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ASHBURTON
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Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014
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THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF MID CANTERBURY
Schools too lax in vetting new staff BY MICHELLE NELSON AND NICHOLAS JONES Mount Hutt College is one of a number of schools considering running its own investigations to combat the risk of hiring sexual predators. The college principal John Schreurs agreed with the finding of a recent report commissioned by the Education Review Office (ERO), which found a third of schools are too trusting and are putting students at risk of exposure to sexual predators. Mr Schreurs said boards of trustees required police checks on prospective teachers and non-teachers, but there is ambiguity surrounding the process. “Teachers are required to be policecheck verified by the Teachers’ Council as part of their registration. What has been of concern is that the council is not required to pass on information – they make a judgement call on whether to do so,” he said. “Some schools are looking at doing their own police checks on staff, so the school makes the decision. We are cer-
Last days of long holidays
tainly considering doing that, but there are changes afoot with the teachers’ council as well. “Ultimately the principal and the board are responsible for student safety,” he said. The ERO report was ordered after two instances last year of sex offenders being employed by schools, including disgraced Northland former deputy principal James Parker. It found that one third of schools were unlikely to recognise situations where students could be at risk from staff and respond appropriately. ERO manager, evaluation services, Stephanie Greaney, said school boards and leaders needed to have robust standards and practices around hiring and monitoring of staff. ERO has made recommendations to school boards which it hopes will improve employment practices. Information for the report included scheduled reviews of 173 schools with primary-aged students, and from focused reviews of 27 schools with Years 9 to 13 students.
The sun set on summer holidays for 15-year-old Hamish Eden and hundreds of other children around Mid Canterbury as the 2014 academic year gets off to a rolling start. STORY
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