A Dunedin school for children with special needs is under the spotlight following allegations of abuse.
Police and the Ministry of Education launched investigations into Sara Cohen School earlier this year.
It followed complaints by a parent over the use of seclusion rooms, and allegations teaching staff hit and sat on children as young as five.
One staff member has resigned and another has been suspended, but police say following their investigation no charges will be filed.
Mike Corkery, the independent education consultant who investigated the claims, says the situation is now out of his hands and is up to the school and the Ministry.
"I've expressed the concerns I've had in the report and it's not really for me to make further comment on it now," he says.
Mr Corkery says he spoke to around 11 teachers as well as most of the school's board members, and those he spoke with wanted their discussions to be kept in confidence.
"I was asked to write a report about what was happening at Sara Cohen by the Ministry [of Education] and the Board of Trustees jointly," he says.
"They had had some complaints and they had some issues they wanted to be investigated and reported on."
However, the mother of one of the teacher's former students says she finds it hard to believe the teacher would have abused anyone.
The parent, who wishes to remain anonymous, says the teacher's suspension is symptomatic of a wider issue.
"I believe that if my child had been abused or witnessing abuse of other children in the classroom... he would have started reacting in the same way," she says. "But we never saw any changes in his behaviour."
"I do believe it's a witch-hunt and that the school is using this teacher - because she's been implicated in all the stuff that's happened - as a scapegoat for their misgivings."
Minister of Education Hekia Parata says she became aware of issues at the school earlier this year.
"The Ministry, following its usual process, put in an independent investigation to establish what the issues were and moved very quickly to put a statutory manager in to deal with the issues," she says.
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