By JO-MARIE BROWN
A distraught Taupo family have pulled their special-needs son out of a school after just five days, following a hate letter that has been attributed to a group of other parents at the school.
The family, who do not want to be named to protect their son, had sent the 8-year-old, who has an intellectual disability, to Wairakei School, 10km north of Taupo, because they hoped he would thrive in a country environment.
His special-needs teacher, who has taught him for the past two years and is fully funded by the Ministry of Education, transferred to Wairakei also and believed the boy was settling well.
But the boy's mother was shocked to receive a threatening letter three weeks ago, signed by "a group of parents".
The letter said other children at the school had enough needs without the boy being enrolled.
"Believe us we don't want him here, send him to a special school," the letter said.
"We want help for our children in the area, not white children that are badly behaved and need extra time.
"Go now before he gets a hard time."
The boy's grandfather yesterday said his daughter-in-law was so horrified she immediately removed her son from the school and has since re-enrolled him at his original school.
"We're just very sad that he's being picked on," his grandfather said.
"He needs opportunities in life. He doesn't need knocking."
The boy, who has the intellect of a 5-year-old, was not badly behaved and was not taking teaching resources away from other children at the school, he said.
"He's a delightful kid, but he's just very slow on picking things up.
"He's inclined to yell if he doesn't get his own way ... but his one-on-one teacher has got excellent control over him."
The family believed that the reference to white children might have been deliberately included by the letter's author to cast suspicion on Maori parents in the area.
Wairakei School declined to comment yesterday, although the boy's family said that the school had handled the situation brilliantly.
A meeting of all parents was called to try to track down the author and a letter from the board of trustees was sent home with pupils saying such actions were unacceptable.
"We do not blame the school. It's a vindictive person in the community who has caused pain for our family," the grandfather said.
Police have taken fingerprints from the offending letter.
The Ministry of Education said special-needs children were targeted in this manner from time to time but they were well accepted in most schools around the country.
Hate-mail aimed at 8-year-old boy
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