But was there advice from the Ministry?
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Wellington, March 22, 2022
Schools have the legal right to refuse admission to a violent child, the New Zealand Principals Federation President Perry Rush has said.
It was recently suggested that schools could consider defying Education Ministry directions to enrol children who have been kicked out of other schools for violent behaviour until they were confident that the concerned children would receive sufficient support.
No legal battle
Mr Rush said that the Federation has received preliminary legal advice, saying that the Ministry cannot direct a school to enrol a child without fully considering the impact on health and safety. He said that the Federation would further develop the legal opinion but it did not want to get into a legal battle.
“We would be reluctant to see this going to court. That is not what we want. We want the government to take seriously the challenges that Principals confronting us and what our young people are experiencing,” Mr Rush said.
He called for a solution to the issue.
“There needs to be some resolution in order to ensure that these young people are well cared for, well supported with resources and that there are alternative pathways that might mean that the young person can be kept in education without placing at risk students.”
Caught between Acts
Mr Rush said that Principals were caught between the requirements of the Education Act and the Health and Safety in the Workplace Act and that Federation was not trying to make it easier for schools to refuse to enrol difficult children.
“What we really want is for there to be a situation where there are resources, where there are pathways within the schooling system that means we don’t have to get to the point of suspending young people. That is the sort of positive, proactive, nurturing system that caters for young people in crisis and we currently don’t have that system in place,” he said.
Advice not seen
Deputy Secretary of Sector Enablement and Support Katrina Casey said that the Ministry had not seen the advice that the Federation had received.
“If a school decides to exclude a student, that will not be a decision they have taken lightly – often the exclusion comes following a period of behaviour, and despite the attempts of the school to address the behaviour. Use of the power to direct is a very last resort and one that is used very rarely,” she said.
-Published under a Special Agreement with www.rnz.co.nz.
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