A deputy principal used dark humour as an outlet but took it too far when saying “if it’s old enough to bleed, it’s old enough to breed” about a female Year 10 student. 

He also called the student a “s***” and commented on another student’s weight while talking to teachers in the staffroom. 

Now the man, who has name suppression, has been found by the Teacher’s Disciplinary Tribunal to have committed serious misconduct. 

Tribunal deputy chair Tim McKenzie said in a recently released decision that the deputy principal made “gratuitous, mean-spirited and demeaning” comments about students. 

Two incidents a year a part 

The man was first registered as a teacher in 1998 and had been a teacher and deputy principal at the school for about 12 years. The name and location of the school is suppressed. 

The first allegation against him was that in March 2022 he and a fellow teacher were speaking in the staffroom during lunch. 

He then commented on a student’s weight saying “speaking of [the student], who wants to guess how heavy [they are]”, or words to that effect, the decision said. 

He then used his fingers as digits to disclose the student’s weight. 

The tribunal was told the student was a larger student with varying health issues. 

The deputy principal made comments about a student's weight while they were dealing with health issues. Photo / File 

The teacher he was speaking to made a complaint to the school and the teacher admitted his mistake, writing an apology letter and taking ownership of his “less-than-appropriate” behaviour. 

He told the school he was deeply embarrassed and ashamed of his behaviour, and accepted that he had let people down. He also outlined strategies he was going to undertake in order to ensure it did not happen again. 

But in March 2023 he made another inappropriate, but this time vulgar, comment about a Year 10 female student to members of an organisation he was involved in. The details of the organisation are redacted. 

The group passed some students and he pointed out a Year 10 student and told the other members that she was “a bit of a s***”. 

One of the other members commented that she was young, to which he replied “if it’s old enough to bleed, it’s old enough to breed”. 

Following this incident, one of the members complained about his comments. 

The school initiated the disciplinary processes following a meeting with proposed dismissal as an outcome. 

The teacher proposed that he resign from the school as an alternative and did so. 

Teacher did not believe comments were serious misconduct 

McKenzie said in his decision that the behaviour in the first incident was “offensive and completely unnecessary”. 

“It was gratuitous, mean-spirited and demeaning. This is in part reflected in the fact that another teacher complained about it.” 

The second incident left the tribunal with a similar view, he said. 

“It involved sexualised and vulgar comments regarding not just an under-age female, but one who was a student at the school that [the teacher] was the deputy principal of.” 

The teacher told the tribunal he accepted his conduct was poor but did not accept that serious misconduct was made out. 

The tribunal disagreed, concluding the incidents resulted in serious misconduct. 

The teacher was censured, the register was annotated for two years and the teacher must provide a copy of the decision to any current or prospective education employers for a period of two years. 

The tribunal was told the teacher often used black humour as an outlet, but it did not think black humour was used in these instances. 

“Body weight, and sexual activity, can be delicate issues in high schools. [He] knew or should have known this given his role. 

“Making gratuitous offensive comments to colleagues about these topics, about two of his students, reflects very poorly on him.” 

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.