Hawke’s Bay teacher used work laptop to access porn

A Hawke’s Bay high school teacher accessed pornography involving teenagers and teacher-student relationships through a work laptop.

John Mallory, who had been a maths teacher at Hastings’ Karamu High School in 2021, was caught having streamed pornographic content on his school laptop.

Mallory had been given a new laptop in 2020, and his old one was taken to move any data to his new one. A strange bookmark to a pornographic site was noted, and it was decided that it may have been an error, and nothing further was done.

Then in 2021, Mallory asked for help after a problem with his laptop. His folders and data were backed up, and he was given a temporary laptop.

The backup data included data from his logs, and history from web browsers.

Mallory asked for help again shortly after, and when his laptop was unlocked, it showed a pornographic video, which was seen. It was reported to the principal.

It was found that Mallory had accessed pornographic video sharing sites, along with erotic fiction and fantasy websites. Nothing had been downloaded on to the laptop.

At a disciplinary hearing, Mallory said he had made a misjudgment, and he knew he should not have used school laptops.

He was suspended, and a digital forensic report was done for the Complaints Assessment Committee of the New Zealand Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal.

Mallory’s internet history from January to September 2021 was reviewed. Of 9822 records, 5850 were found to be inappropriate for a school computer, mostly videos and literature.

A minority of the web pages involved non-consensual acts along with inappropriate relationships with minors, including teenagers and people the same age as Mallory’s students.

The report showed that he would look up the material for three to four hours, although never during school hours.

Mallory, who had been a teacher for 50 years, said he would not teach again and would relinquish his practising certificate.

The tribunal found that it was serious misconduct. It said it was satisfied that the conduct reflected adversely on Mallory’s fitness to be a teacher, calling into question his observation of appropriate boundaries, and lacking professional judgment and integrity.

It was also accepted that the sites and material viewed were not objectionable.

The tribunal put a record on the public register, and imposed a condition that Mallory would have to notify any future employer of the decision.