Editorial: No winners in school incident

An independent review will be carried out at Rotorua Girls' High School to investigate the recent incident in which a large group of senior students were stood down on their last day.

Schools build strong relationships with the communities around them.

It's inevitable. For primary and secondary schools at least, they dominate the lives of local children for five or six years, sometimes more, and for families with more than one child that relationship can stretch for many years.

It's very much a two-way relationship. Parents trust the care and education of their children to schools, while schools rely on parents to encourage learning, support their kids and, as we've seen in the reporting on deciles and funding, support the schools.

But there is, of course, a very important third party - the child.

There are many expectations of the students, both academic and social, and it's not surprising that they don't always meet these expectations.

As we report today, an independent review will be carried out at Rotorua Girls' High School to investigate the recent incident in which a large group of senior students were stood down on their last day.

Twenty-three Year 13 students, including nine prefects, were stood down on Friday, October 31, when they left the school grounds after being asked to return to class. Some were also stripped of their leadership roles.

Families of the students said they were outraged at what they said was an over-reaction to a harmless school prank.

But principal Ally Gibbons said the punishment was in response to a safety issue and had "nothing to do with the day's pranks".

The students' actions, and the school's response, have been a major talking point in the community in recent weeks. Opinions have been divided. Letters to the editor have strongly supported one side or the other.

These were senior students, most of them part of the school for five years, a big portion of their lives.

To finish that journey on such a low is unfortunate - and the whole mess is damaging to the school's relationship with the community.

There are no winners here.

Did it really have to come to a Ministry-led review to sort this out?