Matthew Taylor

December 5 was my last day of school. Ever. I’m not sure how to describe the feeling of satisfaction I got from being able to leave a place with my head held high, integrity in check, and on my own terms; not having been suspended, or baited into leaving by people who would rather no one challenged things as they are. It feels good to have shaken things up a bit, to get people to question things, and to hopefully cause change in some small way. Just before I had left, someone said that I had divided the teachers over the photography incident. And that’s okay with me.

I thought there was a couple of interesting things I’d share, now that threats of suspension are off the table.

First, there’s a detail that I’ve missed from all the posts about my old high school… my dad works there. This obviously created very interesting situations, like a blog post being printed out and shown to him by a deputy principal, as if he should convince me to take it down because it was inconvenient for the school. I have a huge amount of respect for him for standing beside me, with the view that I was old enough to make my own decisions, even if he didn’t understand, or agree with them (and that a school really has no jurisdiction over outside of school speech). What annoys, angers, and frightens me is that I know there are parents out there, who in the same situations would immediately side with the school.

—

On the Monday morning after the photography incident, I was given a green piece of paper by my deputy principal, a blank incident report to complete, typeset in Comic Sans as if to emphasise its ludicrousness. I didn’t fill it in, because it was apparent I was going to be cross-examined over whatever I wrote down, while the teacher’s incident report would be treated as the truth… the holiest of untouchable, unquestionable statements. I kept the form though.

On November 1, after my photography panel was finished, I submitted my own incident report after it appeared to me like a teacher was trying to bait me into reacting to them, yelling at them, or more.

I gave it to my deputy principal who gave it to the principal, and I never heard about it again. Clearly incident reports are a one way street.

On Wednesday P6 I had design. The computer suite is my classroom. S slammed the door that leads to the computer suite from the office. She spoke loudly on the cordless phone in front of her class about me. I could hear from the other room. She said, among other things, that she thought I wasn’t allowed over there, meaning the art department, until I said sorry to her. This would be unheard of in other departments, e.g. if a physics teacher had a problem with me she would not be allowed to hijack my education in chemistry. Today, Thursday P2 I had design again. S slammed the door that leads to the computer suite from the office again.

Sending disparaging emails to other staff about me, and putting lies in quotation marks to make them appear like the truth is also completely inappropriate, unacceptable, and hurtful.

Here is what actually happened on the quad. “Can I please talk to you?” “Ah, not at the moment Matthew.” “Did you say that you didn’t want me in your class?” “Ah, I didn’t make that decision, you need to go and… this is from [the HOD]. I’ve had to provide a statement about what happened.” “I just-” “Matthew.” “I just want to hear you say that you know that panel is due tomorrow and you’re not doing anything about it. Do you want me to pass?” She says nothing, enters the office, and I follow to go to the board room. I say “that’s all I needed to hear.”

Submitting a scathing personal attack and character assassination about me, that is full of lies, disguised as an incident report is hurtful.

Blackmailing me for an apology in exchange for her help is also inappropriate.

These events are not acceptable and are upsetting. Where is my apology?

—

I learnt two big lessons after all of this. You will never know all of the things going on behind the scenes, and that you will find support in unexpected places.

—

The other thing that seemed best left unspoken about until after I left was that I learnt that four builders were kicked off a building site at school last year because of their police checks. I think it’s pertinent to disclaim, based on what I said above, that I didn’t learn this through my dad. One of the offences was unlawful sexual connection with a young person aged under 16, and my principal wasn’t happy that I knew. From what she said, it sounds like they were working during school hours: “people… who are working on our building site during school hours, even though they’re not working directly with young people… have to be police checked”.

She said that that sort of information is highly confidential, and was an invasion of privacy of those workers, that I knew they were kicked off and why. I didn’t (and still don’t) know the names of who was kicked off the building site, just that obviously processes in place failed, e.g. waiting for police checks to come back before people are allowed to work at a school. I think it’s interesting that in a school with reasonably young students attending, the parents weren’t informed. I would even argue that it would be in the interests of the parents and students, especially considering the under 16 part of the offence, that a lack of oversight like this was disclosed to them.

I wonder if the Ministry has to be informed of situations like these. If anyone finds Hekia, could you please ask her for me?

—

Before prize giving, I told someone at work that I was ready to leave school. She asked if I thought I had questioned the right things.

