Report canes St Stephen's again

Bullying, drug abuse and poor education still plague a South Auckland Maori boarding school, raising doubts over its future. The Education Review Office head, Dr Judith Aitken, has questioned if St Stephen's School should stay open when students were clearly unsafe. A new review office report said St Stephen's was a "chronically failing school" which had not turned around its many shortcomings despite six bad office reviews since October 1990. Yesterday's report detailed an imbalanced curriculum, problems attracting teachers, low morale and unacceptable violence.

Dr Aitken said the Anglican Church, which owns the picturesque Bombay property, needed to ask if it was getting a decent educational return from its assets: "The answer has to be no," she said.