Govt fails to convince pupils' parents | Rotorua News | Local News in Rotorua

The Ministry of Education is calling the Kawerau schools merger "A New Direction" but a large portion of the community remains unconvinced.

At a meeting in the mill town this week, Ministry representatives Dallas Collett and Chris Day were bombarded with questions regarding the latest proposal for a middle school and a senior school.

Earlier this year, after the community made it clear they wanted to retain a separate intermediate school, Education Minister Anne Tolley proposed a middle school (years 7-9) and a senior school (years 10-13) for the Kawerau College site.

Mrs Tolley also announced the establishment of a kura kaupapa Te Whakatau o Putauaki on the Kawerau North School site, the merger of Kawerau Central, North and Putauaki schools on the Putauaki site and the retention of Kawerau South School.

Consultation surrounding the middle and senior school proposal was initially set down for a six-month period but Mrs Tolley shortened that to six weeks.

At Thursday night's meeting, Ms Collett explained the consultation period was shortened because Mrs Tolley believed it beneficial to have clear decisions made by the end of 2011.

"This way you will know exactly what is going to happen in 2013," Ms Collett said.

"I realise it's not easy going through a period of uncertainty, but this proposal is a chance to revitalise year 7 to 13 schooling in Kawerau."

Whakatane Intermediate principal Doug McLean spoke of the benefits of a middle school but said he would have concerns if it were built on the same site as the senior school.

"The middle school years are critical to the development of children and, provided they have a home-room education with a quality teacher who gets to know them individually and almost becomes an extra parent, we will see some positive changes," he said.

A proposed plan of what the college site would look like if both the middle and senior schools were there was shown to the audience. They were told the rebuilding of additional resources would not be done in "one fell swoop" but in stages.

Many at the meeting said they did not have any faith the ministry would listen to what they wanted. Some said they did not want their intermediate-aged children on the same campus as seniors.

One supporter of the changes was Kawerau College teacher of 31 years Joanne Moon, who said she welcomed the proposed changes and was looking forward to moving ahead.

"We have a lot of great kids at the college who produce great results and I believe having a middle and senior school on the same campus is a great way to expand on what we have," Mrs Moon said.