Family upset by truancy charges

The Masterton parents who were charged with truancy over their 15-year-old daughter's absence from school have said they should be able to proceed with their case against Kuranui College over legal costs and lost earnings by the end of next week.

The girl's father, who has name suppression to protect his daughter's identity, said the case had had a damaging effect on the family, both emotionally and financially.

"As far as the school is concerned, it's all finished. We can't get on with our lives because we have a girl who doesn't go to school and I can't get her into any school in Wairarapa," he said.

The girl frequently failed to attend school last year, which led to her parents facing a rare charge under the Education Act. She is still not attending school, but at age 16 is no longer legally required to attend. Her behavioural problems stretch back more than four years.

On March 5, the charges were dropped by the school. Geoff Shepherd, principal of Kuranui College, said that the school had decided to drop the charges because they were not aware of some of the medical issues affecting the girl.

The local father said he was waiting on one or two further documents before the action can proceed. "I'm waiting on stuff from the Education Department and then I'll be able to proceed and give the board of trustees, Mr Shepherd and the informant the notice of proceedings," he said. "We'll be waiting to hear back from them then, because they'll have an opportunity to challenge it."

The father of three said the family did not have a wealth of resources. He said it was unfair the legal costs of the school were picked up by the taxpayer while he and his wife struggled to pay thousands of dollars in legal costs. "We're not rich. We're living week to week and we have bills and a mortgage to pay," he said. "My daughter is 16 and she can't go on the dole because she's underage, so we still have to support her too."

When he was contacted last month about the parents' decision to seek costs and lost earnings, Mr Shepherd declined to comment, saying he did not wish to speak about the matter.

On March 20, Mr Shepherd told the Wairarapa Times-Age the school had received abusive emails following the action, but he said it took truancy and students' learning seriously.

He said some people had been very concerned at the course of action the school had taken and he said Kuranui College took any criticism of the school extremely seriously, irrespective of whether or not it was warranted.

"I regret the fact that the law gave us no choice but to pursue this course of action, and also that we weren't informed of the full facts until after legal proceedings had been initiated," he said at the time.