King's College boy placed in detox room at ball

The death of David Gaynor has prompted questions about the drinking culture at the affluent Auckland school. Photo / Supplied

King's College student David Gaynor - who died on Saturday - was placed into a "withdrawal room" for intoxicated students before his father was called to collect him early from the school ball.

The private school has moved to defend its reputation following allegations students were drunk and taking drugs in the toilets during Saturday night's ball at Eden Park.

The Herald has been told a group of boys were taking cocaine, and a student told 3 News the drugs were being taken by a number of people.

"I went into the loo and saw two guys doing lines and another guy asking who had any spares that he could buy," the student said.

King's headmaster Bradley Fenner has refused to comment on whether any students had been caught or disciplined for using drugs at the ball.

"We are focused very much at the moment on the response to the tragedy and I'm not able to make any comment about that."

However, he has confirmed there was a room that was used to deal with students if staff had any concerns about them.

"If there was anyone we had concerns about, you couldn't deal with that in the presence of all the others, so we had a sort of withdrawal room which I think is a standard arrangement at these things."

Mr Fenner said he was not in a position to comment on whether David was placed in this room.

The Herald understands the 17-year-old, who had started his night at a pre-ball organised by former Fonterra boss Craig Norgate, was placed in the withdrawal room early on.

His father - Herald business columnist Brian Gaynor - was called to collect him about 9.30pm.

David was taken home but left soon after.

He died in hospital after an incident near Greenlane at 10.30pm.

Several parents with links to the college - including the family of student James Webster, who died after a night of binge drinking last year - have now voiced concerns about alcohol being supplied to students on the night of the ball.

At Mr Norgate's pre-ball party, about 100 guests were served beer, wine and champagne by a professional barman. Television New Zealand chief executive Rick Ellis, who has a daughter at King's College, also held a function where champagne was served.

One parent, who does not want to be identified, told the Herald that there was an unhealthy culture of drinking at the school which was fuelled by wealthy parents who also liked to socialise.

Former Auckland City mayor and Cabinet minister John Banks went so far as to say the school needed to audit itself as "all is not right at King's College around bad behaviour associated with alcohol and drugs".

Mr Fenner has hit back at the criticisms, saying the culture at the private school was "very positive overall" and any issues around drinking were in no way exclusive.

"I do see these things as more of a society issue and something which needs to be dealt with across the board ... it's nationwide. It's not just King's College or other similar independent, affluent schools."

He said the school has a "zero tolerance policy towards the use of drugs and alcohol" and had done a lot of work on the issues surrounding them both since James' death last year.

"It's something we have been actively working against to discourage but our biggest challenge is society's norms in that regard."

Mr Fenner believed there had been some good progress as a result of that work, which included bringing in psychologists to speak with parents.

The school will review plans for next year's ball but Mr Fenner said it was too early to say if there would be any changes as it was difficult to control what happened outside the actual ball.

"The school's advice to parents is that we do not think alcohol should be served at these functions, however, we recognise the right of parents, particularly with the permission of all parents, to run things as they see fit."

The chairman of the school's board of governors, Peter Ferguson, said the college ran very good programmes but, at the end of the day, the primary responsibility for drug- and alcohol-related matters rested with the parents.

"Schools clearly can't be 24-hour babysitters of their students," he said.

Meanwhile, King's College staff and students were yesterday being offered counselling to help them deal with David's death.

The school's chaplain has also spent time with the Gaynor family helping them to prepare for tomorrow's funeral, which will be held at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Parnell.