{"id":362103,"date":"2026-04-03T15:32:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T15:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/362103\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T15:32:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T15:32:12","slug":"auckland-preschool-teachers-censured-after-child-left-in-locked-van","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/362103\/","title":{"rendered":"Auckland preschool teachers censured after child left in locked van"},"content":{"rendered":"

First published on \"NZ<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Little<\/p>\n

\nK\u0101k\u0101p\u014d Creek Children’s Garden in Auckland often takes its students on excursions to a nearby farm forest.
\nPhoto: 123RF\n<\/p>\n

A screaming child was found locked in a pre-school van 80 minutes after the class had returned from a trip.<\/p>\n

Now, teachers Mee Sung (Michelle) Choi and Rochelle Gray have been found guilty of serious misconduct by the Teachers’ Disciplinary Tribunal for a miscommunication that could have turned fatal.<\/p>\n

The pair were working at K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d Creek Children’s Garden in Auckland on 1 December 2022 when they took nine children in a van to a local farm-forest.<\/p>\n

They returned to the centre around 2.05pm, parking close to the door to unload bags and the children, the tribunal decision said.<\/p>\n

A compulsory roll check was not done on arrival, and Gray took two children inside, leaving Choi with the van and the remaining children.<\/p>\n

This included a child in the front passenger row and one in the back sleeping.<\/p>\n

Gray returned to the van and took more children and bags inside the centre, then returned to let Choi take her lunch break.<\/p>\n

The tribunal heard Choi referred to there being “sleepers” in the van and Gray recalled looking at the child in the front row and asking Choi, “Is that it?”<\/p>\n

That a child was in the back seat was not “expressly communicated” by Choi, the decision said.<\/p>\n

The pair did not clearly communicate with each other about the number of children sleeping in the van, and Gray did not see the child in the back.<\/p>\n

She continued unpacking the van and took bags and equipment inside while monitoring the child in the front. Gray then took her inside when she woke up.<\/p>\n

Gray again came out to the van, this time with her daughter, and moved the van forward, approximately 20m, into its normal parking space.<\/p>\n

At 2.39pm, Gray locked the van and went back into the centre, leaving the child in the back seat unattended.<\/p>\n

She did not do a final check of the van to ensure that no children were still inside.<\/p>\n

\"K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d<\/p>\n

\n

Photo: Photo \/ Google Maps\n<\/p>\n

K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d Creek Children’s Garden in Auckland often takes its students on excursions to a nearby farm forest.<\/p>\n

Gray then left for the day. Choi remained at work and neither she nor the two other staff on duty noticed that the child was missing.<\/p>\n

The child was found at 3.28pm when a parent arriving at the centre to collect their own child saw movement in the van and the child inside screaming.<\/p>\n

After several minutes, the child was taken inside until their parent arrived.<\/p>\n

Both teachers apologised to the parents and the centre conducted a disciplinary process which included Gray and Choi participating in further professional development.<\/p>\n

A review of the centre’s trip and vehicle-related policies also took place.<\/p>\n

The tribunal found both Gray and Choi guilty of serious misconduct but was also satisfied that the “incident represents a one-off lapse”. Both teachers were censured.<\/p>\n

“Ms Gray and Ms Choi fully co-operated with the proceedings, showed significant remorse and have undertaken appropriate professional development since the incident,” tribunal deputy chair Catherine Garvey said.<\/p>\n

This story was first published by the New Zealand Herald<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"First published on K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d Creek Children’s Garden in Auckland often takes its students on excursions to a nearby…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":["post-362103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}