Principal sues Ministry of Education

A Russell Peninsula school principal is suing the Ministry of Education over the appointment process of a principal for a new school in the area.

Punaruku School principal Ron Peters, who is a brother of NZ First party leader Winston Peters, filed an application in the High Court in Whangarei for a judicial review over the way Petina Stone was selected as principal of the new school.

Last year Punaruku, Helena Bay and Ngaiotonga Valley Schools were ordered to close and merge to form a new school called Whangaruru as part of a Government review.

However, the selection of Helena Bay School principal Petina Stone as head of the new school caused some outrage as some of her family and her former boss were allegedly on the board that appointed her.

Mr Peters also applied to be the principal of the new school.

He declined to comment on filing the papers but his lawyer brother Wayne Peters said his client filed papers with the court against the ministry and the establishment board of trustees for the new school just before Christmas.

The case is to be heard at the High Court at Whangarei on February 15.

Mr Peters' lawyer said he had not heard back from the ministry since the papers were filed.

A ministry spokeswoman said the ministry was aware that papers had been filed in Whangarei but had only received a copy from Mr Peters' lawyer.

She said the ministry would be represented by Crown lawyers.

Last year children were pulled from Punaruku School temporarily as some parents were not happy that Mrs Stone's former boss, Colin Watkins, was the chairman of the establishment board that appointed her as Whangaruru School principal.

They also claimed members of Mrs Stone's extended family were also on the board.

Parents also sent a petition to Education Minister Trevor Mallard asking him to start another principal appointment process.

That request was rejected.

However, a parent from Helena Bay School said at the time that disgruntled parents from Punaruku School had to give Mrs Stone a chance to prove herself and move on, for the benefit of their children.

Mr Watkins said at the time that the board acted with professionalism and integrity.

Yesterday, Mrs Stone told the Northern Advocate she was not prepared to comment on the judicial review.

However, she acknowledged that people had a right to "express whatever they want to and change is difficult".

Meanwhile, a meeting of Punaruku School parents on Monday night found more than half of Punaruku's 27 pupils will not attend Whangaruru School when school starts on February 1.

A parent said people were waiting to hear the result of the court case before deciding whether to send their children to the new school.

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE (WHANGAREI)