“By this time I was just broken,” Says Mowat in Boys' High Employment Case

31 March 2025. This article: Continued coverage of the former Christchurch Boys' High teacher's Employment Relations case against her former employer.

Amy Keir completed her draft report in December 2018, says Susan Mowat. But it was in March 2019, that board members Watson and Caldwell informed her that it had not pointed to her.

Keir had investigated a series of anonymous letters that had been sent to the board, principal Nic Hill and elsewhere. Mowat believed Hill had she was the author.

Mowat says Keir raised concerns of a backlash towards her.

Once the investigation was over, Boys’ High did not mention it to her.

By the time she discovered Nic Hill’s complaint (September 2018), she had “lost all faith and trust in CBHS” and was of the mind to leave the school.

Before the new school year (in 2019) she told Steve Fraser she was struggling and was a target of Nic Hill after receiving more letters from him.

For Mowat, she realised she needed to look after herself and had no faith in the anonymous letters investigation.

On or around 5 February, Mowat was “petrified” her “name was muck” based on the comment made in the Keir report, and fearful of a backlash.

Mowat had thought only she and Hill knew about the investigation. Then she learned that one or more others knew, and that the board and senior leadership had parts of the anonymous letters.

She felt she was in an unwinnable situation - she couldn’t clear name, and show she wasn't the author of the anonymous letters. She couldn’t resign, because this could indicate she was the author.

Mowat sought counsel from the school Head of Guidance, Mika. She also intended to meet Hill to deescalate the situation and improve the employer/employee relationship.

Mowat had sent a letter on 16 February to seek a resolution to the dispute.

“By this time I was just broken,” says Mowat. The NZR is not clear here of the timing.

Mowat indicates she was 2 out of 10 on the depression scale.

On 14 March, she met with board members Leanne Watson and David Caldwell and told them everything.

She told them that in November the previous year she had gone to Police and asked them to “put a thing” on the phone as Nic Hill lived nearby. This was a personal line between she and the Police.

Watson and Caldwell told her to go to Steve Fraser and that their role was to govern the school, not to deal with this stuff.

At a meeting of the board (which may have included just Watson and Caldwell), her 16 February letter was not referred to and Leanne Watson gave her what Mowat considers to be her first warning.

On 20 March 2019, she received a letter, says Mowat. But it did not match what was read out to her at the board meeting.

At the hearing, Mowat said [regarding the anonymous letters] that it’s “really hard to shift [responsibility]- that’s really why we are still here today.”

On 12 March, Mowat received the Keir handwriting report. But says Watson and Caldwell were unwilling to discuss it on the 14th. This meeting, says Mowat, never felt right to her.