Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Ross McCullough
THERE are healthier signs the Ministry of Education and those connected with the new Year 1-13 state school at Te Kaha are working together to have it finally built.
However, the delays mean the school is unlikely to be completed until at least mid-2019.
This means the current situation that has existed for about two years with the senior and junior children from Te Kura o Te Whanau-a- Apanui School needing to be sent in opposite directions to learn at different schools on the Coast, will continue until the new state-of-the-art school is built.
In June 2015 following a review, then education minister Hekia Parata, on advice from her ministry, opted to close Raukokere, Omaio, and Te Whanau-a-Apanui Area schools on the Coast to make way for the new modern school at Te Kaha.
The move was said to address concerns with the sustainability and quality of education on the Coast, help achieve better outcomes for the children being schooled in the area, strengthen education and governance, and improve school leadership.
Following the election, new Waiariki MP Tamati Coffey told The Nation programme he would be taking up the fight for the people on the Coast to get their new school built.
Last week Mr Coffey told Opotiki News the situation with the delays building the school was first brought to his attention on the campaign trail when he went to Omaio which, he said, was a community under some pressure with the extra student numbers they were catering for.
The second time he went back, the community raised the issue again, and he felt it was time to “sort it out” and pledged to advocate on behalf of those down the Coast who had been impacted by the decision to close the three schools.
Mr Coffey said he did not know why progress on building the new school at Te Kaha had been so slow but in his new political capacity he intended finding out.
“Now I’m officially the MP for Waiariki I have a duty and responsibility to ask those questions to the right people,” Mr Coffey said.
Being new to Parliament and still settling in, he has not yet been provided with any official information by the ministry about the new school at Te Kaha.
Mr Coffey said following Ms Parata’s sudden resignation from politics in January there was fear in the Coast community about the school. They had not heard from the ministry and had been left “in the dark.”
“Everyone knew Hekia had left and were waiting for a phone call from someone from the ministry, and had feared they might have been forgotten about,” he said.
Mr Coffey said last Wednesday, a local living on the Coast informed him the ministry had given the school board more authority around what the school would look like – they had been invited to be part of the decision-making.
A former school board of trustees member on the Coast, who did not want to be named, said in November last year, Te Kura o Te Whanau-a-Apanui School had an establishment board of trustees in place.
The Education Review Office had since ruled the school was ready to move to a parent-elected board.
“What I can say from my time on the board, the current board has been working towards getting it set up and the processes for that to happen.”
Mr Coffey said it appeared things were back on track, but he wasn’t sure whether it was because he had got involved and been vocal about the matter during his election campaign.
Opotiki Mayor John Forbes said the current trip that students from Whangaparaoa School were taking to the World War I battlefields was an example of a community overcoming its isolation compared with many other parts of the country.
He congratulated principal Tui Pook and everyone who had supported the learning initiative, but said the fact those on the Coast had been waiting so long for the new school to replace sub-standard facilities from the past was just not good enough.
“Well done for being so patient but I think you have waited far too long. Come on those responsible, do your job. Lives on the Coast are tough enough already.”
Design work delays build
Ministry of Education head of education infrastructure services Kim Shannon said construction of the new state school at Te Kaka was originally scheduled to be completed by late next year.
The build had been delayed a year to allow more time to work with the school to get an agreed approach to the design work for it.
Ms Shannon said this had been a constructive process and both it and the school had agreed on the new timelines.
She said preliminary site investigation, geotechnical work and building assessment work was under way now and expected to be completed by the middle of next month.
Ms Shannon said the ministry took all possible steps to deliver new schools, kura and other major work in line with expectations, but as with all major construction projects some delays are unavoidable.
“And it is vital that we take the time needed to ensure this significant infrastructure investment delivers the best results for the kura and its community long-term.”