Parents of a former Long Bay College student have laid a complaint with the Ministry of Education and investigated taking legal action over the alleged mistreatment and over-sedation of their epileptic son by school staff.

Phil and Keiko Cauty say for months, they would collect their son Spencer in a heavily sedated state from school, with their boy slumped in his wheelchair and needing help to get in and out of the car.

Their son, 18, who suffers from epilepsy and has an intellectual disability, attended the North Shore high school between 2018-2020 and had a fulltime teacher aide who was funded through the health ministry.

His parents say throughout primary and intermediate school, their son had “fantastic support” from the staff.

But they claim his time at Long Bay College was a “nightmare”.

They decided not to make an official complaint with the ministry until their daughter finished Year 13 in 2023.

“For much of 2018 to 2020, we were stressed, angry and lost sleep over how the school was treating Spencer and us,” said Phil Cauty.

Spencer’s original seizure management plan at the school stated that if a mild seizure lasted more than 45 minutes, he was to be given a sedative by the medical attendant.

But in November 2018, Spencer developed longer seizures and needed to be sedated almost every day.

The following month, Spencer’s Starship neurologist decided to extend the time to 55 minutes to reduce the frequency of sedation and allow Spencer’s seizures a chance to stop naturally.

However, the new plan needed to be signed off by 13 Long Bay College staff and was only implemented in February 2019.

“As a result, Spencer received more than 10 doses of sedative at school unnecessarily with disregard for the approval and issued 55-minute instruction,” Cauty claimed.

“For months, we had been surprised at how heavily sedated Spencer was when we collected him from school. He was usually slumped in a wheelchair, needing help in and out of the car, help up the steps at home and into his bed.”

Phil Cauty with his son Spencer, who attended Long Bay College between 2018-2020.

Cauty also claimed staff were instructing Spencer to swallow the medication.

“It isn’t supposed to be swallowed,” he said. “If it is swallowed, then prolonged sedation occurs.”

Spencer’s parents emailed both college principal CJ Healey and the board with their concerns but were dissatisfied with the response.

Cauty had also asked the medical attendant during a recorded phone conversation if staff were opposed to changing the 45-minute plan. He says he was told: “Yes, we are.”

Spencer’s neurologist emailed the school’s principal at the time expressing her disappointment.

“I have to honestly say that there is no school which has made this quite as difficult as Long Bay College,” she said.

At the end of 2020, Spencer moved to Wairau Valley Special School, which received funding from the Education Ministry’s Ongoing Resourcing Scheme.

Spencer Cauty, who suffers from seizures most days, at Starship Hospital.

The Cautys informed the Board of Trustees and senior staff again in December about Spencer’s situation and filed a historical complaint with the ministry.

They have since also spoken with a lawyer and investigated taking legal action against the school over their son’s treatment.

Long Bay College Board of Trustees deputy presiding member Steve Piner said following a review, the college now had “staffing for supporting students with medical needs”, like Spencer.

“We now employ a registered nurse and a medical room attendant”.

“We are committed to doing everything possible to provide the best health support that we can to our students.”

Healey said he had reviewed Spencer’s case.

“There is no greater priority than their students and their health, safety and wellbeing.

“We will continue to review our response to complex or significant cases in order to strengthen our practices and policies wherever we can.”

Piner said complaints were taken “very seriously”, with the board taking advice from a range of education and legal bodies.

Five formal complaints have been laid with the ministry against Long Bay College over the past two years.

They relate to “operational matters” within the school. The ministry said they were all managed through its complaints policy.