Serious Misconduct and Cancelled Teacher Registration

MEDIA RELEASE 23 November 2014

Louisa Mutu: Serious Misconduct and Cancelled Teacher Registration

We are relieved that finally this case has been made public and our community and parents at our kura, Te Kura Kaupapa Maori O Whangaroa, can finally know what happened last year regarding the dismissal of Louisa Mutu, the previous tumuaki (principal) of our kura.

The New Zealand Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal has censured Louisa Mutu for serious misconduct for inappropriate behaviour with a student, cancelling her Teacher Registration.

We want to acknowledge our fellow board members for their professionalism and integrity in handling this matter against some very fervent and public calls for her reinstatement by a group of parents lead by Gary Bramley and Arena Heta. Along with other parents they withdrew their children from our kura at the beginning of this year in protest at this decision.

We were surprised by the actions and behaviours of this group, particularly Arena Heta who was a board member at the time and privy to all the information concerning this case and who participated in the decision to dismiss her.

We are also astounded by comments made by Gary Bramley on Marae Investigates on Sunday 23th November where he says he would be okay with his child having someone to talk to, thereby dismissing the behaviour as an error in judgment and diminishing the impact this incident had on the child and whanau concerned, the kura whanau, and the fallout that followed dividing our community.

Gary Bramley and Arena Heta have been involved in some very underhanded tactics to discredit the board in an attempt to remove it and overturn its decision to dismiss Louisa Mutu. This included them raising questions about the validity of the 2013 board elections with the Ministry of Education at the beginning of this year, some seven months after it was held.

While they have attempted to portray the two issues as separate it was obviously a deliberate tactic to undermine the board and reinstate Louisa Mutu.

The original complainant, the previous board members and their children have been subjected to ongoing harassment and intimidation in public and on social media by members of this group. It has been an awful experience.

The public release of the report and decision exonerates the actions of the board. We hope this will bring some closure to parents at the kura and the wider Whangaroa Community.

The dismissal of the board by the Ministry of Education in May of this year and the appointment of a commissioner to run a new election is being challenged by kura parents in the High Court in Whangarei on the 4 December 2014.

Terry Smith/Moana Tuwhare
Mangai
Te Whanau O Te Kura Kaupapa Maori O Whangaroa

© Scoop Media