In the past year, the Education Ministry has sent 261 letters to unwilling schools, telling them they must enrol students excluded or expelled from elsewhere. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
By Ben Leahy
Three New Zealand high schools are refusing to enrol students kicked out of other schools in defiance of legal orders sent by the Ministry of Education.
In the past year, the ministry has sent 261 letters to unwilling schools, telling them they must enrol students excluded or expelled from elsewhere, new Official Information Act data shows.
And while schools have in 251 cases now "accepted" the Ministry's orders, three unnamed schools - two in Auckland and one in Waikato - are refusing to comply.
One Auckland mum believes Auckland's Mt Roskill Grammar School is one of the defiant schools.
She believes it has unlawfully refused to enrol her son, despite him living in its zone and despite the Ministry sending an April letter ordering it to accept the 15-year-old.
"They're acting like they're a private school, but they're a public school," the mum - who didn't wish to be named to protect her son's identity - earlier told the Herald.
"They have to accept a child that's in the zone."
Since July 1 last year, 31 ministry letters have been sent to schools ordering them to enrol excluded or expelled students living in their zones.
A further 230 letters were sent to schools ordering them to accept students living outside their zones.
Overall, 90 letters were sent to primary schools, 138 went to secondaries and 33 to composite schools accepting younger and older students.
The letters - officially known as directives - are a measure of last resort and only sent to schools in "exceptional circumstances", the Ministry said.
Ray McMillan - from the Ministry's Network and Regulatory division - said the directives are legally enforceable and override any enrolment process at individual schools.
They are sent to ensure all school-age students - including any who have been excluded or expelled - are able to receive their legal right to free education at a state school.
However, before the letters can be sent, the ministry must make "all reasonable attempts" to consult with the schools, the student's parents and anyone else who might be able to advise or help with the child's welfare, McMillan said.
'Travesty of justice'
The mother of the 15-year-old trying to enrol at Mt Roskill Grammar said she accepts her son has struggled over the past two years.
He was excluded from another school after a fight and then became involved in antisocial behaviour. However, he had since turned a corner and was keen to get back into learning, she said.
The teen, who has Eritrean heritage, said he got into the fight after being racially abused.
Following the Herald's article last month, the family had a meeting with the ministry and Mt Roskill Grammar School.
The family was then told the school had agreed to accept the student, a support person told the Herald this week.
However, the school has since failed to commit to a start date for when he could begin going to school, the support person said.
She said Ministry directives are supposed to take effect immediately.
But with the school apparently still stalling, she has now found a lawyer willing to help the family.
"He's taking up the case pro bono because he thinks it's a travesty of justice," she said.
Marjet Pot, the presiding member of Mount Roskill Grammar's school board, said "we cannot comment specifically on this case due to privacy issues".
"However, in some instances we want to ensure that a student has adequate supports in place so they can experience success at our school," she said.
'There are more families out there'
Another Auckland dad says he's also speaking out after having trouble getting his son back into school.
He was surprised to read in the Herald last month how Mt Roskill Grammar had defied the Ministry's legal order.
"I'm assuming there's a whole lot of kids out there that are in the same boat," he said.
"And these schools are getting away with it."
The dad said his son had also been involved in an in-school fight.
But the incident that led to his son's exclusion from his former school was an out-of-school fight.
The 15-year-old had not been in uniform at the time and was defending himself and his mates from older boys, the dad said.
Now, since his exclusion, other West Auckland schools are refusing to enrol his son.
The dad said he understood the need for discipline, but hoped his son, who has Thai descent, could get back in school before his all important final two years of schooling.
He wanted the Ministry to issue a legal directive, instructing one of the schools to accept his son.
However, his son is instead being pushed towards alternative educators, groups set up to give education to students not accepted by mainstream schools.
"They were very nice people, I've not go nothing against them ... but they can't do a direction," the dad said.
He worried time spent in alternative education wouldn't guarantee his son a foot back in the door of mainstream schooling and could lead to him becoming part of the "statistics" of lost boys.
A Ministry of Education spokeswoman said they are working with the Achieving at Waitakere Trust's Managed Moves programme to get the boy back into education as soon as possible.