But when school returned, the teacher messaged the girl through Teams and said he was having problems with his concentration.
He gave her his cell phone number and asked her to text him.
“Just on the ADD thing, I’ve been trying to get some black-market Ritalin or Concerta, but haven’t had much luck. Are you taking your whole prescription at the moment, or can you sell a card?” he asked her through a text message.
The student made excuses her prescription was controlled and it could be the wrong dose for him, as she feared there could be repercussions for her education if she refused outright.
The teacher then apologised, moved on to a different subject and never ended up buying any medication from her.
But the fact he had asked later became a matter before the Teachers’ Disciplinary Tribunal.
Earlier this year, the teacher appeared before the tribunal, where he admitted a charge of serious misconduct.
“I’m disgusted at myself that I’ve done that to a young person,” he told the tribunal.
“I never want to be back here again.”
The teacher said, in retrospect, he should have referred the girl to a school counsellor, dean or deputy principal when she began disclosing mental health issues to him but weighed her confidentiality against his duty of care.
He admitted he then breached that duty of care further and abused her trust when he asked her to sell him the medication.
“I deliberately invited a private form of communication to ask a vulnerable student for her prescription medication. There are no excuses for this behaviour. I am deeply ashamed and regret the position I put [the student] in,” the teacher told the tribunal.
“I crossed a serious professional boundary driven by a self-interested desperation.”
‘Overly familiar’
Now, the tribunal has ordered the man be censured, provide evidence from a health professional that he’s suitable to be a teacher, undertake training about professional boundaries and disclose the tribunal’s findings to any future employer.
The tribunal said many of the messages between the student and teacher were “overly familiar” and unprofessional, with personal information shared by both.
“The exchange reads as if between close friends, not teacher and student,” the tribunal said.
“The tribunal considers that there was a significant breach of professional boundaries by the respondent in his conduct with [the student], with the respondent developing a relationship in which he offered emotional support on a regular basis, shared details of his personal life and also sought support from [the student].”
The tribunal said the man’s conduct was made worse by the length and frequency of the messaging, and the fact he didn’t refer the matter to a guidance counsellor or a colleague better equipped to help her with the issues she was facing.
Jeremy Wilkinson is an Open Justice reporter based in Manawatū, covering courts and justice issues with an interest in tribunals. He has been a journalist for nearly a decade and has worked for NZME since 2022.