Cambridge High teachers received payouts

1.00pm

Two Cambridge High School teachers received payouts from the school of $9000 and $10,000 following personal grievance complaints.

The names and circumstances surrounding the payments in the past year are confidential but the Waikato Times understands they were addressed by former Judge Dame Augusta Wallace in her report into bullying at the school.

The Education Review Office (ERO), in its special review report earlier this month, said it had interviewed a "significant number of current and former staff" who described trauma in their dealings with senior management.

ERO said the board did not fulfill its good employer responsibilities in respect to the complaints.

A more detailed report due out next month is expected to report more fully on the complaints.

Former principal Alison Annan has said the school had five personal grievances since 1992 and that there were five payouts -- "the largest $10,000, fully covered by insurance".

Peter Dornauf, a former part-time teacher at the school, said he won his case against the school in the Employment Court and was paid $100 expenses. He was not reinstated and has since moved on to St Peters School in Cambridge as an art history teacher.

Mr Dornauf said some teachers were treated shabbily. "It's like we were cattle, you were a number."

Meanwhile, Mrs Annan has been given until today to respond to ERO's draft report, which was released to the board last month before it was sacked.

- NZPA