This has an all-too-familiar, very frightening ring to it.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3088949a11,00.htmlCalling pupils 'sluts' lands teacher aide in trouble
07 November 2004
By RACHEL GRUNWELL
A Catholic primary school principal has apologised to four 12-year-olds because a teacher aide called the girls "sluts" after they exposed their midriffs to sunbathe during a break.
Despite the apology, mothers of two of the pupils are unhappy with the handling of the matter by the school, St Francis de Sales in Wellington.
Carol Morgan and another mother who did not wish to be named wanted the teacher aide, Coll O'Connor, to apologise to the girls in front of the 18 students who heard the name-calling.
"The girls were humiliated publicly," said Morgan.
"The minimum I will accept is for them to be apologised to publicly."
The school's board chairwoman, Karen Corban, said she was astounded by O'Connor's comments, but accepted her written apology, which she considered sufficient.
Corban said O'Connor was a Catholic and had a great reputation.
"I honest to God think we did a good job (dealing with the complaint)," said Corban.
Principal Alan Fleming said the school was being examined by the Education Review Office (ERO) and it was not a good time to talk about the issue.
Commissioner for Children advocate John Brickell, who dealt with the complaint, said the public apology would be a fair remedy.
"It is a completely inappropriate word to use to girls that age. It's inappropriate in an educational setting."
The Vicar for Education for Wellington Catholic schools, Des Darby, in a report last month found the principal and board handled the incident fairly.
The Sunday Star-Times has agreed to not name the girls.
The incident happened on June 24 after the girls exposed their midriffs to catch some sun during a school break, while singing a humorous song to the tune of the national anthem.
Darby said the lyrics were "crude" and Fleming called them "obscene".
The girls claim that a day after the incident, O'Connor told them she liked their singing, but that they looked like a bunch of sluts.
In a letter to Morgan, Fleming said that O'Connor immediately admitted to him she used the language, but she was shocked at the girls' behaviour and felt the girls were aggressive after she called them "sluts".
O'Connor told the principal she used the word in the sense of the middle-ages usage - meaning a woman of dishevelled and unkempt appearance. She later agreed young girls would not have understood her meaning.
The Collins dictionary says slut means "dirty (immoral) woman".
In a letter to Carol Morgan, Fleming said he counselled O'Connor, who was sincerely and deeply regretful, apologetic and would not repeat the behaviour. He wrote that O'Connor wanted to apologise to the girls but he asked her to write an apology because emotions were high.
Brickell said he had dealt with numerous similar complaints recently including a Northland case in which a teacher called a child "a little shit" and talked about "knocking the kid's block off".
In another case, a teacher who called a boy an "asshole", was supported by the principal who condoned the name-calling because it might "shock a child into behaving better".
Brickell said teachers should set a good example as children modelled their behaviour on watching adults.
