By Jeremy Wilkinson, Open Justice reporter of 
Relief teacher Graham Reinheimer has been censured after claiming he was "baited" into having a conversation with his class of 15-year-old students about sex. File photo. Photo: NZME
A 68-year-old relief teacher who was recorded talking about his sexual escapades, including referring to his favourite sexual position as “doggy style,” has blamed students for baiting him into the conversation.
Graham Reinheimer was teaching a class of 15-year-old boys when he engaged in a conversation with a student that was overheard by several others.
According to a Teachers’ Disciplinary Tribunal decision released this week, the student asked him questions such as “what is your body count?” and “what is your favourite position?” to which he responded “30” and “doggy style”.
The student then asked Reinheimer a series of questions about the best place to have sex.
Reinheimer answered the questions by saying “one beep” to mean yes and “two beeps” to mean no.
Unknown to Reinheimer, one of the students recorded part of the conversation on his cellphone, where a student can be heard asking how old the teacher was when he had his “best female”.
“It was a long time ago. The woman I’m with at the moment, I mean, I quite like her,” Reinheimer replied.
The student who made the recording recalled talking to the relief teacher on the way to assembly after class and saying to him that “even in sex education class these things wouldn’t be said”.
According to the decision, Reinheimer responded saying, “I don’t remember” and “don’t tell anyone” and “keep it between me and the class”.
Four days later, that boy’s parents made a complaint to the school after hearing the recording on their son’s phone.
The school investigated and interviewed three students who overheard the conversation, before referring the matter to the tribunal.
According to those findings, Reinheimer told the school’s rector that he’d lost control of the class and failed to maintain professional distance. He subsequently removed himself from the school’s reliever list.
In submissions to the tribunal, Reinheimer said that the conversation with the students had “briefly transformed awkwardly into learner-led, candid banter”, and that he had encountered issues with student behaviour in the class before it occurred.
Reinheimer said he regretted the exchange and believed the students had “cyber-baited” him, a process where students will irritate or bait a teacher until they “crack”, filming the incident on their mobile to post the footage online and embarrass the teacher or the school.
One of the students said the conversation started off fun but quickly became weird, and that some of the comments made him feel uncomfortable, and that it felt as if Reinheimer was “bragging” about his sexual escapades.
Another student said the conversation made him uneasy and that, in general, it was inappropriate, strange, irrelevant, time-wasting and childish.
A Complaints Assessment Committee that prosecuted Reinheimer through the tribunal, on behalf of the Teaching Council, said his behaviour amounted to serious misconduct.
“Communicating with learners about very personal and sexual matters without a valid context is a listed example of conduct that will breach professional boundaries,” their submissions read.
“That the respondent took steps to be covert and conceal what was said afterwards suggests he should not have been engaging in such a conversation.”
The CAC said Reinheimer had an opportunity to model responsible behaviour, in terms of how and when to discuss sex appropriately, but chose instead to reduce the important topic to banter.
The tribunal found that Reinheimer had participated in the disciplinary process, displayed remorse and accepted he lost control of the class.
However, it found that he also tried to blame students for being disruptive, and baiting him into the conversation.
“We agree that this reflects the respondent’s failure to appreciate that, as the teacher, it is his responsibility alone to shut down or redirect the conversation,” the tribunal found.
The tribunal opted to censure Reinheimer, order him to complete a professional development course on maintaining professional boundaries and provide any future employer with a copy of the ruling.
*Changes have been made to this story to clarify Reinheimer was only speaking to one student after class when he said the conversation should be kept “between me and the class.”
* This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.
