Labour ‘confused’ over secret school web-site

“Labour’s in a state of utter confusion about whether it should maintain its policy to deny parents access to a secret internet site holding important information on schools,” says National Party Education spokesman Bill English.

Labour’s coming under increasing pressure to open up the SchoolSMART web-site to parents.

SchoolSMART lets school managers compare themselves to schools of similar size and type. It provides information comparing a school to similar schools on staff turnover; roll decline and finances, as well as community support

“It’s sheer arrogance for the Ministry and the Minister to claim that parents aren’t equipped to properly interpret the information.

“Steve Maharey has implied that the knowledge is too dangerous for parents because they may use it to compare schools.

”Yet, in the same breath, he says schools can make the information available if they want to.

“He knows, just like I know, that since this is a Government-run web-site it’s actually his call as to whether parents can gain access to it.

“National believes parents deserve to have access. They should be allowed to make their own decisions about the education of their children.

“The majority of parents still choose their child’s school, despite Labour’s best attempts to deny them that choice.

“And since they’re doing that already, they should be allowed to make their choice on the basis of consistent and reliable information,” says Mr English.

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