Are there right things to question, or should we always doubt those who say that they have found the truth?

^{Image credit: Bart Everson}

This post relates to the small problem that turned into a big problem last Friday.

“Can I please talk to you?”

“Ah not at the moment Matthew.”

“Did you say that you didn’t want me in your class?”

“Ah, I didn’t make that decision, you need to go and… this is from [the head of department]. I’ve had to provide a statement about what happened.”

“I just-”

“Matthew.”

“I just want to hear you say that you know the [photography] panel^* is due tomorrow and you’re not doing anything about it… Do you want me to pass?”

She doesn’t say anything, and walks into the office.

“That’s all I needed to hear.”

^{*In NCEA Photography you work throughout the year on a panel of work (three big boards stuck together) that’s worth 14 credits. This is very important as, in simple terms, you need 14 credits to get University Entrance in a subject, and 60 credits overall to pass the year.}

—

It is a Monday morning. There are four people in the school board room. My deputy principal, E, asks if I remember last time.

She’s referring to when she wanted to talk to me about this blog post (i.e. pressure me to take it down), but ended the interview before it started when I told her I was recording the conversation on my phone. She said I needed her permission. I told her I didn’t.

She says that she doesn’t want me to tape this conversation, but she’s happy to have it taped as long as she gets to tape it, keep the tape, and transcribe it. Today, two days later I am told that this transcription has still not occurred.

E has a statement from my photography teacher, S. I ask if I can read it. “No you can’t sorry.” Not before I give mine. I wonder if this complies with the Privacy Act.

She asks me to tell her about Friday period six.

—

I asked S to unlock the computer suite, and if she had the camera card reader.

S told me she didn’t know if one of her keys would unlock the filing cabinet the card reader is now kept in. She said she could check soon. She gave me her keys. The door I wanted her to unlock was three steps from where she was standing.

I unlocked the computer suite. I walked through the art office to her classroom. She seemed busy, like she wouldn’t be able to find the key right away, if it turned out she actually had it. To save everyone time^* and because of multiple reasons I didn’t think getting the card reader myself would be an issue, I walked over to the filing cabinet and tried one key. It did not fit.

^{*Our class time with S has been cut because of budget issues. Previously I have been to S’s office to ask her to look at my work and been told that I was interrupting her only hour of non-contact time with students that day, and on another occasion that she needed to send a really important email.}

S walked into the office and overreacted. She was angry I was trying to get the card reader. I made a comment that she should stop being bipolar. This was a poor choice of words. I meant that she gave me her keys and then switched to being angry about me using them just like that. At this point she had a door behind her–an exit.

We argued for a few minutes.

She showed me a sign on a door to the office that said ‘staff only’. I said that this is never enforced and everyone goes into the office, alone or otherwise, to walk through, or to get things. As there were other students in the computer suite, I pushed the door closed. At this point she had the door to the other art room behind her–an exit. Doors in schools are designed so that people can always exit rooms, and even if I wanted to (I didn’t and wouldn’t) I could not physically block the three doors several metres apart from each other in the office, at the same time. At no point did S attempt to leave the room.

I said that I was fed up with stupid policies and asked why the card reader was locked away anyway. I asked about a new policy which based on a single incident that only art students are allowed in the computer suite (previously others have been allowed e.g. a friend I have a study period with, with no issues).

It was apparent I was not going to get the card reader.

—

“At the moment she doesn’t want to be alone with you,” E says.

I have known this teacher for five years. I have never been violent towards anyone. S knows this. Context, context, context.

I ask, “is that her?” referring to that morning when she told me it wasn’t her decision that I wasn’t allowed in her class.

“She doesn’t feel safe.”

This hurts.

—

“Can I read what S said?”

“No… well I can read it out to you.”

“Matthew Taylor asked for my keys to unlock the mac suite at the start of P6, while I was sorting out my Y9 class, he also asked if I had a key to unlock the file cabinet in the Art staff room, as he needed the card reader, to which I replied I’m not sure, if I do I will have a look shortly.

When I walked into the Art office to get the equipment for my class, Matthew was attempting to unlock the staff file cabinet, without permission and with no staff member present.

He spun around when he was caught, I was shocked–”

I laugh. The hyperbole is dripping off the page already.

