Children's schoolbags at Manurewa West Primary in South Auckland. Photo: RNZ/Marika Khabazi
The Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal has censured a former primary principal for serious misconduct seven years after RNZ first raised questions about his use of school funds.
The tribunal ordered David Wallis to pay costs of $16,337 and cancelled his teacher registration.
The tribunal's decision said Wallis accepted charges of mismanagement and poor financial practices amounting to misconduct over a four-and-a-half-year period to his retirement in mid-2018, but denied he had misappropriated school funds.
The tribunal's Complaints Assessment Committee charged Wallis, who had been principal of Manurewa West Primary, following a mandatory report in 2019.
The charges included:
- Receiving wellbeing payments from the school, including a clothing allowance, funding for glasses, fitness/gym subscriptions and massages, without concurrence from the Ministry of Education;
- Receiving a $550 support payment to reflect his extra work demands at the end of 2016 without concurrence from the Ministry of Education;
- Receiving travel costs from the school, including business class travel, funding for his spouse to travel with him on school trips, and incidental allowances associated with a private trip to Hong Kong;
- Withdrawing funds from the school's bank account on two occasions in December 2014 and June 2017 for personal use and without the knowledge and approval from the school board.
The committee said Wallis knew that payments from the board required "concurrence", meaning approval of the Ministry of Education.
It said Wallis told his board in March 2011 how to account for the payments without an application for concurrence.
"Mr Wallis received approximately $6,299.00 in reliance on this advice from 2013 to 2017 with yearly Board approval, and with the exception of massages, these payments were recorded in the school's budget as 'Principal's Development Resourcing/Support Provisions'. All staff were able to claim for massage under a different code. Mr Wallis was aware that concurrence was required for these benefits," the committee said.
After an independent investigation, Wallis repaid the school for airfares and expenses for two holidays he took with his spouse following conferences in Australia and Singapore, it said.
The CAC submitted that Wallis' conduct separately or cumulatively amounted to serious misconduct, being "at the very least" financial mismanagement or poor financial management.
"The CAC allege that the airfares purchased for Mr Wallis' spouse on two occasions may amount to misappropriation."
The decision said that Wallis accepted his conduct amounted to serious misconduct and could be characterised as financial mismanagment or poor management.
He denied he had acted dishonestly or had committed theft or fraud.
"We have no hesitation in finding that Mr Wallis' conduct, both separately and cumulatively, amounts to serious misconduct," the tribunal said.
"Receiving, over four years, benefits or allowances which Mr Wallis knew required concurrence was a breach of his trusted position. The 2011 advice Mr Wallis wrote to the Board suggests he intended to continue to receive benefits that may have been difficult to obtain in accordance with Ministry requirements.
"Mr Wallis' conduct in travelling business class and using school funds to purchase fares (and claiming expenses for) his wife without approval or ensuring prompt repayment and accurate transactions within the school accounts, suggests a sense of entitlement and taking advantage of his trusted position.
"The sums involved were not insignificant, and in our view not so small, or their nature so commonplace as to be easily overlooked."
The tribunal said the charge of misappropriation was not proven.
The finding was made seven years after the Auditor-General's 2017 report on school audits raised concerns about Manurewa West Primary's spending on overseas travel and its board's failure to seek Ministry of Education permission for payments to Wallis.
At the same time, RNZ was inquiring into Wallis's spending.
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