A Rotorua teacher has been censored by the Teaching Council after leaving a two-year-old child in a ‘stifling’ hot day-care centre at the end of the day.
The teacher, Mary Aiavao, was employed as the head teacher at Rotorua's E-Babies Early Learning Centre.
In March 2017, Ms Aiavao was the last one in the centre when she locked up 3.30pm, failing to check all the rooms and leaving the child sleeping.
According to an “agreed statement” released by the Teaching Council, she was distracted by another child arriving to collect a stroller.
The child's mother arrived shortly afterwards, and after failing to get into the locked centre and calling, she got hold of another staff member.
She was able to get into the centre with the help from a member of staff from a nearby primary school.
The child was not harmed. However, according to the statement, the room was ‘stifling’ hot.
The teacher handed in her resignation the nexy day and the centre received a complaint from the child’s parents, which Ms Aiavao responded to with an apology letter.
In a written statement to the Education Council, Aiavao said she felt "disappointed and ashamed that I did not do my last check on the day more thoroughly". But she also said the teacher that had put the child to sleep should have woken him up before leaving.
"Forgiving myself has been the hardest part of this journey, as I am still reliving this situation over and over again," she wrote.
"I know that this doesn’t absolve me or make it OK… The situation continually plays on my mind and makes me review and reflect on my practices consistently to ensure that a repeat will never happen again."
Aiavao was censured by the Teaching Council Disciplinary Tribunal for serious misconduct and must show the tribunal decision to employers for the next 18 months. She must also pay some of the tribunal's costs.
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