Meth smuggler and former childcare worker cleared to teach

Haley Jacobs.

Disciplinary tribunal identifies mitigating circumstances in case of ‘talented’ educator

A former childcare worker and P addict caught smuggling methamphetamine into New Zealand has been cleared by her professional body to return to the classroom.

Haley Carol Jacobs, 37, was sentenced last year in the Auckland District Court to six months' home detention for importing bags of P from her South African homeland.

She lost her job and her husband and feared that she had blown a promising early learning career.

But now, a New Zealand Teachers Council disciplinary tribunal has concluded that her "very serious" offending should not result in her being struck off the teaching register.

There were "mitigating circumstances", the tribunal found, including that she had admitted her offending and took responsibility for it from the start.

The tribunal also found no evidence suggesting her illicit drug-taking and smuggling took place in her capacity as a teacher, or that it affected her job.

"There is evidence that [Jacobs] is a talented teacher, and plainly she had the support of her former colleagues and the parents of children whom she has taught," said the decision.

"In considering this matter we have remained very conscious throughout of our obligations, and in particular of our responsibility to protect the public - especially school-aged children - and uphold the standards of the profession.

"It is not without considerable debate and reflection that we have been able, ultimately, to reach the view that we do not need to order the cancellation of [Jacobs'] registration as a teacher in order to discharge those responsibilities in this case."

The tribunal censured Jacobs but allowed her to teach again, subject to a series of two-year conditions, which include that she advises any potential employer of her conviction and the disciplinary proceeding; that she not take illegal drugs; consent to drug tests; continue with a Salvation Army programme; and provide updates to the Teachers Council.

Customs intercepted a package from Cape Town at the International Mail Centre in Auckland on July 24, 2013, that contained 8g of the drug in four small plastic bags inside a CD case. When customs officers searched Jacobs' Christchurch home, they found three glass P pipes and eight empty point bags with methamphetamine residue.