Schools under review

Education cheifs are set to intervene in the running of a Bay of Plenty school after complaints about the principal's leadership.

Education Review Office inspectors who visited Otakiri School, near Whakatane, were not confident the board could make recommended improvements without "significant external support".

Principal Geoff Livingstone said the review was "hard to talk about", but was trying to focus on the positives it contained.

He refused to say how many people had complained about him, other staff and the school, but a source said an ERO investigator mentioned up to 20.

They include the parents of a seven-year-old girl who claim a teacher accused their daughter of being a "a chocolate thief" after she accidentally took one too many fundraising boxes to sell.

The ERO said the experienced principal was well-supported by a hard-working senior management team, but the board's process for managing complaints had to be improved.

About 70 schools around the country are subject to intervention. Almost 30 have commissioners with the rest having limited statutory managers.

Meanwhile, Allan Rumble has been appointed acting principal at nearby Kawerau College after principal Steve Hocking agreed to stand aside while he was investigated.

The move comes a month after Hocking told the Herald on Sunday he paid the family of a former student to keep quiet about allegations he propositioned her and that he turned to drugs after falling into "a dark hole" in his personal life.