Rowers' parents meet with St Bede's behind closed doors

Jordan Kennedy competes at the 2015 Maadi Cup on Lake Karapiro after a court injuction allowed him to row. Photo / Simon Baker

The parents of two St Bede's rowers have applied to the High Court for an extension to file their claims after behind-closed-doors discussions with the school.

St Bede's College students Jordan Kennedy, 16, and Jack Bell, 17, were dumped from the school's rowing team for breaching Auckland Airport security on Friday after riding the Jetstar carousel at the domestic terminal.

The school banned them from competing at the Maadi Cup regatta at Lake Karapiro, near Cambridge.

But the boys' parents were granted an urgent injunction from the High Court at Christchurch to allow their sons to row.

Justice Rachel Dunningham said the boys' parents had until 5pm today to file a formal statement of claim or else the interim injunction would be lifted.

Andrew Marsh, lawyer for the Kennedy and Bell families, released a short statement to media today which suggested legal action might not be required.

"We have been in discussions with the school and have applied to the court for a short extension of time to file the statement of claim to allow those discussions to continue."

St Bede's College lawyer Andrew McCormick earlier today said he had been expecting the statement of claim to be filed.

He said that the school would then compile a response and have that filed early next week.

A hearing would then likely be heard in the next 2-3 months.

"The regatta finishes later this week, so the question posed is whether the decision was lawful or not, and that doesn't need to happen this week," Mr McCormick said.

Both parties wanted a swift resolution, he added.

"Nobody wants it dragging on. The school wants things to die down so the whole rowing team can focus on the best they can this week.

"It's been really disruptive up there, as you could imagine. All of the St Bede's kids are getting much more attention than they would otherwise."

The Board of Trustees met last night for the first time since the issue broke and, after the two hour meeting, they issued a statement saying they were unanimous in their disappointment that two of the parents of St Bede's College had taken legal action against the school.

The board members were also unanimous in their support of Rector Justin Boyle.

"From what the board has been advised, the decision to withdraw the boys from the Maadi Cup and return home was made after what Mr Boyle and the senior management believed was a full investigation, and consideration of an appropriate penalty," the statement said.