Katikati College asks for Ministry of Education help for 'complex' employment matters

The board at Katikati College has sought governance support from the Education Ministry. Photo / File

Katikati College's board of trustees has asked the Ministry of Education to appoint a statutory manager to help it deal with some "complex employment matters".

College board of trustees chairman John Schnackenberg said in a statement the board decided last week to seek Ministry of Education governance support for "some complex employment matters".

"In this capacity, the board welcomes a ministry-appointed limited statutory manager (LSM) who will work alongside the board to address these matters.

"This will be an appointment at the governance level, with the day-to-day operations continuing to be the responsibility of the principal," he said.

"It would not be appropriate at this point to go into the issues that led to the board making this decision as we do not wish to pre-empt the work of the LSM," he said.

"We hope to have more to share on the timing of the appointment later next week."

Schnackenberg said college staff and the school community were informed last Friday of the board's decision.

"It should be noted that the college is continuing to provide a high-quality education to our students, which remains our core focus," Schnackenberg said.

Katrina Casey, the Education Ministry's deputy secretary sector enablement and support, said the ministry and the NZ School Trustees Association had been supporting the college's board of trustees to manage a range of issues

"Katikati College's board has now asked for more formal support and we are working through this and assessing whether an intervention is needed," Casey said.

"At this time a limited statutory manager has not been approved or appointed.

"Should a decision be made to intervene we will work with the board to ensure the school community is informed about what an intervention would look like, and minimise disruption for students."

Casey said most schools operate successfully but a small number develop areas of concern that they cannot resolve without outside help.

"We always work with schools to support them to resolve problems themselves, and only intervene as a last resort. Where we do step in, an intervention aims to bring expertise and a fresh perspective," she said.

The college's board of trustees and the ministry will be meeting next week to discuss these matters.