Former Tokomairiro Training Centre tutor Brian Crawford, who has gone public with claims including bullying, alcohol consumption and intimidation at the centre, was involved in mediation with the Employment Relations Authority but withdrew his personal grievance claim last week.
Another former tutor plans to go through an Employment Court hearing over similar concerns.
In a statement through its lawyer, the school board said "claims made to the Otago Daily Times are untrue, defamatory and breach agreed confidentiality arrangements".
The board did not accept there were any valid grounds to support a personal grievance claim lodged by Mr Crawford but had continued to work with the Employment Mediation Service to resolve the issue.
Mr Crawford and another tutor, who cannot be named, resigned at a time when the board said it was working with them to resolve "perceived employment issues".
They then lodged personal grievance claims, the board statement said.
"The board and its legal adviser do not accept that there are any valid grounds to support the personal grievance claims but have continued to work with the Employment Mediation Service to resolve the issues."
Two new tutors have been employed and the board was confident the centre was being managed and operated in an appropriate, safe and lawful manner "and the trainees and public can be assured of this", the statement ended.
Among other allegations, Mr Crawford claimed centre management falsely inflated trainee attendance numbers to secure Tertiary Education Commission funding and that the school used the money to pay for teacher aides at the school, leaving the centre under-equipped.
The school's TEC funding allocation last year totalled $204,227.
During the past six years, it has received $1.1 million in TEC funding for training opportunities.
During the same period, it received $667,080 for youth training and $203,593 for its Gateway programme.
TEC group investment manager James Turner said, in a statement, its funding must be spent in the areas for which it is allocated.
"The TEC has no reason to believe the funding provided to Tokomairiro Training is not being used for the designated programmes.
Any questions around staff behaviour should be referred directly to the school's management."
Mr Crawford also alleges a former tutor regularly assaulted several trainees, including a 15-year-old who was made to clean an ice-cream off the floor after being shoved against a wall and on to the floor by the tutor.
He said the same tutor threatened to kill another trainee in a separate incident and had been involved in at least two other alleged assaults against young people at the centre.
Mr Crawford also believes the tutor was drunk on an overnight camp near the Clutha River, fell into the river during the night and had to be rescued by a trainee, and supplied alcohol to the trainees, most of whom were aged 15 to 17 years.
The tutor at the centre of those allegations has since left, after signing a confidential severance deal with the school.
He could not be contacted for comment.
Mr Crawford questioned why police had not been called to deal with several of the more serious allegations.
Milton police officer Constable Steve Griffiths said police had been called to the centre at various times during the past two years.
The only complaint laid had been an incident involving the alleged theft of a cellphone at the centre.
About 12 trainees, ranging in age from mid-teens to their 50s, train at the centre.
The centre closed in mid-May but re-opened in early June.
The school declined to comment on the reasons behind the closure, only saying it was "in recess" for three weeks.
Mr Crawford claims the former school principal and the board were repeatedly asked to conduct thorough investigations into the running of the centre but no action was taken.
New principal Wayne Edgar starts at Toko High on Monday.
