The boy’s father and stepmother, David and Anna Emmerson, have hired a lawyer and laid a formal complaint against John McGlashan College claiming the school breached their son’s rights by excluding him for allegedly saying the N word and being an instigator in ongoing racial abuse.
They say the school chose to "humiliate and not educate" and were backed by at least a dozen other parents of students, who wrote to the school asking it to reverse its decision to exclude their son and another student.
Mr and Mrs Emmerson, who live on their farm in the Lindis Pass, accept their son was involved in an incident where a Māori student was allegedly racially abused on March 22.
However, they say he did not say the N word and the school did not prove he was involved in ongoing bullying against the other student.
In a letter outlining its original decision to exclude their son, the school board’s presiding member, Kyle Murdoch, said it did not accept the student’s account of what happened.
Mr Murdoch said in the letter that during the disciplinary process their son acknowledged mispronouncing the word Māori and engaging in "banter", but denied using the N word or "bush Māori".
Mr Murdoch said their son’s denial was not "credible" as two of his peers specifically recalled him using the two slurs.
The board also accepted the version of events included in the principal’s report, which said their son was identified as one of the "primary instigators" involved in regular abuse of the Māori student.
The principal’s report outlines that the Māori student said the racial abuse involved frequent use of the N word and disrespect of "things that are Māori".
Given the Emmersons’ son had not taken responsibility for his actions, the board concluded it would be unsafe for the Māori student to allow their son to return.
The school declined to comment on the case when contacted by the Otago Daily Times, citing privacy reasons.
Mr Emmerson said he believed their son had been made a "sacrificial lamb".
Mrs Emmerson said their son was not a racist and he was just a "kid who said some stupid things in class with a whole bunch of other kids. It doesn’t really make him a racist".
In the formal complaint, the Emmersons’ lawyer claimed the school’s breaches of procedure included a lack of communication with them about the incident and a lack of consideration given to their son’s dyslexia.
The complaint said the school had no adherence to the processes and guidelines set by the Ministry of Education or to the rights, mental health, wellbeing and education of their son.
Mr Emmerson said despite his son regularly requiring help from a teacher’s assistant due to his dyslexia, he was not offered this help when he was first asked to write down his side of the story.
"There wasn’t any support.
"The other boys wrote up to two pages and [our son] wrote one paragraph. The other boys got off."
Mrs Emmerson said their son was adamant he never said the N word.
"We questioned and questioned and questioned him. No time has the story changed; he is adamant he never said that at all."
Their son was excluded from the school after a disciplinary hearing.
After the decision, parents in the school’s community, including a former board member, wrote letters to the school questioning the exclusion of the Emmersons’ son and another student.
They said the punishment was extreme and one parent said they were considering withdrawing their son from the school.
A collective letter was also sent by boarding house students, who referred to each other as a "band of brothers", appealing the exclusion of the two boys.
"Taking these boys, our brothers, my best friends, away from their family, hostel is just too much!
"I learnt last night even the toughest can really cry when you take the brothers away from them."
After the letters, the school agreed to a "redo" of the hearing and offered the boys a place back in the school if they accepted five conditions.
The other student accepted the conditions and returned to the school.
However, the Emmersons did not agree to the conditions, which included their son not being allowed to live in the school’s boarding house for term 2.
Another condition for their son was to make a statement admitting the racial abuse was ongoing and that he had he minimised his conduct to the disciplinary committee.
This statement could then be conveyed to the school’s community.
"How can we as parents let our boy sign ... when we taught our son not to lie?" Mr Emmerson said.
"Two wrongs don’t make a right and the school has overstepped in their role."
Mr Murdoch told the Otago Daily Times yesterday John McGlashan could not comment on the matter because of its privacy obligations to people involved in the process.
Ministry of Education south leader Nancy Bell said it was waiting for the results from the investigation by the school board before moving forward with the complaint filed directly with it.
