A prestigious Christchurch boys' school has opened an independent investigation into the employment of a staffer who had inappropriate dealings with female pupils from other schools.
They included an inappropriate relationship with a 16-year-old pupil from Rangi Ruru Girls' School in Christchurch and inappropriate messages with a pupil from another school, referred to as Ms Y.
The teacher, legally known as Taurapa but previously known as Connor Taurapa Matthews, was employed as a te reo Māori teacher at Rangi Ruru in 2018.
He was simultaneously a house tutor residing in a boarding house at boys' school Christ’s College, which has a strong relationship with Rangi Ruru.
On Tuesday, Christ’s College Board chair Hugh Lindo told The New Zealand Herald the school had appointed barrister Janna McGuigan to undertake an employment investigation of all aspects of Taurapa’s employment. This would include talking with those affected.
“I invite anyone who has further information to make direct contact with me so that I can facilitate their involvement in the investigation," Lindo said.
“Christ’s College should have initiated its own investigation into Taurapa’s behaviour as soon as we had been made aware of Ms Y’s complaint. He should have been suspended immediately and removed from the campus while an investigation was undertaken.”
Usually, the names of pupils in Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal cases are suppressed but in this case, Helena Dray asked the tribunal to waive this.
Dray and Taurapa would regularly communicate via social media as part of a te reo study group chat.
The content of the discussions between Taurapa and the other four students was innocuous to begin with, but Taurapa then began to message Dray directly.
The conversation became personalised and occurred outside of school hours. When Dray turned 16 in April 2018, Taurapa gifted her a writing journal containing a poem entitled Words of love.
Around this time, Dray said Taurapa began to ask about sexualised topics. Eventually, the pair spent time alone together. This first instance occurred in Taurapa’s Rangi Ruru classroom, watching a musical together on a bed of pillows and blankets in front of a projector.
Dray said it was there Taurapa “kissed me and felt me up, too”.
While Dray said when it came to sex there appeared to be a line, such as Taurapa not coming to her house when invited, the pair discussed if “something further” should happen. The relationship eventually became sexual.
Sexual images were shared, with Dray telling the tribunal Taurapa would send them on “multiple occasions, too many to count”. Dray briefly agreed to a request from Taurapa to perform a sex act on camera, but quickly declined to do anything further.
“Ms Dray says that throughout all of their involvement, Taurapa would often tell her to make sure she deleted her messages with him from her phone and for her to ‘not leave a trace’,” the tribunal’s decision said.
The relationship “fizzled out” in early 2019. Shortly before he resigned from Rangi Ruru, Dray tried to make contact but was told by Taurapa “my lawyer has told me not to contact you anymore”. Dray said it had taken time to realise the effect the relationship had on her. She now has difficulty engaging with male authority figures and struggled to continue her te reo studies.
Inappropriate messages to another girl
Taurapa was also engaged in “inappropriate messaging”, with a girl referred to as Ms Y.
Ms Y was 16 when he began messaging her, and it continued when she turned 17. Ms Y, who attended another high school, met him around late September to early October 2018 at Christ’s College.
During the 2018/19 summer holidays, Taurapa would ask Ms Y for pictures of her in a bikini. He was often topless in bed when they would Snapchat each other.
In February 2019, Ms Y’s boss received a complaint from her parents about Taurapa messaging her.
Taurapa was also spoken to about the complaint. He then messaged Ms Y asking her to delete all of the messages that she saved from their conversations. She obliged but did not delete all of the screenshots she had saved. Taurapa said he would not be contacting her again.
Teacher struck off
In March 2019, concerns were forwarded from Christ’s College to Rangi Ruru.
On March 19 a meeting was held with Taurapa. He denied ever meeting Dray outside of the school, but said he had dropped her off following a rehearsal for a show as he did not want her to walk home in the dark.
Taurapa was invited to a disciplinary meeting on March 26 and resigned the next month.
Concerns were eventually also passed on to police, who notified the Ministry of Education.
Taurapa said in his initial response that he denied the allegations in relation to Dray, and said he had done nothing wrong. He later accepted he’d engaged in serious misconduct and breached his professional obligations.
Taurapa chose not to engage in the tribunal process, other than filing a statement denying a romantic relationship occurred.
”We do not accept Taurapa’s denials,” the tribunal ruled. “The entire account of Ms Dray is found proven. This type of conduct strikes at the heart of the teacher-student relationship. It is at the most serious end of serious misconduct cases that come before the tribunal.”
Taurapa’s registration as a teacher was cancelled.
While Dray did not seek name suppression, Christ’s College and Rangi Ruru did.
A spokesperson for Rangi Ruru said both schools made arguments in favour of suppression at a time before Dray asked the tribunal to waive her right to name suppression.
Taurapa, a wedding celebrant, also sought name suppression, arguing because he is Māori he would suffer “tabloid-style” coverage due to racial bias.
The tribunal said the risk was not real or appreciable and Taurapa was denied suppression.
Rangi Ruru Board of Governors chair Nicki Carter said in a statement to The New Zealand Herald the school was made aware of the allegations of “serious misconduct” in March 2019.
“As soon as the school was made aware of the allegations the teacher was stood down, an internal investigation was initiated, and the matter was referred to the Teaching Council.
"The teacher resigned from their position in April 2019, whilst the school’s investigation was being undertaken. We strongly condemn the behaviour of this former teacher.
“Teaching is a privilege, and behaviour which threatens the safety and wellbeing of any student is completely unacceptable. We are incredibly disappointed that the former teacher broke the trust placed in them.”
The tribunal’s findings followed publicity about the “inappropriate behaviour” of Andrew Maclennan, an elite sports coach, and former teacher who “intermittently” worked at the school and who was also investigated by the Teaching Council, Lindo said.
“Christ’s College has initiated an independent review of its employment practices by Child Matters, a specialist in the development of effective child protection policy, procedure and education regarding staff recruitment. This review is now under way.”
