Dom Post Editorial on Hutt Valley High School
September 8th, 2011 at 10:00 am by David FarrarDom Post Editorial:
The word “bullying” does not even get close to describing the reign of terror a gang of Hutt Valley High School thugs imposed on their fellow pupils.
Serious sexual assault, extreme violence and brutal humiliation are more accurate terms for the pack attacks on nine tormented Year 9 boys over two weeks in late 2007.
The sickening details are laid out in a damning report by Ombudsman David McGee. One by one, the victims were hunted down and violated with objects including a drill bit, scissors, a craft knife, a plank of wood, a shoe, a cellphone and a screwdriver. According to police reports, victims screamed in pain during the attacks. One endured up to 10 such assaults. Another was kicked in the face when he refused to kiss his attackers’ shoes after they had sexually violated him.
The response of the school’s authorities to such systemic violence defies belief. Having failed to establish proper systems to prevent and detect such attacks in the first place, the school then failed to safeguard the well-being of the victims and ensure the complaints were dealt with properly. They did not inform the victims’ parents or alert police or Child, Youth and Family to what were plainly allegations of serious sexual offending.
Even worse, the acting principal at the time, Steve Chapman, and the then-chairwoman of the board of trustees, Susan Pilbrow, played down the seriousness of the assaults. Mr Chapman’s decision, backed by Ms Pilbrow, to stand down the six attackers for three to five days obviously failed to reflect the gravity of their offending or send a message that violence would not be tolerated. The school’s refusal to back down from a statement that it had acted “reasonably and responsibly” confirmed concerns that it had not acknowledged the seriousness of the attacks.
It was a failure of the most basic kind – to keep kids safe.
I wonder whether those in charge at the time are still involved at the school. Their website states Steve Chapman is the Associate Principal still. Ms Pilbrow does not appear to be on the Board of Trustees anymore.
UPDATE: NZ Herald reports Mr Chapman may be sacked by the Board. It is hard to see how he could continue in the job and believe the school is serious about ensuring this never happens again.
Related posts:
- Hutt Valley High School
- Disgraceful attitude from Hutt Valley High School
- Hutt Valley High School
- Pamapuria School
September 8th, 2011 at 10:37 am
What happened at HVHS was a disgrace. A story how a small nucleus of trouble makers can bring a school to its knees. Many people would rightfully demand that heads should roll. I believe that heads should roll at the school but even further back, in fact to Parliament where the true situation does not hit home. Some of the Education Ministry need to start searching for real solutions not run for cover in the labyrinth of the big wooden ministry building. When somebody is killed at school will be a day when the consciences our nation will be challenged.
Vote:The population does not fully understand the dangers in our system. And things will not get better. Knives,guns,protection rackets etc.
Schools are quite different to what they were 40 years ago, when they were there for education. Today it seems schools are providing a baby sitting service for many young thugs before they are sent out into the world on the way to prison.
Pressure from the Ministry of Education to decrease the number of expulsions hasn’t helped. Even worse, the heads of ethnic organizations to look aside from actions of their children in mini gang attacks. Schools are left in an impossible situation.
Certainly schools have to work much harder today to keep their schools free of this pervasive rubbish. After all, this is prevalent in real society with its steaqdy disintegration of family,community and lack of individual responsibility.
A real hard line would see hundreds of youngsters from age 12 to 17 being released into the streets. Truency would become impossible to police.
What do we do ? Try and put the problem away by advocating a return to corporal punishment ? No. Perhaps not make education compulsory ?Of course not. Allow ethnic groups to start schools for their own students ?
September 8th, 2011 at 10:50 am
@Neil
“What do we do ? ” – Holding those in charge to account would be a start. The school has clearly breached the “duty of care” it owes to pupils and their parents.
Pilbrow and Chapman need to be personally sued – hard.
Vote:September 8th, 2011 at 10:51 am
Typical PC bullshit brought on by so called education experts.
The trouble makers should of been expelled and the cases referred to the police.
If I was a parent with children at Hutt Valley High I would be asking for the school to now forward these cases on to the police and talk to a lawyer where or not a civil case can be brought against the school and the principal.
All the school has done has allowed behaviour in these students that violence and sexual abuse is ok.
Vote:September 8th, 2011 at 10:56 am
The new Principal is no doubt working hard to ditch his associate. Unfortunately these things take time, it seems to take a new principal a few years to get rid of those he/she considers are not performing, but it does happen. Again why I think that those on >$100k should not be covered by the Employment Relations Act.
Vote:September 8th, 2011 at 11:08 am
Issues similar to this at Abu Ghraib lead to the jailing of the perpetrators and those who covered up for them. So why doesn’t this responsibility apply in this case? Are standards in an Iraqi prison staffed by criminally minded US Army reservists really higher than those in a NZ secondary school?
Vote:September 8th, 2011 at 11:09 am
I see Robin Duff, PPTA president is laying the blame at the feet of the ministry of education and the government for failing the school. Given that these events occured under the tenure of a Labour Government, perhaps Mr Duff is being hasty?
