Teacher 'approved' election poster vandalism

A teacher allegedly looked on and gave the "thumbs-up" as two of her pupils defaced a National Party billboard yesterday.

The sign, on State Highway 2, south of Hastings, featuring Tukituki candidate Craig Foss and party leader Don Brash, was left with pieces cut out of it and abusive messages scrawled over it in marker pen, including racial comments directed at Mr Brash's Singaporean wife.

Police today confirmed they had been called to the incident, and had spoken with a female teacher and students from Te Kura Kaupapa Maori O Ngati Kahungunu Te Kura Kaupapa of Ngati Kahungunu, who were in the area collecting flax.

Hastings Police Senior Sergeant Ross Smith said the teacher "wasn't overly co-operative".

The names of the two students involved, believed to be in their mid-teens, were to be forwarded to police youth aid, who would make a decision over possible charges.

A decision over charges against the woman had also yet to be made, Mr Smith said.

One of the passersby, who reported the vandalism to police, said he was disgusted by the teacher's obvious support of the two students' actions.

"The woman was standing there giving them (students) the 'thumbs up'. It blew me away," he said.

And he claimed: "The school teacher then goes off at the police -- her language was disgusting. They're never going to know better if that's what the school's teaching them."

The school's head Cordry Huata said he was "extremely disappointed at the incident", which he said reflected badly on the school and its students.

However he said the teacher involved had not condoned the students' actions, and had not known they had left the main group until police arrived.

Mr Huata said the teacher had tried to stop police from talking to the students as the kura had a policy of seeking parental permission before its students could talk to police.

The students admitted cutting the sign, but claimed the graffiti was already there.

On his way to Napier today for a lunchtime walkabout Dr Brash said the vandalism "showed how far standards had slipped in the education system under Labour".

"Those teaching our kids should not be force-feeding them political ideas," he said. "This sets a terrible example."

- HAWKE'S BAY TODAY