Thirty, not 13 schools to close

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Thirty, not 13 schools to close

3News NZ

Last night we revealed mistakes in the core facts the Ministry of Education has used in its proposal to close and merge Christchurch schools.

Tonight we have found another discrepancy.

On the 13th of September the Government proposed closing 13 schools, and that's the number that's been repeated in the media for three weeks now: 13.

But on a closer reading of the ministry's own statistics we believe that number is more than double.

Not 13, but 30 schools are due to close.

Watch the video to see Natasha Utting’s report.

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Comments

4/10/2012 6:31:54 p.m.

the DR wrote:

@ Patrick wall done 10/10 its good to know im not alone. the bastards will get away with it that's the sad thing

4/10/2012 3:51:14 p.m.

Edu wrote:

@Mike: 1. If it is all so obvious and reasonable, how come Lesley Longstone made such a HASH of explaining it to John Campbell? 2. quote: "those with their snouts in the Public trough over education" Yes, Parata, Longstone and the rest of them. NOT teachers and students.

4/10/2012 2:35:11 p.m.

Glenn wrote:

Fascism.

4/10/2012 1:15:30 p.m.

Mike wrote:

Campbell Live cant add either. Its not unusual for some in the media having trouble reading stuff and take weeks to 'Catch On'!

I commented around a month ago that the changes included reorganising schools just like several of our tertiary institutes that have one education entity, but several locations. I read this in the public stuff within the 1st day. When did the media last actually read stuff vs try to make headlines? This is obviously what they are describing for 5 of the schools to have one entity with satelite locations.

For the 18 schools being merged, again, the facilities are currently spread and some of those may also be one education entity, but 2 locations. The savings are quite sizable and allow more resources to be provided for education vs admin - hence the knee-jerk reactions. Apparnetly, more education, from the same budget, is bad???

Included in their figures of 30 is 5 schools which the ministries grouped together to be run as one school, with satelite locations, ie the current school locations, but by runing the schools admin together, saving money.

Some of the so-called changes aren't really changes. Christchurch has damage, and schools sharing facilities now, and the proposal in many cases takes the current sharing, and formalises it. How about Campbell Live check out the schools and how much sharing they have already done? There is no reason why more sharing can't be done in the future either.

We have so much knee-jerk reaction from those with a vested interest. The rest of NZ needs to be more efficient, but those with their snouts in the Public trough over education want no accountability nor improvement in efficiency.

4/10/2012 1:12:04 p.m.

Maree wrote:

Frightening! Charter schools have destroyed the public education system in the US. Why is NZ coping this system. I read Diane Ravitch's Blog and see the results of this. We need parents to understand the agenda and support teachers.

4/10/2012 12:43:02 p.m.

Dianne Khan wrote:

How can anyone have faith in a government and a Ministry that keep making fundamental errors in data collection and statistical analysis? It's those 'facts' that they base their decisions on, and yet they are so so wrong. It's staggering. Poor Christchurch, my heart goes out to those communities - it must he so stressful.

4/10/2012 11:32:55 a.m.

Patrick wrote:

Could there be a connection between school closures and charter schools. Closures could provide a pupil pool and school buildings or is it just coincidence?

4/10/2012 10:40:22 a.m.

Greg wrote:

The governments tax take is going to drop massively over the next decade as baby boomers retire, the good times are over. Much much more will need to be consolidated.

4/10/2012 9:45:52 a.m.

Robyn wrote:

Could someone PLEASE PLEASE ask the Minister if this has anything to do with "clearing the decks" for the implementation of charter schools in Christchurch ?? When the idea was first put forward Christchurch east was suggested as an ideal testing ground for them, along with South Auckland. At thge time people in Christchurch were very concerned about their children being used as guinea pigs, and the idea did not get support from parents. With all these schools being shut down, they will be able to impose charter schools on the school community in Christchurch, just as happened in New Orleans, after Hurricane Katrina. There will be empty ( and safe!!) school buildings aplenty, out of work teachers (who can be paid a lesser wage, as charter schools can set their own pay rates) and a huge pool of students that may not be easily able to access merged or the remaining open State schools, because of distance, poor transport availability or time constraint son parents with Christchurch's current traffic problems. What more could the promoters of the charter schools want? I haven't seen ONE reporter ask any questions about where and when charter schools are going to start in Christchurch. I bet there some being organised right now, ready to move in to fill the gaps left by this "rationalisation" of the school system in Christchurch and the surrounding areas.

4/10/2012 9:38:12 a.m.

Tony wrote:

It has been with interest I have listened to all the excuses the minister and her representative has given for the mergers of schools in Christchurch. It seems to me that the cuts proposed some months ago are going to be met by the pupils of my city. the children here have been through enough without this latest upheaval if this goes ahead the underachievers will drop furter behind being intergrated into already large classes.Maybe looking at thier own large amount of assistant aiding her to save cash could look at ways allow all students to attain a better level of achievement than causing more stress with these mergers. Tony