\u201cI\u2019m only 22 days sober, but I\u2019d like to believe, and I feel confident, in a year\u2019s time I\u2019ll be able to go back into the teaching sector.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, the tribunal released its decision on penalties and found the teacher was not fit to return to teaching with an active addiction, cancelling her registration and censuring her.<\/p>\n
\u201cCancellation is not necessarily the end of the respondent\u2019s teaching career,\u201d tribunal chair James Gurnick said in the decision.<\/p>\n
She might apply for registration in the future, depending on the evidence of her recovery at that time, he said.<\/p>\n
According to the summary of facts, between October 2023 and September 2024 the teacher used methamphetamine during the working week.<\/p>\n
This included before work in the mornings and, on particularly bad days, during her lunch break at her nearby home.<\/p>\n
She was under the influence of the drug during work hours while responsible for the care and welfare of learners.<\/p>\n
The woman told the tribunal that using meth gave her confidence and made her feel numb, which helped her cope with stressful situations at the centre.<\/p>\n
The summary also stated she failed to inform her employer of her drug use.<\/p>\n
In June and July 2024, the teacher attended multiple meetings with the centre director dealing with concerns about her teaching practice, including forgetting to record feeding, sleeping and nappy-change times, resulting in parental concerns, as well as inappropriate language and communications with staff.<\/p>\n
She signed a voluntary undertaking not to teach in November 2024 and has not taught since.<\/p>\n
The teacher told the tribunal she had since separated from her partner, a fellow drug user, relocated and sought to engage with several support services.<\/p>\n
\u201cTeaching is my passion and teaching is what I will strive for and reach sobriety,\u201d she told the tribunal at the September hearing.<\/p>\n
She said she accepted the charges and that cancellation of her registration was the only acceptable outcome.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though it breaks my heart, I will accept the consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gurnick said the tribunal accepted her remorse and insight into the danger she had placed children in as entirely genuine.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were unanimous in our view that she showed enormous courage in attending and speaking to us as she did.\u201d<\/p>\n
But at the date of the hearing her sobriety stood at 22 days, without independent verification, compared with the minimum benchmark of six months\u2019 verified abstinence required for any return to teaching.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope that, once she has achieved sustained sobriety and obtained the treatment she needs, she will be in a position to return to the teaching profession.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing in this decision should discourage her from continuing the work she has begun; on the contrary, we encourage it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman was not ordered to pay costs due to her \u201cstark\u201d financial situation.<\/p>\n
Brianna McIlraith is a Queenstown-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the lower South Island. She has been a journalist since 2018 and has had a strong interest in business and financial journalism.<\/p>\n