Derek kept his cool

Press, 20 April 1982, Page 10

Derek kept his cool

PA ’ Wellington Jacqueline Kubatzki is proud of deaf-mute son Derek’s courage and coolness when he found himself locked into Newlands College on Saturday night. He did not panic, she said. Instead he pulled up two chairs and went to sleep knowing that someone would be back at the school next day. “He behaved very sensibly,” she said. “I am proud of him.” She praised the efforts of the police search team of 70 which scoured the Newlands area overnight after the boy was reported missing early on Saturday evening. He was found next morning in the college grounds

gazing at the helicopter called to assist with the search. Mrs Kubatzki said her son certainly was not lost. He had just gone for a walk on a fine day — something ,he enjoyed and often did. He went down to Newlands College,' one of bis favourite haunts, and w’ent inside to see a show. Somehow he got locked in, probably because he did not hear the call, “Is everyone out?” Mrs Kubatzki thinks her son found his way out in the morning by pushing hard on the crash bars of one of the foredoors. Derek, deaf since he was ’ six months old, attends the ' Hutt Valley memorial School’s deaf unit.