexplained injuries and scratches several times during 2016.
She had about six breakdowns at home, and was scared to return to the unit, her father said.
She would run around the house crying: ‘‘Go back to the unit, pull your hair!’’ he said.
An incident report released under the Official Information Act said a teacher aide fell asleep while supervising her.
A separate report says the family lodged a police report about bruising incidents in March. Police visited the school, and spoke with principal Sally Haughton and the unit’s head of department of the time, it says.
Board of trustees chairwoman Amanda Malu said the school sought specialist assistance from the Ministry of Education, and had worked with the family and staff to address issues.
It had also undertaken a review of the unit to ‘‘provide more detailed information about the the now college’s attend a management,’’ she said.
Haughton said the school worked with the ministry to provide better infrastructure and resourcing for the student, and brought in a psychologist.
However, the girl’s father said they gave the school the benefit of the doubt for too long. ‘‘We pulled her out in September [2016] ... we should have pulled her out in May.’’
Holly Reed’s stepfather, John Crawford, said there was an ongoing ‘‘massive investigation’’.
Holly has been removed from the school.
‘‘We just her there.’’
Crawford had not been informed of any punishment imposed on the girls who bullied her.
‘‘She’s been removed just because there’s been nothing done about it.’’
Haughton declined to comment on what punishment students received for bullying Holly, and refused to release a report which investigated the incident, on the grounds of privacy.
Haughton said the school learned an ‘‘enormous amount’’ from the process. It was restricting social media use during the day.
A friend of the former head of special needs said bullying at the school was ‘‘a systemic problem’’, among both students and teachers..
The former teacher had a mental breakdown and had not returned to teaching because she was ‘‘psychologically damaged’’.
‘‘It’s sort of become a wild thing where the fittest survive.’’
Malu would not comment on former staff members or pupils. ‘‘We do not consider it appropriate ... the safety and privacy of the girls in our care has to be my primary concern.’’
Malu said she found Haughton and her leadership team very responsive to concerns raised about the school.
‘‘The difficulty is, sometimes things just do not happen quickly enough for the outside world.’’ didn’t feel safe leaving