School told to re-instate deputy principal in camp fund dispute

A deputy principal accused of misusing school funds has won an order temporarily re-instating her, while a full investigation is carried out.

The woman was fired, after a complaint that she used school funds to take her family as helpers on a school camp she had organised.

Because she had paid for other aspects of the camp from her own pocket and had done so for the several years she'd organised the event, she thought the accounting would even out.

The board of trustees did not agree and sacked her, despite the chair attending one of the camps in a volunteer role, also paid for with school money.

The deputy principal then lodged a claim of unjustified dismissal with the Employment Relations Authority (ERA), which this week ordered that she be re-instated, while a full investigation into the allegations against her was carried out.

According to the ERA ruling, the woman - whose name was suppressed, along with the details of the school - organised an annual camp for Year 8 students to Wellington, visiting Te Papa Museum and attending the World of Wearable Arts (WOW).

However, in 2024, the school received a complaint from a parent that funds associated with the camp had been misused.

The school investigated, specifically the allegation that the woman had used school funds for her family to attend the camp as volunteers.

The woman said, over the years, her family had regularly attended the camp in various volunteer capacities and it had become somewhat of a tradition.

She told the school board that she accepted it was wrong not to have re-imbursed the school directly for the costs associated with bringing her family.

By the end of 2024, the board began a disciplinary process, after it found a lack of transparency regarding the funds associated with the camp and limited evidence of proper accounting.

"There appear to be inconsistencies in both the documentation and narrative regarding the allocation of funds raised for these trips," a letter from the board read.

It was also concerned about the woman organising leavers' dinners, with money being paid into her account each year, without any receipts or reasons for the expenditure.

"Specifically, there appear to be inconsistencies in the handling of funds, submission of receipts, management of budgeted expenses and the documenting of school assets."

The woman raised several issues with the board subcommittee investigating the allegations, including conflicts of interest in its make-up and that it appeared to be relying on Google searches for information, rather than legal advice.

Over the next three months, the parties exchanged correspondence and met in March this year, as part of the process.

The deputy principal's claimed she had a wide-ranging mandate to organise the camp - the school had previously paid expenses for non-student attendees, such as parents and helpers, and this had never been questioned.

She accepted she'd forgotten to repay the cost of her husband and daughter's WOW tickets, but said she had not sought re-imbursement for things she had paid for with her own money.

She said she now realised this was wrong and was happy to pay the cost of the tickets.

However, in August, the board said it would terminate her employment.

It said: "Our fundamental concern [is] that you appear to hold a view that community fundraising money for the Wellington trip was yours to spend as you saw fit and that is somehow different to 'school money'.

"We do not accept that community fundraising money is anything other than school money and so you had a professional obligation to handle it with integrity. It was improper to make a decision to spend this money to benefit your family [as opposed to students]."

Re-instatement can be achieved

The woman then turned to the authority, seeking an order for her to be re-instated to her former role.

She said she had a wide-ranging mandate to organise the school camp and had done so without any specific school policy on how funds were meant to be managed.

She believed her decision for the school to pay for her family to attend as volunteers was justified and in line with other decisions she had made, but that she wouldn't do the same again in the future.

Authority member Peter van Keulen said that, on the evidence, it seemed unlikely that the board had adopted a fair process for dismissal.

This was because the board did not have a set policy for handling school funds, the board chair had a conflict of interest and there were key people not interviewed as part of the investigation.

The subcommittee also did not record its meetings, as required under the Public Works Act.

Van Keulen found that the board had dismissed the woman, in part, because she raised concerns about the disciplinary process the board undertook.

"Whilst [her] conduct in connection with WOW tickets for her family in 2019 and 2023 might leave some residual concerns for the board, for the reasons I have set out above, I do not believe these concerns are sufficient to count against re-instatement."

He said the relationship between the deputy principal and the school had been damaged, and re-instating her would be significant.

"Weighing all of the above, it seems likely to me that re-instatement might create some difficulties, given the circumstances, but I believe that it can be achieved successfully and, given my findings in this matter, I equally believe that re-instatement should be ordered.

"Re-instatement is both practicable and reasonable."

The woman would return to her role, pending a proper investigation and a separate ruling from the authority for a personal grievance she had raised against the school.

Neither the woman nor the school wished to provide a statement, when approached for comment.

This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.