Teacher struck off, two others investigated

Parents are worried about their children’s safety after a spate of inappropriate relationships between teachers and students at a high school.

The school’s name is suppressed after the New Zealand Teachers’ Tribunal ruled publicity could put students at risk.

The sweeping suppression orders also prevent news media from naming the teachers and the sources quoted.

A teacher has been struck off the register and two others are under investigation for serious misconduct, as frustration festers among remaining staff who say they’ve been left in the dark.

The school won’t discuss the cases, citing the suppression ruling.

‘‘Frankly, we are disgusted by the lack of proactive measures to keep the students safe,’’ says a parent with children at the school.

Ewen Mason had his registration cancelled following a sexual relationship with a year-13 student at the school in 2015.

Mason started working at the school in 2014 and counselled the student despite having no training. At some point the relationship became sexual.

The tribunal has suppressed the subject Mason was teaching, details of how the two got to know each other, and details of the effect the relationship had on the girl.

The relationship was discovered when the young woman’s mother found charges for 472 text messages and four phone calls between her daughter and Mason, according to the tribunal decision.

She confronted her daughter, who told her of the relationship.

Mason resigned from the school the next day. On the same day, the girl’s parents told the principal about what happened.

Mason told the tribunal he’d had a relationship with the student

"We are disgusted by the lack of proactive measures to keep the students safe." Parent

that had continued intermittently since she finished school.

A letter sent to Fairfax by Mason’s lawyer, Greg Woollaston, questioned whether there was public interest in reporting Mason’s behaviour again, following an earlier report of the tribunal’s decision. Woollaston said Mason, his family and children received ‘‘threats of serious violence/ death’’ following initial publicity.

The second teacher has appeared before the tribunal, but a decision has not been released yet. The teacher has been stood down.

The Dominion Post understands the teacher pursued an inappropriate relationship with a female year 11 student in 2016. The names of the school, teacher and student are suppressed.

A third teacher is also under investigation by the Education Council after an alleged inappropriate relationship with a male year-11 student.