Principal's obligations for requesting a reconsideration#

Principal's decision#

If a student fails to comply with any conditions imposed by the board, you may request the board to hold a meeting to reconsider its initial decision. You are not required to request a meeting if you do not wish to. If it was a decision to lift the suspension with conditions, then the student is required to continue to attend school. You cannot ask the student to absent themselves from school until the reconsideration meeting has been held.

You may wish to investigate a possible failure to comply with conditions. In particular you should consider taking care to act fairly, consider involving the student and resolve major disputes and uncertainties (if possible).

Principal and staff obligations during an investigation

The board must hold a reconsideration meeting about the student’s case:

• within 7 school days of the request or
• within 10 calendar days of the request if the request is made within 7 school days of the end of term.

If you have requested a reconsideration meeting for a student whose suspension was lifted with conditions, the student must remain at school until the meeting.

If an incident has occurred that you think is sufficiently serious to justify a new suspension, you may choose to suspend the student rather than call a reconsideration meeting. In such cases you will need to take care to follow the suspension process from the beginning.

Note: 'Principal' includes someone who is formally delegated in writing by the board, to act as the principal in your absence. Such delegation can only take effect when the principal is not on duty.

How to request a reconsideration#

The request for a reconsideration meeting should be documented. You will also need to prepare a report for the board to consider which states why you believe specific conditions have not been complied with.

The board must notify a parent of the reconsideration meeting as soon as practicable after deciding to hold a reconsideration meeting.

See the model letter 4 template, 'Reconsideration of suspension letter'.

Model letter templates

Board obligations for requesting a reconsideration#

Information about reconsideration meeting#

The board must tell the student and their parents in writing:

• when and where the reconsideration meeting will be (so they can make arrangements to attend) and
• what options the board has at that meeting for dealing with the suspension (so the student and their parents know the possible repercussions of failing to meet the conditions and the options available for the board to decide upon).

The board must also give the student and their parent in writing:

• information about the procedures that it follows at reconsideration meetings (so they know what to expect), and
• advice that the student and their parent and their representative may attend the meeting and speak at it about the reconsideration of the suspension (so that they know how to prepare), and 
• the principal’s report to the board on the reconsideration of the suspension (so they know the case they have to answer), and
• any other material about the reconsideration of the suspension that the principal or board are going to present at the meeting (so there are no surprises).

Information given to the student and parent must be as complete as possible. This is a requirement of natural justice. Boards should seek professional advice about how to protect the privacy of other students when providing information to the student and parent.

At the reconsideration meeting#

At a reconsideration meeting, the board has a completely separate role from the principal. The board reviews the principal’s report and decides whether the student has failed to comply with the conditions.

If the board agrees that the student has failed to comply with the conditions, it may then reconsider the original decision.

Reconsideration meetings cannot be held in relation to prospective students, former students or students enrolled at another school.

Finding a way forward

• The reconsideration meeting relates to considering a possible failure to comply with conditions and finding a way forward.
• It is not a new suspension meeting or an appeal process.
• The original incident is not revisited.
• The board may decide to undertake a review of its previous process, but this is not a reconsideration, new suspension or an appeal process.
• NZSBA can provide support for boards, should they undertake a review.

New Zealand School Boards Association

Flexibility#

How a reconsideration meeting is run is a matter for each board and the format does not have to be overly formal or court-like.

The Act does not provide for the calling of witnesses at a reconsideration meeting; this is inappropriate. Significant disputes about facts should have already been raised, decided upon and recorded by the principal in their report.

Instead, the focus is on reviewing compliance with conditions, hearing from everyone and finding a way forward.

Hearing from the student#

The student, the student’s parents, and their representatives are entitled to attend the reconsideration meeting, speak at it and have their views considered by the board before it makes its decision.

You may, however, progress with reconsidering the suspension if they choose not to attend or participate.

Withdrawal#

While you are deliberating and making your decision, you must either:

• require all the other parties to withdraw from the meeting
• ask all the other parties to stay at the meeting.

If the student and parents are asked to withdraw from a meeting, then the principal must withdraw too. The principal has a different role to other members at a suspension meeting and is not there as a decision maker. If you deliberate in private with the principal or ask the principal questions in the absence of the student and parents, this may lead to accusations of bias.

Understanding the board’s options#

The board must make only 1 of the following 4 decisions.

If you think a student should: 

1. attend your school again full-time, you must lift the suspension without conditions
2. attend your school again full-time but have specific conditions placed on them, you must lift the suspension with conditions
3. remain out of your school for a set timeframe in order to fulfil specific conditions placed on them, you must extend the suspension with conditions for a reasonable period
4. leave your school, you must exclude the student if they are under 16 or expel the student if they are over 16.