Staff-only days to help manage pupil behaviour

A troubled city school is calling for two teacher-only days to help staff manage students’ behaviour, including physical threats, abusive language and racial abuse.

Newly-formed Mangakōtukutuku College opened last month but has been under fire since week one when a year 9 student was knocked out cold by a senior in the presence of teachers. Police were called in, one person was arrested and 20 students were stood down in over a week. Security guards now patrol the college. So far, principal Dr Thilo Govender has written letters to parents and caregivers, called an urgent meeting, continued working with the Ministry of Education, the PPTA Union, the New Zealand School Trustees Association, and the police, to address “serious concerns around school safety”.

As an added measure, Govender suggested doubling the number of teacher-only days. “To manage this and enable us to strategise how we tackle some of the worst behaviours we are seeing at school, the establishment board and I are calling for two teacher-only days” on March 15 and 18, she said in a special newsletter.

While many students had settled in at the new school, staff were finding it extremely difficult to manage “behaviour, attitudes, and in-school truancy rates”.

During the community meeting on February 22, the management team revealed 21% to 26% of junior students did not regularly attend class, $15,000 was spent on repairing vandalism and two major fights broke out between students in two weeks.

Parents, on the other hand, had safety concerns for their children. Some shared experiences of them being bullied or hurt.

In the newsletter, Govender said the school received support from many parents and was currently police-vetting those who wanted to support the school.

She urged others interested in volunteering at the school and supporting staff with managing students to get in touch by emailing volunteers@mkt.school.nz.

The Ministry of Education said it “is working closely with the school”.