Editorial: Schools just have to get it right

John Paul College principal Patrick Walsh

The relationship between a school and its students' parents can be a tricky one, as we've seen over the past year.

Last July, a Hawke's Bay school lost a High Court battle over suspending a student for refusing to cut his hair. The judge had ruled the suspension was unlawful, as was the school's rule on long hair.

Last month, parents of two St Bede's students who breached airport security on the way to the Maadi Cup took legal action to prevent them being cut from the school's rowing team. The parents argued the ban was unfair and that the Maadi Cup would give the students a good chance at selection for the nationals. Then last week, an independent report was released into the punishment of students at Rotorua Girls' High late last year.

Twenty-three students were stood down after they left school grounds when asked to return to class.

The report found an "absence of a thorough investigation" and criticised the school for relying on verbal accounts from staff, and not getting student input.

While the school has pointed out that the report confirmed the students behaved inappropriately, the board of trustees has acknowledged the disciplinary process could have been improved.

John Paul College principal Patrick Walsh says the Girls' High decision to stand students down was entirely reasonable. Mr Walsh says parents need to accept the consequences of their children's bad behaviour.

Perhaps, but the independent Girls' High report does put the St Bede's issue in a new light.

As the judge who granted the injunction noted, the St Bede's decision was based on the emailed report of a head coach who was not present when the incident took place, and the boys and other participants were not interviewed.

While, like many, I at first thought it ridiculous a school's decision was being challenged in the courts (and I still think that about the hair case), it's become clear that a school needs to go through the correct processes in order to stand behind its actions.

Schools should be able to impose penalties without worrying about sparking court action - they just have to make sure they dot their "i"s and cross their "t"s in the process.