The Star: July 27, 2023

Thursday July 27 2023 The Star
• By Amy Wiggins
A PRESCHOOL teacher hit
a child on the head with her
knuckles after he refused to
share a toy in what has been
described as an “extremely
serious and concerning
incident”.
The Teachers’ Disciplinary
Tribunal found Nora Fa’amelea
Lepaila guilty of serious
misconduct and censured her.
Lepaila admitted she hit a
3-year-old on the head with her
knuckles after he repeatedly
refused to share a toy while the
children were playing outside
in August 2020. Lepaila was
working at Tino e Tasi Preschool
in Aranui.
She held the boy’s hand and
walked him inside. Once inside
she hit him on the head with her
knuckles.
The tribunal determined
Lepaila be censured, have an
annotation attached to her name
on the teacher’s register for two
years and complete a course in
managing child behaviour.
“The hit made a knocking
noise that was heard by Teacher
A, who did not see the incident
but was also in the Lupe room,”
the report said.
The child was visibly upset
and on the verge of tears. He told
another teacher Lepaila hit him.
Lepaila, a registered teacher,
did not defend the charges. She
told the tribunal it was a “brief
and isolated incident” and she
was aware it was misconduct.
The tribunal was told in
Lepaila’s 10 years of working as
an early childhood teacher, she
had never behaved in this way or
been the subject of disciplinary
investigation.
Lepaila said she was passionate
about teaching and felt
privileged to help guide the next
generation. She said she had
already enrolled in an online
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Teacher censured for hitting child
course to help her learn
ways to deal with difficult
behaviour.
The tribunal found it was
done as a form of punishment
and pointed to the fact the”force
used” was enough for another
teacher to hear a knocking
sound.
The tribunal noted it has
commented many times that
the use of force for corrective
purposes will generally amount
to serious misconduct.
It described the case as
PUNISHED:
The Teachers’
Disciplinary
Tribunal
found
preschool
teacher Nora
Fa’amelea
Lepaila guilty
of serious
misconduct
after she hit a
child.
PHOTO: RNZ
“an extremely serious and
concerning incident”.
“It is never acceptable
to hit a child, and teachers
must find a way to deal
with stressors, and/or
challenging behaviours, which
does not in any way involve
force. The respondent is required
to find strategies in situations
like those which occurred in this
case, and never resort to lashing
out as a solution,” the ruling
read.
– NZ Herald
NEWS 7
Rules for
Airbnb
operators
NEW RULES for how Airbnb
accommodation can operate in
the city have been released.
The new rules came into place
on Monday following the release
of a city council District Plan
change, aimed at managing the
impacts of the increasing number
of properties available on Airbnb.
It comes after Airbnb lodged an
appeal to the Environment Court
following public consultation on
the plan change, which sets rules
on accommodation in different
zones of the city.
Under the new rules, released
by the Environment Court,
hosted visitor accommodation for
up to eight guests will generally
be a permitted activity in most
residential and rural zones. This
means property owners who live
on site and rent out rooms will
not need resource consent, provided
they don’t have more than
eight guests per booking.
But they are required to notify
the city council and keep a record
of the number of nights they
rent rooms out for. In residential
zones, houses or units where the
owner does not live on site can be
rented out for a maximum of 60
nights per year without needing a
resource consent.
•For the full list of rules, visit ccc.
govt.nz/guestaccommodation
free
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