In all seriousness, Mr Duff should look to the management of the school at the time. I do not believe that the Education Ministry, nor the government, should be responsible for the implementation of sound discipline in the school in question. If a staff of 106 cannot control the actions of 6 teenagers, then the fault does not lie with central government, but with school governence.
Given that National MP Alan Peachey was a teacher at that school in the early 80′s, I wonder what he would make of the situation?
Vote:September 8th, 2011 at 11:17 am
To Mark at 10.51am I say that expulsion only shifts the problem on to another school. Many of these kids want to get expelled- a badge of honour. Do we want these young thugs sleeping by day and criminalising by night.
Vote:Expelling people is not the answer., Many of the people advocating expulsion went to school when schools were for learning and expulsion meant something.
Yes lets clean out weak links in school personnel but let’s not underestimate the damage done by successive governments in lowering standards and decreasing authority. The Ministry of Education a faceless giant needs to spend more time advocating for the majority of good principals and teachers who shouldn’t have to put up with this “shit”
September 8th, 2011 at 11:18 am
Perhaps some people have forgotten what a brutal place school can be. There will always be bullies and those who are prone for one reason or another, to being victims of bullying. Certainly the bullying at HVH seems to have been of quite a serious nature, but I can think of incidents when I was at school which were comparable to these in their serious nature, and were similarly ignored or dealt with leniently by the teachers.
As far as the Principals and Boards of Trustees of other schools are concerned, I’d imagine that a number of schools around the country who are nervously watching the news for fear that the publicizing of this story will stir up the sediment.
Empowered children are less likely to be victims, even the weaklings. Focus on that IMO.
Vote:September 8th, 2011 at 11:19 am
Name and Shame.
Name the bullies and shame their families.
Vote:September 8th, 2011 at 11:20 am
Mark
As noted in the discussion of this yesterday, the perpertrators were dealth with by the Police. The Ombudsman’s report looks at the failures by the school, MSD and ERO.
On National Radio this morning the Principal was reported as saying that Steve Chapman (acting Principal at the time and now Associate Principal) could still face action from the Board of Trustees.
Vote:September 8th, 2011 at 11:22 am
The school failed to provide a safe environment for the children. They should have been bankrupted by civil action. Listening to the soothing words of the Headmaster on RNZ today leaving me felling just angry at his total inaction and slack attitude. The children who were sexually abused should have been protected better. I want scalps for this.
Vote:September 8th, 2011 at 11:27 am
tvb – but the ‘headmaster’ you indicated was not at the school when the bullying happened. He was left to pick up the pieces from that sorry mess.
Vote:September 8th, 2011 at 11:29 am
The perpetrators are all homosexuals.
All homosexuals are paedophiles.
All homosexuals should be jailed.
Problem solved.
Vote:September 8th, 2011 at 11:36 am
Fighting words are only natural from disgusted observors.Fair comment but naming and shaming as reversespin made at 11.19 is a bit like putting people in stocks in the village square. That won’t happen !
Vote:My warning is like the comment Scott Chris made at 11.18. There are delicate situations in schools all over the nation.
There needs to be a national debate about students who cannot handle the discipline of schools. But as well, look at some of their parents who have shocking attitudes towards authority figures like teachers anmd the police.
No doubt, the police and teachers have to bear much of the brunt of this criticism
September 8th, 2011 at 11:36 am
Yesterdays’ comment seemed to indicate that the perpetrators were from Mongrel Mob families. If that is true then it explains alot. Criminality,sexual abuse,mob mentality,ethnic issues (schools shit themselves over Maori underachievement and ERO place a huge emphasis on Maori in schools),human rights etc
This is not a matter of bullying.It is serious criminality and is not exclusive to this school. Around the country Maori gang issues are having a major effect on our schools,some closing on that account. Certainly it’s the case in Dunedin.
These gangs are a blight on our society and they should be destroyed and the media and political parties especially need to get in behind the issue and stop being afraid of race and human rights issues.
More generally we have turned a blind eye to violence ,drugs and the sexualisation of everything in sight so it should be no surprise when our young start to go seriously off the rails.
We reap as we sow.
Vote:September 8th, 2011 at 11:59 am
Mynameisjack
God is love.
Love is blind.
Stevie Wonder is blind.
Therefore, Stevie Wonder is God.
Vote:September 8th, 2011 at 12:04 pm
Installing CCTV in school grounds and environs would act as a deterent to thugs who may not be as bold if their actions were observed or recorded. School prinicipals need to be empowered by their boards to take action more decisively and be backed up by agencies such as Police and Welfare.
Vote:Safety of our children in schools is paramount.
September 8th, 2011 at 12:12 pm
No, Stevie Wonder isn’t God unless he’s flying (John Paul Young).
Vote:September 8th, 2011 at 12:16 pm
This is an abject failure of school management. In my volunteer work with adolescent drug and alcohol abuse I had the opportunity to travel to various High Schools across the country and in the main the principal, senior teachers and BOTs were enormously supportive with what our Trust was doing. A few schools were noticeable in their lukewarm support and wishy washy treatment of this big issue. Hutt Valley High was one such school – the turnout of parents on the Drugproofing your Kids night was the most pathetic of any school I ever visited and that included very small schools like Hokitika High! Pilbrow and Chapman were not very proactive on the drug issue so it comes as no surprise that they were equally non proactive when it come to policing these incidents of horrific abuse.
