Parents and staff at High Street School have concerns about the the principal and board of trustees, a letter leaked to the Otago Daily Times says.
The letter, signed by 20 people calling themselves Concerned High Street School Parents, is addressed to the Ministry of Education and calls for an investigation into alleged bullying by the principal Sue Riddle and alleged incompetence of board chairwoman Vivienne Aitken.
The parents said they believed their concerns were shared by other parents and staff at the school.
Two members of the board have resigned in the past week.
The office administrator has also resigned and several parents say they are planning to withdraw their children from the school.
The parents said they were also concerned the roll at High Street School had dropped from about 125 pupils 18 months ago to fewer than 80, while nearby schools such as Mornington and Balaclava had increasing rolls.
Ms Riddle declined to comment when contacted.
Ms Aitken, however, said there was a "staffing issue" at the school which she could not discuss.
"We sought legal advice on this and we have been told not to comment."
However, she did say the school was trying to address and resolve the "staffing issue" and that High Street School was "still a very, very good school".
Ministry of Education southern region manager Michael De'Ath said the ministry was aware some issues had been raised by the High Street community.
The school's board of trustees had engaged an independent consultant to undertake a review of those issues, he said.
The letter said many of the parents' concerns centred on the perceived mis-management of the graduated return to work of a teaching staff member who was recovering from a head injury.
"It was noted by parents that whenever [the teacher] came on to the school grounds, she would be micro-managed by the principal who would escort [her] within the school grounds with an apparent intent to minimise contact between her and parents," the letter said.
"During this period, two of the parents observed first-hand, Ms Riddle verbally chastising [the teacher] in what was clearly an intimidating, harassing fashion.
"This was a bewildering time for the parents. The reason for the delay in [the teacher's] reinstatement does not appear to have been openly discussed with her or the board of trustees.
"If this delay with [the teacher's] reinstatement was due to the principal having reservations regarding her level of competency, the primary teachers collective agreement has guidelines which clearly stipulate how to remedy this."
Some parents raised concerns directly with the principal about the issue, but were left feeling "fobbed off and patronised", the letter said.
Parents had sent several letters of complaint to the board of trustees.
However, they believed their concerns were not handled appropriately there, either.
"We request that the Ministry of Education send a statutory manager . . . and that [the chairwoman] be removed from the board of trustees," the letter said.
