Dear Parents/Caregivers

On behalf of the Board of Trustees I wanted to touch base with our parents regarding the Rector’s recent comments about cannabis and young people.

As a school we are always committed to meeting our legal obligations, including those relating to our school maintaining political neutrality.

Over recent days we have held discussions with the Ministry of Education and New Zealand School Trustees Association (NZSTA) to ensure that both the Board and Rector are acting in line with the Ministry’s expectations for schools and complying with all legislation.

Our advice is that as our Board is a public sector entity we are required to be politically neutral and cannot encourage anyone to vote for specific candidates, parties or policies. However, as the referendum is not a party political matter and the Rector is sufficiently removed from Ministers and policy, individuals are able to express their views on issues where people are left to make their own decisions.

As a Rector, Nick McIvor has always spoken from the heart when it comes to protecting the health, safety and wellbeing of young people and helping them reach their potential. We know he feels a personal responsibility to share his views about cannabis use by young people to encourage our community to seek more information to fully understand the different arguments.

As a Board we believe that the potential change to cannabis law is an important social issue that our community should be encouraged to discuss. This will ensure that people are as informed as possible when they make decisions on election day. In this instance we deem it appropriate for the Rector to raise the issue with our community.

Thank you to everyone who has been in touch.

Richard Wingham
Chairman
King’s High School Board of Trustees