Principal forces boy to put dog bone in mouth

Janita Andrews

A Whangarei woman plans to ask police to charge a school principal after he forced her six-year-old son to grip a dog bone in his mouth for half an hour.

Janita Andrews is fuming after Morningside Primary School principal David Prchal was merely ordered to apologise to her after he made her son Judah put the bone in his mouth -- in front of his classmates -- as a punishment for biting a student during a lunch break.

"I've never experienced something so cruel... Putting a dog bone in his mouth is beyond me," Mrs Andrews said.

The incident occurred a fortnight ago.

Mr Prchal allegedly picked up the 15cm-long bone from the backyard of the school caretaker's house and told Judah that people only put food in their mouths.

Mrs Andrews has pulled her son, nine-year-old daughter Iolei and five-year-old daughter Flo from Morningside Primary School. She now plans to contact police because she is not satisfied with the board of trustees' decision that Mr Prchal send her a letter of apology.

The board will also send a letter of apology.

"It sucks. It's poor that he hasn't been punished," she said.

Mr Prchal has continued working at the school during the investigation.

Mrs Andrews was not satisfied with Mr Prchal's explanation that he had overreacted and did not know why he had made the boy put the bone in his mouth.

Health authorities say dog bones can carry infections through rotting meat, contaminants from the ground and bacteria from the dog's mouth.

The risk of infection depends on the person's susceptibility. The bone did not make Judah sick.

The six-year-old said he was not angry, but felt silly when his classmates laughed. "It tasted yucky, like dog spit," Judah said.

Judah's mother admitted her son was "tough" and that he had been in trouble before for biting children.

However, she said that did not warrant him having to put a bone in his mouth.

Morningside Primary School board of trustees chairwoman Mandy Taylor said the board met on Wednesday night to decide Mr Prchal's fate.

The board would also take steps to ensure a similar situation would not happen again. However, those steps were not to be made public.

"We treated this very seriously. The board are very concerned about a safe environment for the children," Mrs Taylor said.

She said the board had taken advice on how to deal with the matter, so were confident they had followed the right procedure.

Ministry of Education Northland manager Chris Eve said whatever action the school took was up to the board, as the ministry had no say in the governance of schools.

The Tai Tokerau Primary Principals' Association would not comment.

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE (WHANGAREI)