“–and said what do you think you are doing, he walked up to me and handed me my keys, I asked quite firmly what he thought he was doing [she actually said that what I was doing was highly inappropriate], he replied “can you stop” I said “I beg your pardon” as he was right up in my space [the room we were in was about 3 metres by 2 metres, even if I tried my best, I'm sure I would still have been “up in her space”], he replied “can you stop” I said ” I beg your pardon” as he was right up in my space, he replied “can you stop with the Bi Polar” again I said I beg your pardon! what do you think you are doing in here, this is a staff only area and you are trying to unlock the staff filing cabinet without permission.”

“She’s got a very good memory if she can remember word for word what she said.”

“I gave you my keys to unlock the Mac Suite. Matthew said ‘it was implied that he could go into the staff file cabinet, to which I said NO it was not. Matthew closed the door to the Mac suite, I felt very uncomfortable–”

“So you locked her with you?”

“I didn’t lock her in there. I closed the door because it’s inappropriate to talk like that in front of other students.”

“I felt very uncomfortable as he was in my space once again being very aggressive, using a very firm and aggressive snappy [snappy is her go to word to describe me when we don't agree on something, see the Facebook incident incident report, which she also wrote] tone. I opened the door and showed him where it has printed very clearly STAFF ONLY. He replied people come in here all the time, I replied no they don’t, people only go in here when staff are around, not un attended. He was being very rude and argumentative.

I told Matthew if he had a problem he needed to talk to [head of department], he kept asking for the card reader, I told him he needed to talk to [head of department] before that would happen, he said WHY, I replied because of what you just did.

He said why, and began shaking and was red in anger [I didn't realize this, but I blame adrenaline], and very firm in his tone with me, completely unacceptable, and he closed the door again”

“I suppose we have a problem in that you essentially… it was interpreted as being quite aggressive in there…”

“Well I’ve never been aggressive to staff before and we’ve known each other for five years so I think that’s an… overreaction and it’s a little bit of hyperbole.”

”He then said he was sick of this school and the stupid rules, “who said who has said other students cant come into the Mac suite”, I said he needed to talk to the HOD if he had a problem, he said “who said we cannot come into this office”, and “why do you lock away the card reader anyway”, I replied you need to talk to the HOD, as I am finding your tone very disrespectful, I don’t make all the rules, however I do follow them, you need to speak to the HOD if you have a problem. I opened the door and said you need to go in there. I was very uncomfortable, like he was trying to intimidate me, he asked rudely about the card reader, I told him he needed to wait and have a discussion with [head of department] about it, because of his actions and closed the door. I was very shaken; he was so very aggressive in his manner and really out of line.

Once I got my class sorted, I seen [head of department] and told her, she asked me to write it up and we agreed today was not the best time to confront him and we would leave it till Monday, due to the way we felt he would react and talk to [head of department].”

—

We’re about to leave. E has gone away and come back.

“Did you hassle S this morning?”

She’s holding another incident report.

—

From: [Photography teacher]
Sent: Monday, 29 October 2012 11:07 a.m.
To: [My deputy principal]
CC: [Principal]
Subject: Matthew Taylor

I have another incident form which i will give to you [my deputy principal] re Mattherw Taylor this morning at 9.45am, where he cut me off in the quad and confronted me and said “i want to here from you that you said i cannot do Art in the Art room”, to which i replied i did not say that, he kept going, its all written up, , so i turned and went to and knocked on [other deputy principal (we have lots)]‘s door to escape from him as i was not going to enter into a debate with him due to not feeling like i can trust him. He said”do you want me to fail”, which really hurt as i pride myself on the way i do my job and the results we get in our dept.
Cheers
[Photography teacher]

 

Incident report
Incident: Matthew Taylor Part 2
Date: 29/10
Statement: On the way to my classroom at 9.45 am, I seen Matthew Taylor.

He cut in front of me in the quad I said hi Matt

Matthew said I need to talk to you I replied sorry I carn’t do that at the moment

He said no I need to talk to you. Did you say I carn’t do Art to which I replied, No I did not say that, he then said “I want to here you say I cannot do it”, I said I never said that you will need to talk to [head of department] or [my deputy principal]. You realise the pannels are due tomorrow and you want me to fail, I was walking away from him at this stage & knocked on [other deputy principal]‘s door & walked in Matthew kept walking to the confrence room where he should have been

Once again his manner was not acceptable & saying I want him to fail is upsetting as I pride myself on the work I do & results we get in our dept.

