Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
License needed for work use Register

Gordon Campbell | Parliament TV | Parliament Today | News Video | Crime | Employers | Housing | Immigration | Legal | Local Govt. | Maori | Welfare | Unions | Youth | Search

 

Govt can’t treat residential school closures as a done deal

PSA MEDIA RELEASE

15th June 2012 - For Immediate Use

Government can’t afford to treat residential school closures as a done deal

The Public Service Association is urging the government not to treat a plan to close down residential special schools as a done deal.


Submissions close today (June 15) on a Ministry of Education proposal to close down four residential schools for children with complex behavioural and learning disabilities. It is planning to reallocate the money into what it calls a ’wrap around special education service’ which would see children based back in their local communities and attending mainstream schools.

Under the plan, Westbridge School in west Auckland, Salisbury School in Nelson, and both Halswell and McKenzie Schools in Christchurch will be closed by the end of the year. There are a total of 116 beds at the schools and up to 230 staff.

The PSA believes there is clear value in retaining the schools and closing them could put vulnerable children and families at risk.

PSA delegate and Halswell School Family Support Worker Richard Chalklen says the schools are an essential part of the service mix required by students and their families.

“These are very high needs students and in most cases residential schools have been there for them when all other options have been exhausted. The schools are helping improve student achievement and are providing students with an effective specialist education which cannot easily be met in their local communities or in their local schools.”

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

Are you getting our free newsletter?

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.

“Many high needs students do not have positive experiences in their local schools and communities and in many cases their families are ill-equipped to care for them at home,” he says.

The PSA is also concerned that the closure of the schools will lead to the loss of valuable and specialist staff and once that capacity is lost it cannot be replaced.

Mr Chalken says the speed at which the Ministry wants to establish the new national service and close down the schools is also completely unrealistic.

“I believe the submissions being made on this policy will send the government a clear message about the need to keep special residential schools in the system. It can’t afford to let high needs students and their families down or rush through another education policy without thinking through the consequences.”

*For a full copy of the PSA submission see here



© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Regional Headlines

Gordon Campbell: On The Government’s Smokefree Laws Debacle

The most charitable explanation for National’s behaviour over the smokefree legislation is that they have dutifully fulfilled the wishes of the Big Tobacco lobby and then cast around – incompetently, as it turns out - for excuses that might sell this health policy U-turn to the public. The less charitable view is that the government was being deliberately misleading. Are we to think Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is a fool, or a liar? It seems rather early on in his term of office to be facing that unpleasant choice. Yet when Luxon (and senior MP Chris Bishop) tried to defend the indefensible with the same wildly inaccurate claim, there are not a lot of positive explanations left on the table.... More


 
 
Public Housing Futures: Christmas Comes Early For Landlords

New CTU analysis of the National & ACT coalition agreement has shown the cost of returning interest deductibility to landlords is an extra $900M on top of National’s original proposal. This is because it is going to be implemented earlier and faster, including retrospective rebates from April 2023. More


Green Party: Petition To Save Oil & Gas Ban

“The new Government’s plan to expand oil and gas exploration is as dangerous as it is unscientific. Whatever you think about the new government, there is simply no mandate to trash the climate. We need to come together to stop them,” says James Shaw. More

PSA: MFAT Must Reverse Decision To Remove Te Reo

MFAT's decision to remove te reo from correspondence before new Ministers are sworn in risks undermining the important progress the public sector has made in honouring te Tiriti. "We are very disappointed in what is a backward decision - it simply seems to be a Ministry bowing to the racist rhetoric we heard on the election campaign trail," says Marcia Puru. More

 
 
 
 
 
 

LATEST HEADLINES

  • PARLIAMENT
  • POLITICS
  • REGIONAL
 
 

InfoPages News Channels


 
 
 
 

Join Our Free Newsletter

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.