Assault alleged on school principal

A 48-YEAR-OLD woman was charged with assaulting a Central Southland school principal after a confrontation on school grounds yesterday.

Four police officers from Otautau and Winton arrived quickly at Central Southland Rural Primary School in Drummond, about 50km from Invercargill, about 8.50am.

The Southland Times understands the principal, Christine Munro, was confronted by the woman outside the school as staff and pupils arrived to begin the day.

Three police cars lined up on Domain Rd outside the school grounds as officers spent much of the morning at the school interviewing Mrs Munro and other staff members before arresting the woman about noon.

Both police and school staff were tight-lipped when questioned about what had happened leading to the arrest.

Winton acting Sergeant Greg Ballantyne was reluctant to speak about the incident, but said the arrested woman was scheduled to appear in the Invercargill District Court on Friday.

Mrs Munro was composed, but measured her words carefully, when talking about the incident yesterday.

"As a principal things crop up every day that you have to deal with and some are harder to deal with than others," she said. "It's unfortunate that this incident did arise in school."

She was keen to point out it was an isolated incident that unfortunately had unfolded at the start of the schoolday.

"It quite saddens us the children and staff did have to deal with it," she said.

Board of Trustees acting chairwoman Cherie Taylor said the situation was handled professionally and the board was confident that no child's safety or learning was compromised.

The arrested woman contacted The Southland Times late yesterday, denying she had assaulted the principal. She said she planned to defend the charge.

She had gone to the school to speak with Mrs Munro about a bullying letter, which she said was slipped into her 10-year-old daughter's desk last week.

She had pulled her daughter from the school after the incident, she said.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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