Sounds like this family are better of out of the school. I would pull my child out of any school myself if I could not get a satisfactory response.
Secondly, if they really want to pursue the right of access, then they can use the law of contract assuming they did not sign this away when they put their child in the school.
A word to all parents is if you are presented with a set of terms and conditions or an agreement at the commencement with the school, read it carefully and if you are not happy strike out the clauses you can't accept. Either the school accepts those changes or you walk away then and with far less disruption to your child's education.
Garth Wyllie
Browns Bay
You pay higher fees for private schools so consider what you're getting for your money.
What happened to student rights don't they exist in private schools? Maybe the Government needs to address this issue.
Trish
Cranbourne, Victoria
Guys, the school has done you a huge favour, unless of course you wanted your daughters to grow up with an isolationist elitist outlook. Just send them to a regular school with regular kids where bullying is dealt with the same way it has for 100 years.
Damian Mitchell
Glen Eden
In my opinion, if you chose to send your kids to a school like that, you are opting out of mainstream. So the parents should just get over themselves and find a proper school. Those schools are unusual, and they attract unusual people. I do feel sorry for the kids, stuck between two groups of interesting adults.
Katie D
Waikato
The real bullying going on at Titirangi Steiner School is from these two parents.
Perhaps the reason the teacher you asked to comment behaved in the manner described is because she like most of the parents at the school are sick to death of the intimidating and confronting tactics that these two engage with on a regular basis at the start and end of the school day.
Instead of behaving like adults and seeking mediation on the issue when it occurred, what we have had is this aggressive, self indulgent, vitriolic crusade against the school that has been going on for nearly a year now if not more.
And now it sounds like the Titirangi community will have to endure another attack on their school with some one-eyed, slanderous documentary produced by these two trouble makers.
In their own words they have stated they have "nothing to lose" with this destructive campaign against the school. Well my kids and my community have a lot to lose if they continue.
If Sean Gillespie had bothered to do some real journalism and attended one of this couple's placard waving demonstrations during the school term, instead of staging one during term break, he would of observed the un-supportive response these two get from the school community and realised that the real story here is about two thugs who want to tear down a cherished community asset because the school dared to stand up to their unsatisfactory and inappropriate demands.
The only "Harsh Lesson" in this article is that well research unbiased journalism is a thing of the past.
Richard Lee
Oratia
I think these two parents need to get a life. If they didn't read the fine print before entering a contract with a private school that's their problem, no one elses. Their attitude is what has gotten their children excluded they have no one to blame but themselves.
Damien
Ellerslie
Many schools are powers unto themselves due to the many principals around the country who "run the board". While many schools have well balanced and effective boards there are many who are manipulated by their principals. Part of the problem is that these principals are answerable to no-one. They have a false sense of self-worth due to being told all day by students and staff how great they are, this of course is not how the rest of the world sees them.
In the Garden / Paris story, the power balance is so one sided that it is simply cruel. Perhaps these parents deserved what they got, however, with no transparent process it really is just a scam.
Anon
Wellington
The idea that because parents "ask the school to accept their children" that means that they can be thrown out with no warning, reason, or right of appeal is ridiculous.
People don't turn up everyday and ask again, "Will you accept our children today please Sir?" This is not Oliver Twist. The school is subject to Contract Law and they need a good reason to break that contract as well as proper procedures to follow if it should become necessary, just like any other business. Mr Thornton had neither.
The reason we made the contract with the teacher, Susanne Cole, to be at the school was because she acknowledged that our daughter did not feel safe. Other parents had made and continue to try to make the same arrangement. And in fact Mr Thornton has neglected to mention that both of us were actually working at the school.Steve was working as the janitor and I was on the marketing team so in fact we had good reasons to be there quite apart from the bullying situation.
As for not being able to substantiate the issues we raised, that is an unfortunate assertion. We have substantial evidence from other parents of the awful bullying in that class. We are also still looking for further contributions to the documentary from interested parties.
Let's not forget that Mark Thornton has claimed to the Privacy Commission that nobody at the school can remember the events of last year that traumatised our kids and which were also apparently unique in the school's 27 year history! Send him some Ginko Biloba somebody quick.
Angel Garden
Titirangi
It seems pretty clear to me from reading between the lines that these parents are a couple of stirrers, intent on creating a scene where diplomatic intercession would be better. I don't condone bullying at all but given the principal was so concerned about parental behaviour that he banned the children, methinks there is much more to this story than meets the eye.
Ben Kepes
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