See the top of this post for what was actually said. This email and incident report are examples of S putting things in quote marks and presenting them as the absolute truth, when, in reality, that is not what was said. This applies equally to the other incident report.

—

The plan is to come back in an hour and work, supervised, with S.

But I don’t feel up to it and don’t return to school. The new plan is to go after school and complete my panel, without help from S. Working outside of school hours has never been an issue for anyone in the past.

But, now it is:

[Head of department], [my deputy principal], [my geography teacher/a deputy principal] met
unhappy re him being in Art Suite unsupervised

The art teachers felt that this was not appropriate

—

That S feels unsafe around me (even though I am smaller than her) was mentioned at least six more times in the meeting.

”We’ve got a teacher who at the moment doesn’t feel safe with you.”

“Yeah but she’s not feeling safe.”

“But how do we solve the problem that she feels really unsafe?”

“…and she’s feeling safe enough to help him.”

“But she doesn’t feel safe.”

“Irregardless of being a professional is still the fact that at the moment she is still pretty angry and she feels uncomfortable.”

 

It was upsetting.

That afternoon I see the psychologist I had stopped seeing.

—

I work at home that night, and am allowed to go into school at 7:30am on Tuesday to print one last photo. The plan was to print with ink over some photos (referred to below as “do more to his panels”), but I decided against it.

Later in the morning [photography teacher] came and saw me saying Matthew needs to do more to his panels as she felt that they were not up to a suitable standard. I contacted Matthew to come in which he did and I said that he needed to acknowledge that his behaviour on Friday was out of line and inappropriate and he needed to say this to the teacher – [photography teacher] before she could help him to do further work on his panels. He thought about it but said that he could not do so and he went home.

—

In design, last period today, I hear the computer suite door slam. I didn’t need to see to know who slammed it.

I hear S say on the phone: “I thought he wasn’t allowed over here until he apologised.”

—

Being assertive and sticking up for yourself is not inappropriate. Writing a scathing personal attack on my character disguised as an incident report, however, is. Where is your apology to me?

Judge not lest ye be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.

^{Image credit: Linus Bohman}

“Hey… why are you out here?”

“Small electronics.”

“…?”

“Three camera card readers have gone missing. The immediate conclusion is someone must be stealing them, right, and the one camera card reader that’s left gets locked away–”

“Aren’t they like $20?”

“$16.30.”

“And it gets locked away?”

“In a padlocked filing cabinet drawer. I needed to use the camera card reader so when I asked to borrow her keys for the computer room I asked if I could have it. She’s all ‘I’m not sure if I have a key for that drawer–’”

“So… even she isn’t necessarily trusted with the camera card reader?”

“Apparently not. I open the room and go through the closet office to her give her her keys back.”

“The closet office?”

“It’s a small room that joins all the art rooms together. It says ‘staff only’ on the door but no one takes any notice of the sign. Anyway, I get to her door and she seems busy with her class, so I figure I’ll see if one of her keys opens the drawer because it’s going to take her a while to get her class started–”

“And when she does come she might try all of her keys and find out you need to get someone else to open it anyway?”

“Right. So I’ve tried one key when she comes in and throws a huge fit that I’m trying to open the drawer.”

“How huge?”

“She used the words ‘highly inappropriate’. We had a go at each other for two minutes. It’s like she forgot that she’s known me for five years, and you know, I’m probably just trying to get the camera card reader, as opposed to stealing all the other stuff of huge value they must also lock up in that drawer along with the $16.30 card reader.”

“Yeah… they all demand respect for themselves and the ridiculous policies they enforce but don’t know how to treat others properly… did you get the card reader in the end?”

“No, I came outside because I can’t deal with that bullshit… actually, can you go in and get my stuff? I didn’t grab it on the way out.”

 

While I was waiting the fire alarm went off.

“Please evacuate the building using your nearest fire exit.”

^{Image credit: Robert S. Donovan}

“Watch this.”

A friend slides her phone over to me.

I push play, and start watching a seven minute cellphone video of a parked car.

The car is not empty, though. There are three female occupants inside. And the car is surrounded by two dozen bystanders.

“Why don’t you say it to her face now?!”

This is a bullied schoolgirl’s father yelling through the windows.

A female voice is behind the camera. I guess the bullied girl’s mother.

“You’re not so tough now, huh?”

Someone gets the left passenger door open, and tries to drag the girl in the passenger seat out.

