The then-22 classroom school had 17 teachers leave last year, and a total of 58 between 2010 and the end of last year, according to a Weekend Herald analysis of school documents and interviews with former staff.
Mr McLauchlan acknowledges the turnover but said it was for a variety of reasons and had no negative effect on student learning. It was in part driven by changes necessary to turn around a failing school.
In his time in charge, the school changed from being teacher-focused to student-focused and the roll grew substantially, he said.
But one former parent was worried about a child having four different teachers appointed to lead the class in a year.
"It was really bad - teachers leaving every term," said the parent, who asked not to be identified because her children still attends schools in the community. "It is shocking. I thought, 'What? This shouldn't be right.'"
A former teacher at the decile 1 school, which is 91 per cent Maori and Pasifika and 2 per cent Pakeha, spoke of watching "beautiful, welcoming" children get used to the fact their teachers would likely leave soon.
"It is just awful to watch ... and they kind of just get on with it, and harden to it, really. So that stops relationships as well."
Concerned parents met ministry staff in May last year.
Documents released under the Official Information Act show issues discussed included the effect of teacher turnover on students and claimed discrediting of staff in public.
A ministry official met the principal and two trustees, who did not share the parents' concerns, and was left "worrying about the ongoing risk to learners in the school".
This was expressed to a manager at ERO, which was due to carry out a scheduled review of the school (the organisation periodically reviews every state and state-integrated school).
ERO visited Rowandale at the end of Term 3. According to the Weekend Herald's information, at that point the school had lost nine teachers since January.
The final report noted that there had been "significant change" to the teaching team, but said this appeared to be settling. "The school is well placed to sustain and improve its performance ... significant progress has been made ... the board, principal, senior leaders and teachers have continued to place a deliberate focus on raising student achievement."
In early December Mr McLauchlan said he was leaving to head Hamilton's decile 9 Berkley Normal Middle School (he left Rowandale after Term 1 this year). He resigned from his new position after less than two terms, with the board of trustees saying the move was for personal reasons.
Berkley chair Tracey Gunn refused to comment, citing confidentiality.
Asked about the high staff turnover when he was principal at Rowandale, Mr McLauchlan said the reasons were varied and included personal reasons, promotion, the fact lower decile schools have higher turnover, competency and those not supportive of changes at the school.
He said he arrived at a "teacher-focused" and failing school, and oversaw progress that put student learning at its centre.
Staff turnover was looked at by the "very positive" ERO report which accurately reflected the challenges and successes at Rowandale.
Mr McLauchlan said the school roll grew from 366 when he took over to 503 when he left and student engagement, progress and achievement had notably improved.
As well as the parents' talks with the ministry, 10 former staff told of concerns over the treatment of staff.
Mr McLauchlan said he could not comment on those statements or the motivation behind them, but a challenge had been addressing staff performance and raising expectations for student achievement.
"If you want a motive, the former staff that are providing you with this information may well be those who were the subject of competency issues or for other reasons were unhappy about the changes.
"The environment at Rowandale while I was principal is accurately captured in the 2013 ERO report, the results for students, and the positive turnaround in the student roll as parents believed the school environment to be much improved and positive."
Rowandale's board of trustees chairman, James Bryce, also chair under Mr McLauchlan, said only that the community wanted to focus on the school's positive direction.
Katrina Casey, the ministry's head of sector enablement and support, said it had "a number of anonymous expressions of concern about the rate of staff turnover" early last year.
Many of the school's difficulties had been or were being resolved. "There have been significant changes to the school's leadership and board since the concerns about staff turnover were raised."
Dr Linda Bendikson, director of the University of Auckland Centre for Educational Leadership, said consistently high staff turnover was an indicator of risk.
It was not uncommon for a "new broom" effect of higher teacher turnover with a new principal, but this normally settled after about 18 months.
