The Teaching Council is investigating a former school principal at Gloriavale after allegations were made that he failed to keep children safe.
(File image). Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
The Gloriavale Leavers Support Trust complained about Faithful Pilgrim to the council in August.
Trust spokesperson Liz Gregory said Faithful Pilgrim knew of offending by teacher Just Standfast - who later admitted a charge of sexual conduct with a child in 2019 - but did nothing about it.
Gregory said that particular offending happened in 2012, and the father of the victim claimed that at the time he was told by Faithful Pilgrim it was not Standfast's first offence.
"The leaders sent Standfast to their community in India for a few months, and then he came back and continued teaching in the school," Gregory said.
Gregory said it was not until a family member of the victim left the community and spoke to others about the abuse that he realised the legal repercussions of the offending, which then prompted an investigation and led to Standfast's conviction.
"[The family member] then went to the police and they started an investigation into Just Standfast."
Gregory said Standfast was teaching in the school until about two to three weeks before he was arrested by police.
She emailed the Ministry of Education on behalf of community members with concerns around Faithful Pilgrim allegedly ignoring the abuse multiple times but never got a response.
"What's frustrating is that it took a phone call to the police, three emails to the Ministry of Education, a phone call from the Ministry of Education and finally a Teaching Council complaint over an 18-month period to get any action," Gregory said.
"I find that unacceptable when we're talking about child safety."
Gloriavale Leavers Support spokesperson Liz Gregory Photo: RNZ/ Nathan Mckinnon
The Teaching Council confirmed it was investigating the complaint against Pilgrim. In a statement, the council said an investigation was taking place on behalf of the complaints Assessment Committee.
"We are unable to provide specific details about ongoing investigations or cases," the Teaching Council said in a statement.
"This is for the purposes of confidentiality, privacy and to ensure natural justice. When the investigation ends a report is submitted to the CAC, which is a panel of experienced teachers, for deliberation and decision."
Ministry of Education deputy secretary sector enablement and support Katrina Casey said they became aware of an investigation into allegations of inappropriate sexual contact by a Gloriavale teacher against a student in January 2018.
"We contacted the acting principal who confirmed the teacher had been stood down while the investigation was under way," Casey said in a statement.
"We also advised the acting principal of the NZ Teaching Councils mandatory reporting requirements."
She said they had been in contact with Gregory at the end of March this year, via phone, in response to allegations of alert level 4 lockdown breaches.
"We confirmed that we had contacted Gloriavale school and ECE and they stated they were complying with the rules. We also advised that any breaches of the lockdown were a matter for the police.
"We encouraged Ms Gregory to contact us again if she had other concerns."
Then later in August, Casey said they emailed Gregory about two weeks after she phoned the national enquiries line.
"In the 4 August correspondence Ms Gregory advised us that she had made a complaint to the NZ Teaching Council which we understand they are currently investigating."
Faithful Pilgrim's teaching registration expired in October. It is understood his son Abraham Pilgrim has taken over as principal of the school.
Gloriavale Christian Community was approached for comment.
Ex-member Virginia Courage said she was aware of school teachers who were known to have touched young girls inappropriately.
"It was just sort of common knowledge, I remember the girls talking about it but not knowing what to do," she said.
"There was never anything said to the children that if something was happening to them, here is what you should do."
Courage said when parents found out that Just Standfast was able to continue to teach following his conviction they were really upset.
"The leaders held a meeting, but the parents were told to be quiet.
"They weren't allowed to say how angry they were, they were told they had to forgive these people."
She said the leaders worked on a system in which victims were told to forgive their abuser.
"They get the abuser to say they're sorry and repent, and it's all over now and we don't talk about it and it never happened and it will never happen again."
Courage said the attitude was that 'children were safe now so there should be no more concerns'.
The Ministry of Education has been approached for comment.