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Allegations
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The Kapiti teacher
acquitted of sex charges involving former pupils has been reinstated at the
small rural school where he used to teach. Michael Neville and
representatives from the school met yesterday to decide the future of his
employment. The Dominion Post understands he will be back in the classroom
when school starts next year. The school cannot be
named to protect the identity of the complainants. Mr Neville was
suspended after being accused of indecent assault by four former pupils
between 1999 and 2003. After an eight-day
trial in Palmerston North District Court late last month, a jury found him
not guilty. He has made it clear he
wants to return to the school and continue teaching. He would not comment
yesterday on the outcome of the meeting. The chairman of the
school's board of trustees said it would be inappropriate to comment but an
announcement would be made next week. He wanted to portray the school
"in the best possible light". One parent told The
Dominion Post last week that several families were planning to remove their
children from the school if Mr Neville was reinstated. "The whole school
is falling to pieces. The roll has dropped dramatically. I know two families
at least who will have to move." She said that, despite
the not-guilty verdicts, some parents had decided that having Mr Neville back
at the school would be too difficult for the children, some of whom had been
told he had done bad things. "It's tearing this
beautiful little school to pieces. Let's move him off to another school
instead of putting him in front of these kids. They won't understand." Mr Neville said he was
aware of one family that had left, but the support of the rest of the
community had been huge. He was still feeling
buoyant about the acquittal. "The community has been amazing. It's been
really tremendous. They haven't backed away from us at all." |
