Makoura board should be replaced, says Hayes

Makoura College is already in its coffin and Ministry of Education advisers are only there to bury it, says Wairarapa MP John Hayes.
A decision by Makoura College's board of trustees to close the school at the end of the year is not a "foregone conclusion", he said, but "the ministry clearly doesn't like Makoura College and is pushing for a merger and in Masterton, a town of 22,000 people, there needs to be more than one state secondary school".
"Once the public consultation process has taken place the board has to send a report to the Minister who ultimately makes the final decision."
He said in recent years Education Review Office reports show a "consistent record of problems at Makoura". "It's outrageous for the Makoura board to try and say that the problem was imposed on them by Wairarapa College not wanting to merge. The Minister needs to suspend the board and appoint a commissioner.
"Parents aren't stupid. The reason the roll isn't increasing at Makoura is because parents are not happy with the service they are getting at the school and are choosing to send their kids somewhere else."
There are plenty of schools in New Zealand with less than 200 students that are surviving, he said.
"I'd be surprised if the Minister of Education, Chris Carter, wants to get rid of Makoura. For the last nine years there has been problems at the college and it would be absolutely wrong of the ministry to simply close it."
He said the ministry is aware of ongoing problems at Makoura and the best way of solving them is to put in a commissioner.
A public meeting is being held at the Makoura College hall at 7pm on July 16 and board members will be available to provide clarification or answer questions at the college from 11am until 3pm the next day.
Meanwhile, Wairarapa Labour Party candidate Denise MacKenzie urges everyone to read the board's report that has been sent out for public consultation, which will close on July 28.
"This is not a great deal of time for people to respond and for the fate of the school to be decided.
"It appears the only realistic option is to close the school, according to the report, and this is just too defeatist."
She said the report reads as though the "board members have rolled over and are ready to die".
Mrs MacKenzie says she is disappointed there has not been an opportunity for the wider community to have their say before now. "Masterton should be able to offer a choice for state co-educational secondary education and closing Makoura will severely limit such a choice and create a burden on the existing institutions."