Teacher’s website use brings censure
During a lesson involving an online game, students were exposed to ‘‘inappropriate’’ material when an advert for an adult game popped up from a teacher’s school laptop.
A student also saw sexually explicit content from the same laptop, which Aotea College teacher Carey Straayer had been using to access adult comic book and online gaming websites.
Straayer, who has been at the Porirua school since 2003, was censured for serious misconduct by the Teachers’ Disciplinary Tribunal in a recently released decision.
An investigation began around March 2018 after a parent complained to the school, saying their child had seen a picture of ‘‘boobs’’ and a Facebook message, which read: ‘‘I have an open relationship with my husband – do you want to f...?’’
The investigation found Straayer had deliberately accessed 17 websites outside of school hours, looking at adult comic books, online gaming, fan-created artwork and other material.
Inappropriate images were also found on the laptop along with photos of his partner ‘‘in which her cleavage is exposed’’, the decision said.
The laptop’s security was affected and the decision said the laptop tried to access four pornographic websites 2214 times.
‘‘This may be deliberate, or may be an attempt made by the computer itself due to the compromised security of the device’’.
The investigation could also not confirm whether the inappropriate images were from the websites Straayer had visited or due to the laptop’s compromised security.
‘‘It was further found that the browser history on the laptop had been deleted,’’ the decision said.
Straayer acknowledged he accessed gaming and comic book websites that contained adult material on the school laptop and that while using an online learning game during a lesson, a pop-up advertisement for an adult game site had been seen by students.
The image of ‘‘boobs’’ which a student had seen ‘‘may have been a picture of his partner in which her cleavage was visible, which he had saved as a desktop background’’, the decision said.
‘‘He denied deliberately going to the pornographic websites.’’
Straayer denied deleting the browser history.
He apologised to the school and agreed to future monitoring of his electronic devices. He also bought a laptop for personal use. Straayer also took part in a restorative process with students affected by his actions and accepted a final written warning from the school.
The tribunal ordered a censure along with conditions on his practising certificate for two years which required Straayer to tell any prospective employer about the disciplinary decision.
Straayer was also ordered to contribute to the Complaints Assessment Committee and tribunal’s costs.
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