Auckland teacher acted inappropriately with female student, swore and hit others with ruler

The teacher was employed at South Auckland's James Cook High School for four years. Photo / File

A teacher who called a teenage student outside of school hours, invited her overseas and made “inappropriate comments” to her will keep his registration to teach.

Imdaad Shah’s after-school phone contact with the young woman was more “clumsy” than “sinister”, and allegations he made sexualised comments toward her were not proven, the Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal ruled.

However, the technology teacher, who taught at James Cook High School in South Auckland between 2016 and 2020, was found guilty of serious misconduct in relation to a number of other allegations according to the tribunal’s decision, released last week.

He was censured, barred from teaching for four months and ordered to pay costs - a penalty the school’s principal believed was not enough.

The saga began when the student laid a formal complaint to the school against Shah.

She alleged he afforded her special treatment by asking her to remain behind after class “once or twice a month” and allowing her to skip class once.

The student also alleged Shah made comments to her of a sexual nature, and had invited her to visit Fiji with him.

She told the tribunal she fictionalised having a boyfriend in an effort to deter Shah’s alleged advances.

The girl further claimed he visited her at work on multiple occasions and told her to “keep it between us”.

The student said she gave Shah her phone number when he asked, on the pretext of an offer of employment for the girl’s mother at his family business.

But one evening he rang the teen and asked when she would next be at work, she claimed.

She also alleged Shah struck her on the leg with a ruler five or six times while at school and that he had also done the same to other students.

“I think he did it as a joke but I still thought it was something he shouldn’t be doing,” she said in evidence.

The teacher faced serious misconduct charges before the Teachers' Disciplinary Tribunal. Photo / David Clarkson

In May 2019, the student approached another teacher with concerns about Shah.

The teen accepted that prior to her raising her concerns, Shah had flagged her poor attendance and threatened to mark concerns on her record.

She denied this had motivated her to make allegations against him.

Principal Grant McMillan immediately launched an investigation and placed Shah on leave, but Shah resigned from the school before the investigation was complete.

The Complaints Assessment Committee (CAC) later laid a charge of serious misconduct.

Teacher made inappropriate comments, but not sexual

In response, Shah denied almost every allegation made by the student but accepted he visited her work, denying having prior knowledge that she worked there.

He also said that both his mother and his wife died in late 2018 and early 2019, respectively. The tribunal accepted it was a “very challenging period” in his life.

The tribunal found the student a generally truthful witness and that Shah was not. But that did not mean the CAC had met their burden of proof and a number of allegations weren’t proven.

The tribunal did not detail which specific comments it found Shah made, but it ruled the allegation he made sexual comments was not proven.

He did, however, make “inappropriate” comments to the student, which weren’t specifically detailed.

It found that Shah did ask the student to go overseas with him. In doing so, he breached professional boundaries, the tribunal said, but the invite may not have had a “sinister overtone”.

When it came to the allegation Shah visited the student’s workplace with the sole purpose of seeing her, the tribunal said it was unable to prove there was an improper motive.

It found Shah asked the student for her number and called her once. “We accept that the call had no valid educational purpose; albeit, in isolation, it presents as more clumsy than sinister,” deputy chairperson Nick Chisnall wrote in the decision.

The tribunal agreed with the CAC that Shah did keep the student back from class on her own on occasion.

It also found between 2017 and 2019, Shah regularly swore at his students. In the same period, the tribunal found he hit students on the leg with a ruler.

“Shorn of the sexual element, which we did not find proved, Mr Shah’s behaviour towards [the student] was ill-conceived, but lacked the kind of overtly sinister features that tend to make cancellation a foregone conclusion,” Chisnall wrote.

In addition to his censure and four-month suspension, Shah was ordered to pay $23,311 in costs and to undertake a professional development and mentoring programme.

His application for name suppression was declined.

Investigation too slow, penalty surprising - principal

James Cook High principal Grant McMillan said he was “surprised” Shah was not struck off.

James Cook High School principal Grant McMillan said he acted swiftly to instigate an investigation when the allegations were made. Photo / Alex Burton

“There is no place in teaching for anyone who betrays trust like this. The safety of students is always paramount for every school,” he said.

“It’s also disappointing just how long it takes the Teaching Council to actually process these things. Our school filed a mandatory complaint about this person’s actions just over four years ago.”

Shah declined to comment when contacted.

Ethan Griffiths covers crime and justice stories nationwide for Open Justice. He joined NZME in 2020, previously working as a regional reporter in Whanganui and South Taranaki.