She kicks her legs free and locks the door.

“It would only take a few of us to tip them.”

There are cheers from the crowd.

“I wish you were my dad.”

This was a good promotion for ‘get your parents to intimidate your bullies.’

I wish it wasn’t.

I feel sorry for the girls in the car.

^{Image credit: Alan Cleaver}

It’s pretty sad when your principal thinks that getting drunk in a park is safer (and looks better for the school) than having a controlled, supervised after party, where alcohol isn’t provided.

It’s pretty sad when your principal thinks the appropriate venue for discussion of said decision is behind closed doors where she can bully you into submission.

And it’s pretty sad when a community organization that’s meant to be all about young people won’t support said young people when they try to do something the right way.

But at least if something goes wrong the school had done something! The community organization played no part in it! Their names won’t be spread through the newspapers!

Or will they?

Just some food for thought, Halswell Scouts and Dear Principal.

===

I tried. And it feels good.

^{Image credit: Christian Senger}

Need help? In New Zealand, you can call Lifeline on 0800 543 354 or Youthline on 0800 37 66 33

—

Alice says it best:

“I’ve realised my uncertainty was probably because I shared what the Hell incident has shown me is a fairly widespread dismissive attitude towards sexual crimes. It seems to me that unless an innocent virgin is raped by a stranger in a dark alleyway, sexual assault and harassment is often belittled.”

—

There’s a unit in year 12 PE where the seniors teach the juniors something PE related. Four years ago I was a year nine. That would make me about 13. That would also make the year 12s a lot bigger and scarier than I was.

I distinctly remember one afternoon of this coaching. The class was returning to the gym after being outside, and we were just by the door.

I felt a hand on the back of my neck. It was one of the year 12s. He said something about it being a good size for oral sex. Or something. English was his second language. I don’t remember the specifics, and that’s okay with me.

There were more than a few people around. No one else said anything. Being a “victim” of the bystander effect is confusing. It makes you second guess yourself. It makes you think you might be overreacting. It makes emotions you’re feeling even more confusing.

At the end of class I said something, to the teacher, just like you’re meant to. Unfortunately that doesn’t make it all magically go away.

I got to experience what it was like being a male on the receiving end of whatever you call what happened. I remember the teacher I told specifically saying to me she wanted to wait until the next day when one of the female deans was around. She said that she didn’t think it would be handled appropriately by a male dean. I believed her.

I don’t what the repercussions were for this person. I know it wasn’t suspension because the same teacher told me later that if I had a vagina instead of a penis this person wouldn’t be at school anymore.

I was asked whether I wanted to take part in a mediation-putting-things-right-type-thing. No thank you, I said.

There’s still work to do.

—

What’s even more confusing is when this isn’t the first time something like this has happened to you. In year seven someone thought it would be hilarious to jab me in the butt area with a pencil.

Is it me, you think.

But then you realize no, no, it’s not.

^{Image credit: wonderferret}

A plan for this month.

I’ve heard things said about part one of this post: someone said that I will get what’s coming for me when I’m applying for a job and a potential employer comes across the post. I disagree. I regularly consider the potential consequences regarding what I post online and it’s effect on my future. If anything, I would hope a potential employer would know that change does not happen by staying silent, and that freedom of expression creates a better society for everyone. If a potential employer doesn’t see it that way, perhaps that’s a good test as to whether we would be a good fit.

Of course, this person sharing their opinion was a teacher, wouldn’t have read the post, and perhaps feels threatened by the prospect of students having a voice that cannot be contained by the walls and threats of the school.

In any case, there’s not room for all of us to rescue animals for the SPCA.

—

Values (Part Dos)

I think that sticking up for your rights is important. I think that sticking up for yourself is important. I think that if you don’t stand up for your rights, you’re making it easier for them to be taken away altogether. I think that freedom from unreasonable detention is an important right.

—

Security personnel in malls are quite often unfriendly, unnecessarily aggressive and lack people skills. I would like to see statistics for how many tried to apply to be police officers, but for some reason failed.

Eg. At a Westfield Riccarton “talent quest” I was approached by a woman who worked for the mall and was scolded for taking (consensual) photos of people I knew solely because they were in the “backstage area”. For anyone familiar with how they set up their stage, you would know that the backstage area could also be considered “that open to the public, uncovered area in front of Kmart”. Later, possibly related, our group was approached by a security guard and told to not “cause any crap today”.

