Ministry decision imminent
Intervention possible after claim teacher assaulted student and departures of top staff
Auckland’s troubled McAuley High School will find this week whether the Ministry of Education will intervene after the loss of two top staff and a police warning to a senior teacher.
Police Detective Inspector Colin Higson has confirmed that police investigated an alleged assault by a male teacher on a student at the Catholic girls’ school in O¯ta¯huhu on May 23.
“Police carried out a thorough investigation and a 61-year-old male was formally warned in relation to this matter,” he said.
The teacher, who taught Samoan language, was placed on leave soon after the incident, but about 200 students and parents protested at a board of trustees meeting in June, singing hymns to support a request for a Samoan-speaking teacher.
Students protested at the school during August with placards saying “No to Babysitters”, claiming fill-in teachers who could not speak Samoan were merely “babysitting” them.
Principal Xanthe Sulzberger, who was hired from a deputy principal role at Mt Roskill Grammar to lead McAuley from the start of this year, took “leave” in late August, and former long-serving principal Anne Miles is now acting principal.
Board of trustees chairwoman Joe Anne Tongotea said one of the two deputy principals resigned last month and her job was now being advertised.
“With regards to our principal Xanthe Sulzberger, she is currently away,” Tongotea said.
Ministry of Education deputy secretary Katrina Casey said the ministry had “requested to meet with the board and the Catholic Diocese during the week of October 15 to com- municate our preliminary decision regarding statutory intervention”.
A statutory intervention could range from appointing a limited statutory manager to work with the board, through to appointing a commissioner to replace the board.
“We recognise that McAuley High School is facing some challenges,” she said. “The principal contacted us in June about a matter involving a teacher at the school and asked for our support. That matter is now before the Education Council.
“While working with the school during this time, we recognised that the overall operation of the school was being impacted.
“We have been closely monitoring the situation and have been meeting with the board of trustees, most recently on August 31, to discuss our concerns and also what further support we can provide, including statutory support.
“The board has declined the offer of statutory support, stating that it had a plan of action to address the current issues. We asked the board to provide its plan to us to inform our decision-making regarding whether or not a statutory intervention was needed.”
Tongotea said the board “cannot comment on employment matters but can confirm that we take all matters relating to safety and wellbeing very seriously and liaise with appropriate organisations as relevant”.
“In the meantime we are doing everything needed to ensure that this does not impact on our students and the high-quality education that we provide. We as a board are completely confident our students are safe.”