The integration of St Peter's College into the state education system also " ... caused a 'church/state' separation of the Brothers community from the institution". This was demonstrated particularly in the formal splitting of authority in the school between the school board of trustees and the principal of the college, and the new role of the former in staffing matters. As the Christian Brothers did not own the school, they could not appoint their representatives on the board. The proprietor's representatives where instead appointed by the school's owner, the Bishop of Auckland. In 1992 the Christian Brothers shifted from the college to a new community house in Queen Mary Avenue, Epsom, acquired because it was near St Peter's College. Brother L. H. Wilkes wrote about what this meant for the Christian Brothers community. "For years the dread of leaving St Peter's house hung over the community at St Peter's. In 1991 it was down to months and in early 1992 it was down to weeks and to days. Nobody actually spoke definitely about leaving but everyone knew it was inevitable. I could just not imagine the community in an ordinary house in an ordinary street ...". Some Brothers teaching at St Peter's College in the late 1980s moved to another community house in Mangere which soon closed. Apart from Brother Paul Robertson, the last serving Christian Brother to retain regular involvement with St Peter's College was Brother V. N. Cusack. He worked in the St Peter's tuckshop until 1997, arriving at 7.30am every school day to heat the pies. Mr Peter Watt ("Watty"), who was an old boy of St Peter's, and a Christian Brother from 1966 to 1981, taught at the college as a Brother from 1969 to 1972 and in 1980. He ceased to be a Christian Brother in 1981. He returned to St Peter's to teach Mathematics from 1986, retiring in 2016. He remained closely associated with the college until his death on 20 June 2018, in the college's 80th year.