While some parents and staff alleged children at the special needs school were hit, sat on, pinched, force-fed, tackled to the ground and regularly put in a seclusion room by a teacher and a teacher aide at the Sara Cohen unit at Concord School, several other parents believed the allegations were false.
One staff member quit and another was suspended.
Police investigated the school after a parent complained in February, but the investigation ended with no charges being laid.
The Ministry of Education employed education consultant Mike Corkery to conduct an investigation into the concerns raised by parents, and a limited statutory manager (LSM), Nicola Hornsey, was put in place in April with powers relating to employment, complaints, communication and some aspects of health and safety.
A source close to the investigation said it was not just smoke, there was definitely fire to the allegations.
"There’s a problem all right, and I don’t have confidence that it’s being dealt with.
"No-one really knows what they have done to resolve the situation. It’s still terrible."
The source said there were systemic problems with the structure and organisation of the school.
The processes, procedures and systems that should have been in place to prevent "this stuff from going on" did not appear to be in place.
"There are issues at the board and management level that need to be resolved.‘‘It looks as though nothing has happened."
A parent, who declined to be named, said her son was a victim of some of the abuse. She took her concerns to the school in 2015 and was "laughed off" by the management, who appeared to "sweep the issues under the rug".
"Our boy is still having repercussions from how he was treated in that class.
"He was sat on, he was put in the seclusion room — you name it."
She later pulled her son from the school and sent him to another school.
"I’ve never seen such a down-trodden, dysfunctional environment in my life.
"They’ve got vulnerable parents and they’ve got vulnerable staff because everyone’s worn down.
"It’s a melting pot of disaster."
She believed progress was being made, but it was happening too slowly.
"It’s going painfully slow, and it’s not good enough."
School principal Raewyn Alexander, Mr Corkery and Mrs Hornsey declined to comment on the situation because it was "an employment matter".
However, Mr Hornsey said the issues identified at Sara Cohen School were being actively addressed and the school was "off to a positive start" in 2017.
Ministry of Education associate deputy secretary Susan Howan reiterated Mrs Hornsey’s comments. She also said the ministry was required to formally review the intervention within the first year, which would be by April 20.
"The review process will identify ongoing risks and the progress made towards achieving the specified outcomes of the intervention.
"As this relates to an employment matter, it is likely that that intervention will be required until this process has been completed.
"The aim of statutory intervention and support is always to return the school to full self-governance."
