Trustees threatened with chop: principal

A Southland school's board of trustees had been threatened with dismissal by the Education Ministry after a long-running disagreement about who pays for a sewerage scheme connection, according to the principal.

However, the board of trustees is downplaying the dispute.

In last Friday's Tuatapere Community College newsletter, principal David Tuson outlined the dispute between the board and the ministry about who should pay for the college to be connected to the town's new sewerage scheme.

In the newsletter Mr Tuson writes: "... MOE threatening to dismiss the board, and appoint a statutory manager to run the school, unless they agree to put the sewerage connection fees into the 10-year property plan. The board are naturally extremely upset with the way the whole issue has been handled by the MOE," he writes.

However, board of trustees chairwoman Michelle Wilson said it was not a threat, only a statement, and an indication of what the next step in the process would be with the ministry.

At its meeting on Monday last week, the board agreed to the ministry's request for the school to put the sewerage connection costs in its 10-year property plan.

Mrs Wilson said the board needed to sign off the 10-year plan so money could be released for other expenditure in the school. "The students have to come first," she said.

The scheme's cost is estimated at $128,000 and will come out of the school's normal funding avenues.

Mr Tuson said the school, being the tenant, had been reluctant to pay for the scheme and expected the "landlord" ministry to pay.

The expense would cause the school to delay other maintenance such as painting the hall and refurbishing classrooms, he said.

Southern School Trustees Association chairman Chris Haines said only the Education Minister was able to sack a board of trustees and that would be done only with a lot of consultation. In such an event, a commissioner would be installed at the school, he said.

A statutory manager, however, would work alongside a board of trustees, he said.

The Education Ministry declined to comment yesterday.