Mr Hay said he was not aware of any new entrants coming to the school soon, and until he knew the funding implications of the roll drop, it was difficult to say whether there was a long-term future for the school.
Investigations would be carried out during the next two weeks, he said.
Principal Carmel Casey was not permitted to comment on issues surrounding the school's roll yesterday, saying it was a governance issue for Mr Hay to investigate.
Pupils from Rotary Park School appear to have drifted to nearby Andersons Bay School and Grants Braes School, as a result of the controversy surrounding Mrs Casey.
Mrs Casey has been the focus of allegations of incompetent teaching practices and staff bullying at the school, and last week parents threatened to remove their children as a show of defiance over her return to the school after six months' leave.
Mr Cleave said a parent-teacher meeting would be held tonight for the school community to outline ideas for tackling the issue.
Andersons Bay School principal Hamish McDonald confirmed his school had enrolled some Rotary Park School pupils, but declined to say how many.
"We've got a healthy roll at the moment. We have picked up some children from Rotary Park."
He said Andersons Bay School finished 2011 with 245 pupils and started school this year with 223 pupils - up marginally from the 217 pupils at the start of the 2011 year.
The roll had declined slightly because a particularly large cohort of year 6 pupils had left the school at the end of last year to go to intermediate.
Grants Braes School principal Christopher McKinlay said he, too, had enrolled pupils from Rotary Park School, but added he had enrolled many other pupils from around the city and beyond.
The school finished 2011 with more than 150 pupils and started term one yesterday with pupils numbering in the "mid to late 130s", he said.
Ministry of Education's March roll return figures show Grants Braes School started 2011 with 129 pupils.
While he too had a "reasonable number" of year 6 pupils go to intermediate last year, the school had expected a healthy start to this year, and the roll was expected to increase throughout the year.
He declined to comment further.