—

In December 2008, I was part of a separate group of four that were locked in a small room off of the car park at The Palms by security.

The “crime” for the other three people was returning to the mall to watch a movie after being told to leave for the day. The reason for being told to leave? Pushing a wheelchair that was already on an escalator up it and then down, and letting it go briefly on the way down. I was standing at the bottom of the escalator. I was never told to leave for the day, but apparently as I did indeed walk off the premises with one of the others, I had banned myself for the day too and should have known this.

After reentering the mall we were accosted by security at the ticketing counter, who now wanted to trespass us. I’m not saying reentering the mall was the best decision, but we had no intention of causing any trouble and just wanted to watch the movie we came to the mall to watch.

This is perhaps a good time to mention that we were all around 14-years-old.

One friend was physically grabbed on the arm to stop her from leaving. We were herded through to their security HQ, which today appears to be a Community Constable’s office. I resisted entering this office, but when several adults are surrounding you, it’s clear they have no problem getting physical, and your friends are already inside, there is not much choice involved in the matter.

If you are a visual person, here is a quality cellphone photo of where we were:

I am squashed in a corner behind a door that’s being guarded by the woman to the right of the photo. There are not enough seats for the four of us. There’s a table directly in front of us, dividing the room. The older man never leaves. Occasionally others enter, like the man writing out a trespass notice on the desk. The room is tiny, the walls are directly behind me, directly to the right of me, where the paper baskets are, and where the barred window is.

We were given no opportunity to leave, and I am sure we would have been prevented from leaving if we tried to. We were being held against our wills. We were not under citizen arrest, and the police were not on their way.

For some, maybe it seems like we deserved this, or that it doesn’t seem like a big deal.

But I felt, and still feel victimized. I regret not doing more to try to leave at the time.

To begin with, all of us refused to give our personal details. Many scare tactics were used to get us to comply. They threatened to call the police (maybe they did, but were told that the police had better things to do with their time) and all the schools in Christchurch to find out our names (1) schools weren’t open this day 2) even if they were, whoever answered would not be able to place a name to a physical description 3) they wouldn’t have discussed student details anyway).

I protested that I had nothing to do with the escalator and that it wasn’t clear to me that I was banned for the day. I repeatedly requested to view the security camera footage they were reviewing (or said they were reviewing) in the adjacent room, a request which was repeatedly denied.

A man, probably the manager, or person in charge this day came in and took photos of us on his cellphone.

I was taken outside by myself twice. Once to tell me they decided not to trespass me.

Even though I could go, I didn’t want to hang around outside alone, and I didn’t want to leave my friends.

The next time I was taken outside was to try to get me to tell them the names of the others – my response was that their refusal was their business, not mine. Another tactic used to get their names was “we need to see inside your wallets to see if you have stolen anything”.

Eventually, my friends gave up. They said their names, and were coerced into signing the bottom of the trespass notice. (If anyone’s curious, they try to look up your parents up to check the name you give).

And then, they were released.

—

My intention is to shine a light on what happens behind closed doors, sometimes probably with people much younger than we were at the time. The malls know that young people don’t know their rights, and are unlikely to stand up to big, rough, bullying adults, but they don’t care. It’s much more important for them to nab that group of kids pushing a wheelchair on an escalator.

Stand up for what you believe in. Because it matters.

—

Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2012 21:05:11 +1200
Subject: Trespass Procedure
From: Matt Taylor
To: info@ampthepalms.co.nz

Dear The Palms,

Have you changed your procedure, or does this sort of thing still go on?
http://www.matthewtaylor.co.nz/2012/08/16/that-time-i-was-nearly-trespassed-from-a-mall/

Matt

Values (Part 1)

I think that sticking up for your rights is important. I think that sticking up for yourself is important. I think that if you don’t stand up for your rights, you’re making it easier for them to be taken away altogether. I think freedom of expression is an important right.

In a practical sense, New Zealand schools have no one to be accountable to in regards to internal behavioral decisions. They also seem to think they have carte blanche permission to do whatever they like.

This is a problem.

The letter

Two years ago, in Year 11, a friend was required to write an apology letter to a teacher. Apology letters are meaningless tokens–coerced with the insinuation of further/alternative punishment if one doesn’t comply.

So we thought we’d have a laugh. We wanted to see what would be accepted as an apology letter, with the help of Google.

