SCHOOLS SUSPEND MORE STUDENTS

Waikato students are being sent home in their hundreds as violence and
drug abuse worsen in schools.

Figures released by Education Minister Steve Maharey show there were
2248 stand-downs and 617 suspensions in Waikato schools last year, an
increase on 2004 figures.

Suspensions are up 10 per cent and stand-downs have increased by two
per cent.

Morrinsville College had the highest stand-down rate for high schools
in the region with 135, while Te Kauwhata College suspended the most,
with 33 students sent home.

A stand-down sees the student removed from school for a specified
period, while suspension is the removal until the board of trustees
decides the student's fate. In the worst cases, the students are expelled.

Te Kauwhata College principal Colin Driller said 28 of the 33
suspensions were related to drugs. "It's illegal and so we take a
tough-line approach to it," he said.

"We were the top decile three school in 2004 NCEA for the upper North
Island, increasing our results by 25 per cent. We take a hard line
with discipline and we get results."

Morrinsville College principal John Inger said the school issued
stand-downs for teacher abuse, physical assault and drug-related incidents.

He said the stand-downs were all minor and he believed working with
the students instead of suspending them worked better.

"We want to ensure our students and staff are safe," he said.

For most Waikato schools physical abuse was the main reason for
students being stood down in 2005.

This figure was up slightly by 10 students to 612 in 2005.

Other increases were recorded for verbal abuse towards staff, up 32
per cent to 415; drug use at 131 was up six per cent and alcohol at 76
was up 49 per cent.

Bad behaviour at 516, dangerous behaviour at 138 and theft at 73, all
dropped from 2004.

Drugs, which include substance abuse, accounted for most suspensions
last year, 206 students, which was a 44 per cent increase in this area.

Huntly College principal Tim Foy said there were better ways to deal
with misconduct than suspension, the school recorded none.