Grammar in High Court case

The parents of a student kicked out of one of New Zealand's top schools have taken their battle with the board of trustees to the High Court.

Their son was excluded from Auckland Grammar after he was caught allegedly smoking marijuana.

It is understood the alleged incident occurred outside school grounds but the boy was wearing his school uniform.

Lawyers for the school's board of trustees and Grant Illingworth QC, who is representing the boy's parents, appeared in Auckland High Court last Monday.

Auckland Grammar headmaster John Morris said the decision to exclude the boy was made by the board of trustees. "All the head can do is suspend, then it's up to the board and the lawyers after that to debate it," said Morris.

Exclusion is essentially the same as expulsion, but applies to students under the age of 16 who must be enrolled at another school. If a student is excluded, they cannot return to that school.

Morris said the parents had sought a judicial review of the decision to exclude the boy but this had since been withdrawn.

"As far as I understand it, there was no case taken against the board," said Morris. "There was initially a judicial review that has been withdrawn."

The boy has not been reinstated but a member of the board of trustees said the decision was set to be reheard at the school tomorrow.

Illingworth told the Herald on Sunday there were "no further steps in the court process" but the dispute was still unresolved.

Auckland Grammar School, a decile 10 boys-only state secondary school, is one of New Zealand's biggest and most prestigious colleges.

In 1998 a former Grammar student was awarded $6000 by the High Court after it ruled the school acted illegally when it expelled him for smoking a cigarette during a school trip in 1995.

Last year, Lynfield College appealed a High Court decision to overturn the expulsion of a 16-year-old student and allow him to return to school.

The boy was suspended after he was caught wagging with a cannabis pipe in his bag and then expelled after misbehaving during a school camp. The Court of Appeal found in favour of the student and awarded him $3000 in costs.

Paul Rishworth, education law expert and dean of the University of Auckland's law faculty, said the criteria for excluding or expelling a pupil was set out by the Education Act 1989.

"There are essentially two possibilities - gross misconduct or continual disobedience, such that it's a harmful or dangerous example to others," said Rishworth.

"Nothing is said about whether they would apply to things outside of school hours or off school property but it's clear that sometimes they do."

The proximity of the incident in time and space to school property and school hours would be taken into account in this case, said Rishworth. "It becomes a question of degree."