Board chairman David Booth confirmed yesterday the legal action was being prepared, but declined to give specifics about what the court proceedings would entail, other than to say it was hoped it would stop the Ministry of Education from implementing an enrolment scheme at the school.
The ministry has given the school until this Friday to establish an enrolment scheme, or it would appoint a limited statutory manager (LSM) to do so for the school.
Mr Booth said the board was challenging the ministry because it did not believe there was a need for an enrolment scheme.
However, University of Otago public law lecturer Marcelo Rodriguez-Ferrere said the law appeared to be stacked strongly in favour of the Ministry of Education, and King's High School would have to have strong evidence if it was to put up a successful fight against an enrolment scheme.
Last week, ministry enablement and support sector head Katrina Casey said a manager would be appointed to take over specified governance roles from the board - in this case, for board processes and procedures, and for communicating these effectively with the school's community.
This would enable the manager to implement an enrolment scheme for King's High School, while the board of trustees retained the rest of its governance functions, she said.
Ms Casey said the ministry had not been notified of any court proceedings yet, and remained willing to meet the King's board of trustees at any time to resolve the situation.
