More Illegal Behaviour Linked to Parata

A High Court Judge decided today that the process used to close down a Christchurch school was illegal.  It was obvious from the very beginning of the process to close and merge Christchurch schools that the Minister had an idealogical agenda and did not want a high level of community or school involvement. An Ombudsman had been so concerned by the shoddy process that he did his own investigation and the Chief Ombudsman, Beverly Wakem, is currently carrying out a more comprehensive inquiry.

Christchurch schools had become battle weary, not only were they trying to hold things together and maintain a stable environment for children and families after the earthquake, but they had endured the forced implementation of National Standards and the Novopay debacle. It was difficult for them to find the extra energy to engage in the truncated consultation and submission process that the Minister forced upon them.

One school did somehow find the energy to fight back. Tony Simpson, Principal of Phillipstown School, was so appalled at the deliberate manipulation of facts and blatant dishonesty in the process that he refused to roll over as many others had done. In one meeting with him he patiently explained to me how the Ministry (on the Minister's behalf) had attempted to use a number of bizarre, and plainly false, justifications to merge them with Woolston School:

• The claimed liquefaction in the school grounds wasn't true.
• The surplus building (supposedly above code and under utilised) identified by the Ministry turned out to be a technology centre that was heavily used by surrounding schools.
• The suggested poor achievement levels also had no foundation. The school's last ERO report had identified that Maori children (one of the Government's target groups) "Continued to achieve well, with many of them achieving at higher levels than their non-Maori peers". For a Decile 1 school, Phillipstown had developed strong parent and community support and was performing extremely well.

Tony's experience of the submission process echoed what the ombudsman had found, the school was provided with little information that they could respond to. It appeared that a decision had been made purely on the economic benefits of combining two schools on one site. The interests of the children and the community were seemingly not regarded as being important.

Despite what the Minister has claimed, the Government has shown little interest in supporting low decile schools or those that cater for high needs students. Salisbury School also received a legal judgement in their favour when the Minister tried to close them down. The judge in this case determined that Parata had not given enough consideration to the health and safety of the high needs girls who attended the school. 

When you contrast the treatment of Phillipstown and Salisbury schools with that of what Wanganui Collegiate received it is clear that already privileged students are favoured over those at the other end of the social and economic spectrum.

The Phillipstown School community has suffered unnecessarily under a callous Minister and Ministry and despite winning this particular battle they may still have to endure another period of consultation and future closure anyway. If this does occur it will show just how disconnected this Government is from the lives of ordinary families and communities.