The petition to save the Ranui Primary School's special needs units has gathered momentum with signatories now reaching 12,000.
The petition was presented on Friday morning to Labour MPs Chris Hipkins and David Cunliffe as well as NZ First MP Tracey Martin.
Dorothy Stewart, one of the organisers, says the parents who showed up at Friday morning's presentation are confident that the ministers approached will take up the issue with the education select committee.
"It was quite good," says Mrs Stewart. "Everyone agreed that what's happening will cost our country millions in the long run. If you don't teach special needs children lifeskills, you will end up giving caregivers to each one of them in the long run."
Mrs Stewart says some people came to the presentation who didn't even have children with disabilities.
"Two people came in because of The Aucklander story and they were really annoyed. They realised it's not going to affect just us but them as well. It's going to affect the rest of the school. It's going to affect all 30 children in the class," she says.
The Ministry of Education earlier said principals in the Henderson area initiated a review of their area's special needs service in 2009 and found that when specialist teachers were confined to a special class in a school, only those students received support and other students who may benefit missed out.
Brian Coffey, Ministry of Education group manager for special education, said the principals agreed that specialist units were unfair for learners in other schools.
"They decided to bring West Auckland schools in line with the rest of the country, and use the itinerant model," says Mr Coffey. "The Ministry has continued to endorse and support this decision, offering staffing for the Ranui Unit until the end of 2012 to allow for successful transitioning of learners into mainstream classes."
But Mrs Stewart says it is unfortunate that teachers cannot speak out publicly for fear of losing their jobs. A large number of the signatories are teachers although The Aucklander understands the principal of Ranui special needs unit is supportive of the changes.
"One thing that we brought up at the meeting this morning was that schools have funding even though they do not have special needs students. So the funds are actually wasted," she says.
"It's just so silly what they are trying to do," she says. "It's just short-term vision."
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