PUNISHMENT RULING DEFENDED

Invercargill: The James Hargest High School board of trustees is standing
by its decision to allow four boys who committed indecent assault to remain
at school, while kicking out another pupil for smoking cannabis.

Chairman Murray Frost broke his silence after the Invercargill school board
reversed an earlier decision not to talk to media.

The high school has been publicly criticised this week for the apparent
disparity in punishments it meted out to pupils involved in two separate
incidents.

The first, in May, involved an indecent assault on a 13-year-old third form
girl during school time.

Her mother said the girl was tackled and pinned to the ground by two boys.
Another boy held up her skirt while a fourth indecently assaulted her.

The boys stopped the assault only when other pupils intervened.

James Hargest stopped short of referring the boys to a disciplinary hearing
before the board, opting instead to stand down the boys for four days.

The matter was referred to police who warned the boys and made them write
letters of apology to the girl.

A month later, Scott Irvine (14) was suspended, then expelled, after he
admitted smoking cannabis while he stood with a group of other pupils. At
the time, he was out of school uniform, away from the grounds and out of
school time.

Mr Frost said the board considered Scott had set a "harmful example" by
introducing other pupils to a drug they had not experienced before.

But the mother of the girl who was assaulted said her daughter's incident
was more than harmful.

"It was a nasty, nasty experience" which her daughter had been physically
forced to participate in.

While it was likely teenagers would be introduced to cannabis in other
settings outside the school, it was unlikely girls would be subject to such
a horrific first-time sexual experience, she said.

The school's playground policies had forced the mother to consider taking
the girl out of James Hargest.

There were claims by some parents of drug use and dealing at James Hargest,
including claims of pupils being "high" during class.

Mr Frost admitted the board and staff probably did not know as much about
cannabis as many of the pupils and the school had not involved police in
any drug-related incidents. - NZPA