4 Sep 2014

Coach who let student strip suspended

8:20 pm on 4 September 2014

A coach at a private school in Auckland has been stood down for allowing a student to strip down to her underwear on a busy street in Rotorua while on a sports trip.

The girl is in the senior school at St Cuthbert's College and took off her clothes while surrounded by her football team on Fenton Street about 4.45pm yesterday.

A worker at Bike Barn who saw the incident said the girl was holding a sign that read "Toot for strip" and it went on for about 15 minutes.

Principal Lynda Reid said she is deeply disappointed by pranks which were "exceptionally misguided" and the school would conduct a thorough investigation.

Ms Reid said the experienced coach is in his mid-30s and had been vetted by police.

A decision on his future contract has not been decided, she said, but it appears that he knew the girls were going to have a prank, he had some idea of what it was, and saw it happening before putting a stop to it.

Ms Reid said the students involved are distressed and mortified, but there is no evidence that they were bullied into taking part. The team has been sent back to Auckland.