In a "leap of faith" the Makoura College board has fallen on its sword opting to resign with a commissioner to step in and replace it later this month.
Buoyed by grassroots support, the resignation is only the beginning of the battle to save Makoura College, board chairman Lindsay Gribben said.
"That's our leap of faith that they won't close the school & the fight to keep Makoura open is just starting," Mr Gribben said.
Mr Gribben announced yesterday that a full-time commissioner would be appointed by the Ministry of Education around the time of the board's last regular meeting on August 27.
Due to the complexity and size of the matter the board was no longer the appropriate "change agent" and needed a commissioner "to secure the future of Makoura College", he said.
Mr Gribben estimated the board's combined experience at 100 years and offered to serve the commissioner with that expertise in the future. He said that based on strong submissions received from the community the board had recommended that Education Minister Chris Carter keep Makoura open. The news was revealed in a press conference in the school's library yesterday morning also attended by board deputy chairwoman Carol Hinton, board parent representative Joanne Edwards, senior student representative Charlotte Lacy and principal Chris Scott.
Mr Scott used a rugby analogy to explain the rationale behind the board's decision to resign, "the board have done a huge amount of work they've been like forwards pushing the ball up the field and getting Makoura into a winning position, now they're passing the ball to the backs and the commissioner's going to score a try".
Wairarapa College would play a crucial role in Makoura's survival. "The board does not believe that any strategy for preserving choice in secondary state provision in Masterton can proceed without a substantial impact on the college," Mr Gribben said.
The board mooted several strategies and regulations including the reduction of Wairarapa College's roll, changing Masterton's school zones and the reinstatement of a combined board for the two co-ed state secondary schools. He said attempts to adjust rolls without teamwork would "founder on the lack of any means to force any student to attend either school if they are in a position to choose only co-operation will succeed".
Mr Gribben also said Masterton District Council could play a "vital" role as an "umbrella organisation" overseeing a co-operative process between the two schools because the council offered "independent leadership and energy for a whole community redesign of secondary education provision in Masterton".
He also addressed the groundswell of community support opposing Makoura's threatened closure, which included a well-attended public consultation, a student-led petition that collected almost 8000 signatures and 225 public submissions.
"&on; the basis of the number of submissions it has received, the board accepts that if it is to represent the express wishes of the students, staff, parents and whanau of Makoura College and the wider Masterton community, it must recommend to the Minister of Education that Makoura College remain open," Mr Gribben said.
"Although for mixed motives, there was a united community demand to preserve choice in state secondary education in Masterton," he said.
Makoura College limited statutory manager Andy Matthews said it is "fundamentally important that the community follow up on its commitment."
Of the resignation, Mr Matthews said he thought "the important thing is the board had the guts to go through with this process instead of burying their heads in the sand."
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