Court tells ministry it can reclaim occupied school

An Auckland High Court judge is allowing the Ministry of Education to reclaim possession of a small Northland Maori school at Orauta, near Moerewa, from Maori who have occupied the site since early this year.

Whether the ministry would want to reclaim the school site, however, before an appeal on its future is heard next month was a matter for the ministry to assess, Justice John Priestley says.

In a reserved decision yesterday, the judge rescinded an interim order he made last week temporarily staying an earlier Kaikohe District Court order requiring Ken Brown, his whanau and supporters to vacate the Orauta school site.

The school was closed last January following a ministerial review. It has been run this year as an unregistered Maori school.

An appeal by the occupiers against the earlier Kaikohe District Court decision ordering them to vacate the school site has been set down for a hearing in the Whangarei High Court on October 19.

But Mr Brown told the Herald a further application to stay both the original District Court order for his group to vacate the school, and yesterday's High Court ruling finally confirming that, was being lodged in the Court of Appeal in Wellington yesterday.

The Crown Law Office had been told of the application, he said.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Education in Wellington would say only that the ministry is now considering its options.