School Of Hard Knocks

20 Sep 2009 11:20a.m.

pseudonym I,II,III, IV wrote:

OK, enough! To all of you who are stabbing each other in the back, you should be patting each other on the back. The only people who count here are the "kids". They have been failed by their families, mainstream schools and the MOE. The people who are supporting them are the hard-working teachers and learning mentors who care about what happens to them. So enough is enough. The more people put on this "blog", the more you are hurting the students at FDC -all sites. It is time for this "crap" to stop! And, 60 minutes by keeping this "crap" on line here you are also hurting the students!

20 Sep 2009 08:00a.m.

Pseudonym wrote:

Original - not very original. We all know that many staff at Otara, including the current site manager and many of the youthworkers were suspended or investigated for "bullying" students. We also know that one of the ERO reviewers had a partner that was on the board of Youth Horizons. We also know that those youthworkers that went to the Tuakau site and were released because they never showed up, never phoned in when they were sick, etc. etc. Thank you Carol. We are a group that has a great deal of information and documentation that will embarass the MOE, the ex principal and others once the school is closed.

18 Sep 2009 12:37p.m.

Original wrote:

To you "Speller" may I begin with your correcting of people's spelling mistakes as unfair as you did not begin your very first sentence with a capital letter. Also, unless you had the chance to be part of the team at FDC Otara which is a very tight knit team (see ERO Review) and the only site to produce results of students transitioning to mainstream schools, then I don't think you have the grounds to speak about other sites. The problems put plain and simply: The management team including the Commissioner, Principal and Deputy, who were responsible for providing an adequate system of care and education for both the students, and the 'equipping' of staff to deliver, failed to do this and continued to do so over the years. Who put them in these positions? I remember being sent to 'Tuakau' to help 'sort things (the boys) out' as what we were doing at Otara was working well. The problems began from the top. So, it is no surprise that the principal has 'jumped ship' without thinking that many of these students have had influential people and parents in their lives 'walk out' and 'give up on them.' But you wouldn't think of this, unless you were cut out for this type of work. It's now a game of 'pass the mess'. I encourage the hiring of people genuinely wanting 'change'.