Western Bay of Plenty principals admit there is a risk they could be sued for bullying that takes place in their schools.
Their acknowledgement follows an email sent from Patrick Walsh, chairman of the Secondary Schools Principals' Association, which warned principals that changing legislation is making legal action for bullying cases a 'real risk”.

Bigger penalties for bullying should be accompanied by more government support for schools tackling the problem, says Tauranga Girls' College principal Pauline Cowens.

Tauranga Girls' College principal Pauline Cowens says the email was also designed to prompt the government to offer more support to schools for tackling bullying.
'He made a very good point on behalf of boards and principals that if they're going to increase the penalties, they should also increase the support.”
Patrick's email said: 'My issue is that there is increasing liability on principals and boards through legislation and common law to maintain a safe working environment for staff and students.
'Unless, however, we have access to appropriate professional development, intervention programmes, specialist support and well-funded alternative education, we run a real risk of being sued!”
Otumoetai College principal Dave Randall says there is every possibility a parent could choose to sue a school if their child is the victim of bullying, but staff at his school do everything they can to make sure bullying does not occur.
'We take it very seriously. We do everything we can. But we're not superhuman and we can't control human emotions. We do our absolute best, but we need parent support.”
He says schools are only responsible for students for about 25 hours out of 168 in a week.
'Why are schools being labelled all the time? We take a huge responsibility and are as proactive as we possibly can.
'Sometimes schools don't have an answer.”