By ELEANOR BLACK
ROTORUA - A Rotorua school is likely to be closed after five scathing Education Review Office reports in three years.
The reports described sexual and physical abuse by students, and financial mismanagement by the school trustees.
In less than a month, Education Minister Trevor Mallard will decide whether to close the school, which is attached to the Princess of Wales Health Camp.
His decision will be based on submissions from referring organisations and the recommendation of the commissioner appointed to run the school.
Education will still be provided at the camp, but the school will be taken over by new management.
Former board of trustees chairman David Freyne blamed the enormous expectations placed on management and teachers for the problems.
The school, which has been closed for the past term, took up to 50 children with severe behavioural and emotional problems, four times a year.
That was too many disturbed children in one place, he said.
An ERO report last year found "serious problems with the governance and management of the school" and recommended the board of trustees be dissolved. It was replaced by commissioner Judy Keaney.
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