School defendants missing from court

A Ministry of Education prosecution brought against people running a small, unregistered Far North Maori school had a low-key start in the Kaikohe District Court yesterday when the defendants failed to show up.

Ken Brown, chairman of Orauta School's board of trustees, his wife Teena and three parents with children at the school had been summonsed to face prosecution under the Education Act.

Mr and Mrs Brown are accused of operating an unregistered school.

The ministry says Orauta School, near Moerewa in mid-Northland, was one of eight officially closed last January 28 after a ministry review of schools in central Northland.

But a Maori incorporation formed to oversee the school, now renamed Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Te Maara o Hineamaru Ki Orauta, has kept it open with a board of trustees, principal, staff and support from the community.

Parents Sarah Rihari, Norman Beattie and Jane Turner were summonsed for failing to ensure their children were enrolled in a registered school. None of the five appeared when their names were called yesterday, although about a dozen supporters of the school were outside the court.

Kaikohe Court manager Julie Forster adjourned the case to July 26.

Trustees or organisations found to be running an unregistered school can be fined up to $200 a day for each day the school remains open.

And parents can face a $1000 one-off fine for continuing to send their children to an unregistered school.

The 95-year-old school is on Crown land that trustees say was taken under the Public Works Act and reserved for a Maori school after a request from the community's Ngati Hine ancestors.

They claim that Maunga Hikurangi Maori Incorporation is now the legal and beneficial owner of the school and its grounds.

Trustees, who have barred ministry representatives from the school, will not say how many children are still attending. The number is thought to be around 25.

Ministry spokesman Jim Matheson confirmed yesterday that seven former pupils had now been enrolled at registered schools.