KEY POINTS:
A Kawerau principal who smoked cannabis and has been accused of propositioning a former student has agreed to stand aside while an investigation takes place.
Kawerau College principal Steve Hocking has admitted smoking cannabis six years ago and an "incident" in a Kawerau hotel four and a half years ago involving a former female student.
Mr Hocking reportedly paid the former student $1000 to keep quiet after propositioning her.
He has acknowledged an "incident", but has said newspaper reports were "completely out of sync with what happened".
In a short statement issued on behalf of the college board of trustees, Ministry of Education-appointed statutory manager Lex Hamill said the parties had met on Monday and agreed to "a process to progress matters".
He said Mr Hocking had agreed to stand aside as principal while an investigation was conducted.
Mr Hamill said the school wanted to have the matter resolved as quickly as possible but this would depend on the availability of someone to facilitate the process.
Mr Hocking, who has been on leave since last week, previously told the Whakatane Beacon newspaper he had smoked cannabis at a "dark time" six years ago when he was coping with the break-up of his marriage.
He had admitted it to the board of trustees at the time, and offered his resignation, which the board refused to accept.
Mr Hocking said he had not touched drugs since.
Whakatane's Mayor Malcolm Campbell has credited Mr Hocking with turning the struggling school around.
- NZPA
