School standoff over Lucy, 6

By ROSALEEN MacBRAYNE

The Ministry of Education has stripped a school of its authority to enrol students after a clash over accepting a 6-year-old girl with behavioural difficulties.

As part of the unprecedented move, a ministry official will be placed at Bellevue Primary in Tauranga, possibly as soon as next week, to handle enrolments.

But Bellevue principal Ian Spraggon said yesterday that if his school did as ordered and enrolled the girl, Lucy Wright, it would be giving tacit approval to something it did not consider legitimate.

He said his school, which has 300 pupils, would be "more comfortable" if the manager enrolled Lucy.

The school says it has been singled out unfairly in a situation in which Lucy has been withdrawn from two other neighbouring schools by her mother, Vanessa Wright.

Lucy has attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, and has not been in class since last September. She has behavioural problems and can be violent towards other children. Mr Spraggon said Mrs Wright had never asked him to take her daughter.

Brookfield Primary, where Lucy started as a new entrant, had been the mother's school of choice after a short switch to Otumoetai Primary.

When Brookfield stalled over re-admitting the child, Mrs Wright involved the ministry.

Eventually, Bellevue was asked to take Lucy.

But the school's board of trustees felt that the ministry - under its own rules - should make Brookfield take her back.

"Personalities don't come into it. Our beef is with the ministry over whether the Education Act has been followed," said Mr Spraggon.

"We are not nasty, mean-spirited, unkind people who do not want to enrol her.

"We should never have been directed to take the child. We are standing on a matter of principle."


The Education Ministry's manager for student support, Murray Williams, said it would be the first time a limited statutory manager had been placed in a school because of an enrolment dispute.

Bellevue board of trustees chairman Steve Patton said: "We have never refused to enrol her. It is about the process, rather than the child."

Mr Williams said the ministry was not targeting Bellevue or treating it unfairly.

"This is a girl who has never had a friend. She has never had the normal way of growing up in school and learning. She needs and deserves an education"

Lucy had tried Brookfield, but it had not been successful.

"The family believes a fresh start is necessary and we support that."

Brookfield Primary principal Anton Prinsloo said Lucy came to the school in late 2002 and had "about four really excellent months" there, despite some social issues.

"We saw a lot of progress and potential in this little girl and she was up with her class in learning."

He said Mrs Wright opted to take Lucy out of the school at the end of the year, citing the well-being of Lucy's brother Jakob, who had a mild form of autism and was having "to go into bat" for his little sister in the playground.

Mrs Wright said her daughter would be better off at neighbouring Otumoetai Primary where she had friends from pre-school.

"We were absolutely blown away. We put so much work and effort in and the mother took her away," said Mr Prinsloo. When Mrs Wright wanted to re-enrol Lucy last year, he knew Child, Youth and Family Services was investigating her time at Otumoetai, so he said he would not take her back until he knew the outcome of that.

Otumoetai Primary principal Geoff Opie said Mrs Wright chose to withdraw Lucy from the stability of Brookfield "against all advice".

His school took her, "not really knowing what we were getting into".

He would not divulge specific incidents, but it is believed other parents were complaining about Lucy attacking their children.

After about eight months, Mr Opie said, he told Mrs Wright that if Lucy was implicated in another assault he would be forced to stand her down for a period.

"But I didn't get to that point because the mother was one step ahead. She withdrew the child."

Mrs Wright said yesterday that her first choice would be a return to Brookfield, but she just wanted Lucy back in class "somewhere where she is wanted".

The 35-year-old, who also has two boys aged 13 and nine, knows her daughter can be aggressive.

She said she felt sorry for Bellevue Primary. She had gone to the ministry simply to get Lucy back to school.

- Additional reporting by Stuart Dye