There are a large number of well run schools where crap like this would be nipped in the bud very quickly but it takes strong leadership, excellent training, coordinated work with outside agencies and not being cowed by PC rubbish. Its not rocket science.
Vote:September 8th, 2011 at 12:29 pm
Sacking the idiot would be a good start.
I hope any and all notes regarding the real (sex) offenders in this story are to be immediately handed to the Police?
Meanwhile, RRM is working on a patented device for automatically administering corporal punishment to sex offenders.
The design is based on what you’ll see if you google “girls having sex with machines” with the family filter off; except that the dildo part has a coating of 80 grit sandpaper on it, and the motor that makes it oscillate is a bit bigger…
Vote:September 8th, 2011 at 12:30 pm
Once again mynameisdickhead contributes nothign with a bullshit agenda driven peice of crap. Ever considered just keeping your stupid racist bigoted mouth shut jerkoff?
Vote:September 8th, 2011 at 12:32 pm
My Name is Jack –
You’re posting those links because you want to show how ridiculously and wrongly those people are spinning this, right?
Right?
Vote:September 8th, 2011 at 12:33 pm
RRM
Vote:You would enjoy George Clooney in ‘Burn After Reading’!
September 8th, 2011 at 2:11 pm
I’d hope every single one of those bullies is put on the sex offenders register.
Vote:September 8th, 2011 at 2:32 pm
Kiwi in america There is no such school as Hokitika High.
Vote:September 8th, 2011 at 2:40 pm
Now we have all had a fair go at the school and howled for heads to roll (that poor chap who was acting principal was clearly out of his depth and the board chair no help) let’s consider these kids.
A feral group of third formers behaving in appalling ways to others and to their own as bullies themselves became victims. They apparently came from gang families (in state houses? Maori?).
Without sounding like a bleeding heart, what kind of hideous homes did these kids come from?
What was going on that their parents weighed in too, out of school?
Where did these boys learn this ghastly behaviour?
What has their home life been like?
What is being done to set them on a better path or are they already school drop-outs (I doubt they were 7th form material) on the path to prison?
Every principal dreads the new years intake might bring a horrible group which has already caused mayhem at primary and intermediate. I bet these kids had a history and are still thoroughly anti-social. Hanging the acting principal isn’t the issue.
Dealing with these feral families is.
Vote:September 8th, 2011 at 3:59 pm
BeaB
You’re right it was Westland High ….in Hokitika unlike Greymouth High where I also was a frequent presenter.
Dealing with the feral families IS the best way to deal with the root cause of the problem but that doesn’t abbrogate the school’s responsibility to mitigate the behaviour of the feral kids and institute procedures with consequences to protect other students.
Vote:September 8th, 2011 at 7:15 pm
BeaB & KIA;
Well in MY humble opinion, the whole problem stems from this odd concept we have, that a school is a somehow “special” place with a ring fence akin to a national border around it; with different standards, regulations, rules and consequences than anywhere else in the country.
I’m not surprised that HVHS staff found themselves incapable of dealing effectively with gangs of young violent sex offenders. Christ, I couldn’t. Why do people expect that the teachers should be able to deal competently with stuff like that? They’re not caped crime fighters.
We do have another professional, public agency that specializes in confronting anti-social and criminal activity – the Police.
I suggest that it’s time the doors of public schools were thrown as wide open as the doors of public hospitals and libraries. (Particularly high schools where what goes on between students can constitute real, serious crime.) If I assaulted you in the street outside Hutt Valley High, I’d be arrested and charged. If the same applied to little thugs inside the school, they might learn something about the real world and how to function within it.
We have teachers to provide education. We have the Police maintain order. Let’s just get rid of the unhelpful blurring of these functions that occurs at the school gates.
Vote:September 8th, 2011 at 8:04 pm
RRM I agree entirely.
Vote:September 9th, 2011 at 9:21 am
as do I
Vote:February 1st, 2012 at 1:03 pm
I believe that bullying has nothing to do with the Socio-economic groups people belong to.I went to a Catholic girls secondary school over 30 years ago and it was the Surgeons and Lawyers girls that were by far the worse offenders.Their parents may have also been on the Board of Trustees.These girls that I remember were bright,arrogant,entitled,protected,smug,nasty,vicious,spoilt and many other adjectives.What they lacked mostly was kindness,empathy,common goodness and so forth.Their parents protected them and used their influence to keep them at the school.The school was not safe for some with these girls in attendance.This affected the victims social and educational out comes.It is a serious matter and there should be compensation for victims that did not have their concerns listened to and acted upon.It was very hard in the first place to bring bullying to the attention of the Principal.Then only to have things made worse not better.Also who knows what goes on in these girls homes?There could be physical,sexual and emotional abuse.Just because they are privileged does not mean bad stuff does not happen.
Vote: