A Bay of Plenty school is being accused of being 'morally bankrupt” by a former student who was allegedly sexually abused by a teacher.

Tauranga Boys' College is being investigated by the chief ombudsman for its response to former student Glenn Marshall's allegations of abuse by his former English teacher, Pinky Green, who taught at the school from 1960 to 1988.

When Marshall, now 52, recently requested documents under the Official Information Act from the school concerning its handling of the abuse, the school charged him $1094 to hand over the information, a charge which he says is 'unfair and unreasonable.”

'In my opinion, given the circumstances of my request, to charge me is an example of moral bankruptcy and an ongoing failure by Tauranga Boys' College to factor in the dignity and mana of all of Green's victims,” says Marshall.

Marshall said the charge was also setting a disturbing precedent.

'If Tauranga Boys' College is allowed to 'get away' with charging me for the OIA request, then that is a profound example of the 'chilling effect', namely that it discourages other historical sexual assault victims who have been mistreated from seeking information.”

The school board's chair, Nikki Iuli, says the charge is to cover costs.

'Tauranga Boys' College has received 20 requests for information from Glenn Marshall under the Official Information Act,” says Iuli.

'Each request for information requires a significant amount of administrative time and resource, paid from the school's operating budget.”

She says under the terms of the act, the college is permitted to invoice 'a modest sum to recover our costs”.

'In this case, we have invoiced Mr Marshall for the OIA request that has required the most administrative time and resource to date,” she says.

'All other requests have been met without incurring a charge.”

The college has undertaken two investigations into the alleged abuse.

The first took place when Marshall originally complained about the abuse in 1988.

A second investigation took place this year, with the school making a public apology 'for historical cases of sexual propositions to former students by a former staff member”.

Marshall was not interviewed in either the 1988 or 2022 investigations.

The school does accept its recent review of the abuse was 'insufficient”, in that Marshall and other victims were not interviewed, and that 'Marshall's experiences and the impact that they had on him were not addressed”.

Marshall referred the matter to the Ombudsman, saying the 2022 review was not independent as it was done by a lawyer appointed by the school's insurer.

He also alleges that the school did not provide all of the relevant documents to this lawyer.

Marshall says it is also 'deeply offensive” that the school continues to refer to Green's abuse solely as 'prospecting”.

'I was subjected to indecent assault by Green – made to bend over and be spanked with significant force, yet Tauranga Boys' College still frames that as prospecting,” he says.

In 1988, Marshall says Green summoned him to his private office, tilted the blind, then made him bend over and spanked him on the bottom with significant force.

Marshall was later propositioned by Green.

When Marshall reported these incidents to the principal of the college at that time, three other pupils were identified who had endured similar experiences.

After the incidents came to light in 1988, Green left the college, taking early retirement.

He died in January this year.

Marshall says after his main OIA request, on the 20th working day which is the maximum time for a response under the OIA, the school's lawyer emailed him stating it required another 20 working days.

On the 40th working day, he says the lawyer emailed him stating he would have to pay $1094 for the information, and upon payment it would take up to an additional 14 days to release the information.

'The college laments the time and resources it has spent on this,” he says. 'Not once have I complained about the significant amount of time that I have spent on this matter to date.”

The school's lawyer, Jenny Copeland of Copeland Ashcroft, outlined the reasons for the charge in an email to Marshall, which Stuff has sighted.

She says the charge is 'to recover reasonable costs involved in the supply of information to you”, claiming it is in accordance with Ministry of Justice guidelines relating to the Official Information Act.

She says it's the first request for a charge, and that the college has already provided information relating to the original complaints 'demonstrating significant transparency and accountability”.

Marshall says the OIA information released to date is 'narrow in scope and content”, and the $1094 charge is for the main OIA request.

Marshall has paid the charge, claiming he did not want to further delay the release of the information.

However, he is seeking reimbursement of the fee via a separate complaint to the chief ombudsman's office, which is already in the throes of investigating the appropriateness of the 2022 response made by the board of Tauranga Boys' College to concerns raised by Marshall.

Since the school's most recent investigation this year, Marshall says other students have come forward who were at the school from 1960 through to the 1980s.

In one incident, Green offered to amend a grade if the student was prepared to 'pat Pinky's bottom with his hand”.

Another student said he was the subject of Green's 'attentions”, while another said he was 'bribed, groomed and assaulted” by the teacher.

Another student from the early 1960s described how he was 'gleefully caned for a made-up misdemeanour”, with another 1960s student revealing 'a grabbing and fondling of genitals – under the guise of checking development”, followed by caning.

-Stuff/Annemarie Quill.