A Waikato high school has gone into damage control after an email about an alleged case of family violence was accidentally sent to students.
The school, which the New Zealand Herald has chosen not to name, confirmed it was working with "outside agencies" to provide wraparound support for one of its students when the incident occurred. The administrative blunder led to the email being sent to all Year 13 students instead of a teacher.
"Last Thursday, an email was received in school from an external agency to ensure that a vulnerable student was provided the necessary support she needed," said the principal.
"Unfortunately, as a result of human error, this email was accidentally forwarded to a cohort of students in our school. We sincerely apologise to the student involved."
The mistake was instantly recognised and steps immediately made to try to retrieve and delete the email.
"As principal, I put steps in place to mitigate the situation, which included suspending emails and deleting the specific email.
"This error resulted in us reviewing the processes within our school to prevent such a mistake happening again."
The school worked closely with outside agencies to ensure support was provided to students during times of stress or crisis.
Waikato police were investigating the alleged domestic violence.
Detective Inspector Karl Thornton, head of the Waikato Family Safety Network, said: "The manner in which this victim's details were shared with fellow students is extremely unfortunate.
"While steps are under way to ensure such a mistake can't happen again, the priority for all the organisations now is to ensure the student receives any support and services necessary," Mr Thornton said.
He accepted it was a result of human error.
The family safety network, which was recently set up, is a collaboration of government and non-government agencies which helps to respond to incidents of family violence.
Mr Thornton said that as a new, innovative initiative, the network was happy to work with schools or any other organisations "who may like advice on how to improve processes regarding student safety and welfare".
- Belinda Feek of the New Zealand Herald
