Bay couple warn on zoning rule for school

By CARLY UDY
A Tauranga couple who were fighting to keep their boys at Greenpark Primary School say they don't want other parents to go through the stress and frustration they have _ all for the sake of communication.
Steve and Kara Peach have now enrolled their children at Greerton Village School after having no luck convincing the Ministry of Education to let their boys return to their former school.
Kara and Steve Peach were campaigning to keep their boys at Greenpark Primary School after a six-week stay with their grandparents in Ohakune, south of Taupo.
The family moved out of Greenpark's zone when they shifted house on March 3 but as current students, the children were still eligible to attend.
However, Mrs Peach fell sick in July and with her husband Steve working 12-hour days, the decision was made to send Bjorn, 10, and Deavon, 8, to live with Mrs Peach's parents in Ohakune while she recuperated. The boys were withdrawn from Greenpark Primary.
Mrs Peach says she was not aware that by moving from Greerton to Gate Pa in March she would be unable to re-enrol the brothers on their return to Tauranga.
The Ministry of Education says that when a student enrols at a new school, even for a short period, enrolment at their previous school ceases. If they approach their previous school to re-enrol, the school has to treat the application as a "new" enrolment.
"We just don't want other parents to have to go through this situation. As I said to Steve, if we'd known this was going to happen right at the start we would have started fighting early but no one gave us any indication whatsoever that was going to happen, which we thought was pretty off," Mrs Peach said.
The Ministry has said the only way the Peach boys could be re-enrolled at Greenpark is if the ministry undertook a "directed enrolment" under the terms of the Education Act 1989.
The Peaches said they had tried this but found it totally impractical.
"We basically found out that we had to go to a psychologist to see what effect it had had on the boys and pay for it, for them [the ministry] to actually even consider. We can't afford that. We thought that was pretty stupid."
Mrs Peach said her sons were "a bit disappointed" to have to change schools but she was confident they would warm to the idea. "Kids tend to bounce back really easy."
She said the family was grateful to Greenpark Primary for its support throughout the ordeal and that the ministry had apologised.