February 24, 2015
Whangaruru school set up to fail
Te Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis says a troubled Northland charter school was set up to fail and its students should now be supported back into other schools.
Education Minister Hekia Parata has told the trust running Te Pumanawa o Te Wairau at Whangaruru that a specialist audit will be held next month to determine whether problems can be fixed or the school closed.
Mr Davis says the whanau who set up the school had the best intentions, but they chose to work with some of the most difficult students in the Whangarei area.
" I don’t think they were given the time to set things up. I know that the minister received advice against signing them off straight away. I think the minister should have listened to that advice because this whanau have been set up to fail. Alot of money appears to be going down the gurgler. The kids are no better off. Leave the adults to scrap out around the pros and cons of charter schools and get these kids back in education somehow " he says.
Kelvin Davis says the Education Ministry needs to be planning how to get the children back into other schools in the area, including wrapping extra resources around them so they can catch up after what must be seen as a failed experiment
FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH KELVIN DAVIS CLICK ON THE LINK
https://secure.zeald.com/uma/play_podcast?podlink=MjY2MTg=
Copyright © 2015, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com