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An Auckland high school yesterday went to the Court of Appeal over a High Court ruling overturning the expulsion of a 16-year-old student.
The lawyer for Lynfield College argued it followed proper process when expelling the student last year.
The case prompted new advice to all schools on what to do when pupils seriously misbehave.
Lynfield college had to take back the student after he successfully sued the school board and its principal, Stephen Bovaird, through his litigation guardian. The student is known as "J" in court documents and legally cannot be identified.
J was suspended in March last year after he was caught wagging with a cannabis pipe in his bag. He returned to school under strict conditions, but was one of five students - termed "alleged delinquents" by Justice John Priestley in court yesterday - who misbehaved the following week during a camp with 36 others at Mt Tongariro.
Mr Bovaird previously told the Herald it was hard for schools to operate under the judgment and he was appealing to seek clarification on how schools should apply the law.
Lynfield College's lawyer, Richard Harrison, told the Court of Appeal the decile 7 school took correct steps before expelling the then Year 12 student.
Mr Harrison said J was effectively on notice when he went to camp.
The college, which has a roll of about 1800, had to balance the interests of the individual with those of the wider school, the lawyer said.
The High Court judgment had swung too far in favour of the student.
He told the Court of Appeal the school did not want J out and planned to formally readmit him to finish his final year if its appeal was successful.
The student's lawyer, Simon Judd, said J's mother had not been called before her son was suspended the second time. "If your child's in trouble, you would expect a phone call."
Mr Judd said the board of trustees' meeting was considering matters of disputed facts, yet only allocated 30 minutes.
He said it was not reasonable to conclude that J had changed from a "friendly, cheerful and positive member of form" in March last year to a continually disobedient student who had to be expelled two months later.
He said the original case was about one student who feared not getting into another school if he was expelled at 16 and the appeal was moot because wider policy issues could be dealt with by the Ministry of Education or Parliament.
The judges, led by Justice Mark O'Regan, reserved their decision.
In a relatively rare step, the ministry "intervened" to offer expert advice at yesterday's hearing.
The case had already spurred the ministry to send advice to schools as it created new obligations when investigating serious misbehaviour.
BOY 'POLITE AND CO-OPERATIVE'
The boy at the centre of the case is "doing well" in Year 13 at Lynfield College, his mother told the Herald.
Now 17, J is on track to complete NCEA Level 3 and aims to go to university next year.
"He likes ancient history, he likes psychology," said his mother.
"But because he had to change courses part way through last year - when he got back in - he had to pick up some other things because he missed so much of the rest when he was expelled. But he passed them, which is amazing because he only did half a year."
J is the younger of the widow's sons. She said he had not been in trouble since returning to school after last year's court case. "That's why I fought it - I thought, 'There's been no trouble before' and, of course, there's been no trouble after," she said.
The judicial review last year was told J had had a good track record for most of his four years at Lynfield College.
He was described as positive, polite and co-operative.
His mother said that during the previous Christmas holidays, J had lost a friend through a drowning and two in car crashes. He had also been bullied.