This was.

Facebook

I posted the above image to Facebook, unedited, with a facetious caption:

X’s sincere apology letter to X. Putting this on my CV under achievements.

Privacy settings restricted who could see it, and those who commented on the post said nothing nasty about the teacher involved. This wasn’t about the teacher. It was about the process of discipline at our school.

Here’s where the story should end.

But it doesn’t.

The next day, the school wanted the post taken down. Many reasons were thrown at me during an hour in two different offices, without merit. That I would ruin the teacher’s career, that the letter wasn’t sincere, that the model comment was defamation… I was threatened with suspension, even though the two staff involved, a dean and a deputy principal, didn’t have the power to make that call. Note that the letter had been accepted the day before.

I argued. Free speech. That even the police don’t have the power they were asserting. I didn’t believe that this post was causing a disruption to school so severe that my freedom of expression should be restricted. Their argument was that I should spend my time on something that mattered.

The end of day bell had rung, and I wanted to go home. It felt like the only way to get out the door would be to agree to remove the post from Facebook. And so I agreed.

I removed the post from Facebook that night, which was a mistake. I regret giving in.

I asked many people for advice over the weekend. The consensus was that the school’s argument was bullshit, but if they did suspend or expel me, my education would suffer.

I regret giving in.

Don’t make my mistake. Stand up for what you believe in. Because it matters.

—

I’ve tried to change the schools stance on social networking and freedom of expression immediately after the incident, and again this year. I was unsuccessful both times. Change is hard.

—

Also, this isn’t a dig at the staff involved. I assume the response would have been similar from any of the deans or senior management staff. That doesn’t make it right though, and illustrates an institutional misunderstanding of rights/the law/technology. Hopefully this post will help at least one person to have the courage to challenge these attitudes.

—

In the interests of fairness, here’s a note from the incident report about this… incident, verbatim, except for comments, and for names being removed:

Matthew was unwilling to accept any responsibility at all for his part played in the apology letter written to X or for putting it up on his face book page. Matthew argued that what he had done was not a school matter and that he had not done anything wrong, and was told that if X felt like it he could actually take it to the police as it was a deficatio [defamation] of his character, Matthew said ok I would rather it be a police matter than a school issue as it has nothing to do with the school, this was said to X and myself, that’s when I got X to step in.

And deal with him. He continued to argue that he had done nothing wrong and got quite defensive and rude and told X he would take it off his page when he got home but only if he asked politely [I said that if I was asked politely in the first place, my response might have been different], which X had been very patient with him, and we tried to get him to understand the seriousness of the situation, Matthew failed to understand that what he had done was not appropriate and he stood by his comment that it was sincere letter [I didn't say the letter was/wasn't sincere, but it shouldn't have been relevant to the situation.] and argued the fact and still failed to understand why it was a school issue. X told him once you put print anything about a teacher it becomes a school issue, especially as this was supposed to be a sincere apology letter he failed to accept it was a piss take until X said what do you think your dad would think if I gave him this letter and didn’t mention you had anything to do with it, he sat for about 2min in silence and then said I guess he would think it was a joke, X then said you have just admitted that it was not sincere, it went on for about 10 min before X said look if your not going to take this seriously I will take it to X [the principal, they said I would be suspended] it was only then he said he would take it off his face book page if X asked politely [see above].

Matthew was quite rude and snappy and had little respect towards us and for the matter.

Because I can get my full licence.

I posted a while ago about changes to the graduated driver licensing system in New Zealand. The changes weren’t advertised well. I ended up having to apply for an exemption for my full licence. The exemption form (PDF) contains stupid questions and you have to pay $27 for them to read your application.

Here’s what to write to get an exemption

Please provide details of the requirements you wish to be exempted from and why you wish to be exempt from them
The new age of 17 and six months to get a full licence (w/ approved course)
I understand that the exemption will apply from the [date I will have had my restricted licence for a year]

What have you done to mitigate the risks to road safety?
As of [x] I will have help my restricted licence for 12 months.
I have completed an approved course (cert attached)
I have not committed any traffic offending (including speeding or breaching licence conditions)

Question 5: What events have been occurred to make the legislated requirements unnecessary or inappropriate in your case?
Change of the age to get a full licence was not well publicized. If I had booked my licence test before the age changed, the new age wouldn’t have applied to me.

^{Image credit: Hobvias Sudoneighm}