Katikati College's Board of Trustees has made the decision to seek Ministry of Education support for some complex employment matters, says the chairman of the board John Schnackenberg.

The Ministry of Education has confirmed their involvement with the school. Deputy Secretary Sector enablement and support Katrina Casey says Katikati College Board asked for their support.

'We are working through this. We are assessing whether an intervention is needed.

'By far the majority of schools operate successfully but a small number develop areas of concern that they cannot resolve without outside help. We always work with schools to support them to resolve problems themselves, and only intervene as a last resort.

'Where we do step in, an intervention aims to bring expertise and a fresh perspective.”

John says the board has welcomed the idea of a Ministry-appointed Limited Statutory Manager, who will work alongside the board to address these matters.

He says it will be an appointment at the governance level, with the day-to-day operations continuing to be the responsibility of the principal.

He says it's not appropriate at this point in time to go into the issues that lead the board to make this decision.

'We do not wish to pre-empt the work of the limited statutory manager.

'We hope to have more to share on the timing of the appointment later next week.”

Katikati College staff and school community were informed last Friday of the board's decision to seek ministry assistance.

'At this time a limited statutory manager has not been approved or appointed,” says Katrina.

'Should a decision be made to intervene, we will work with the board to ensure the school community is informed about what an intervention would look like and minimise disruption for students.”

Over the course of the school year, a total of 11 teachers would have left the school. While this may seem like a large number, John says, 'This is consistent with the past four years, with these being due to a range of typical and/or sound reasons such as fixed-term contracts not being extended, normal attrition for personal reasons, and the board's ongoing management of the school's high staffing levels which we are committed to bringing down to a more sustainable level.

'It should be noted that the college is continuing to provide a high-quality education to our students, which remains our core focus.”

The board of trustees and the ministry of education will be meeting next week to discuss matters further.