MP Meka Whaitiri is seeking more information on plans to relocate Hastings learning centre Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Te Wananga Whare Tapere o Takitimu to Havelock North.
MP Meka Whaitiri is seeking more information on plans to relocate Hastings learning centre Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Te Wananga Whare Tapere o Takitimu to Havelock North.
Labour MP Meka Whaitiri is seeking more information on plans to relocate Hastings learning centre Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Te Wananga Whare Tapere o Takitimu to Havelock North.
The long-established Hastings kura kaupapa risks becoming the "meat in the sandwich" of a bungled political process over plans to relocateit to Havelock North, Whaitiri says.
National's Tukituki MP Craig Foss admitted being "caught on the hop" earlier this month over his government's plans to build a new kura kaupapa (Maori school) on the site of the Arataki Motor Camp in Havelock North, within his electorate.
The proposed new site of Te Kura Kaupapa.
Education Minister Hekia Parata and Associate Minister Nikki Kaye signalled the move in a pre-budget announcement on April 14 but Mr Foss was not briefed on the details.
The new kura would become home to - and allow an expansion of - an existing Hastings learning centre, Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Te Wananga Whare Tapere o Takitimu.
The existing facility, on leased premises in Albert St, Parkvale, includes a kohanga reo for pre-schoolers, a kura for primary school children and a wananga providing tertiary-level teaching.
MP Meka Whaitiri
A move to a larger site would allow the facility to expand to include secondary education.
The Ministry of Education bought the Arataki Motor Camp site several years ago and in 2010 applied to have it designated for school and daycare purposes.
Ms Whaitiri, whose Ikaroa Rawhiti electorate includes all Hawke's Bay, said she plans to lodge a series of written questions for Ms Parata to answer, including who she consulted with over the planned move.
Ms Whaitiri said she also wants to know what other sites were considered, whether Ms Parata discussed the proposal with any ministers, how many children will be attending the kura, where they will come from and what the transport costs of their attendance would be. Ms Whaitiri said any new kura had to meet the needs of those attending and their whanau. She did not want Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Te Wananga Whare Tapere o Takitimu to get caught up in a fraught process involving the Minister, the ministry and "the anti-kura sentiment expressed by some individuals within the community," she said.
Ms Whaitiri said she had spoken to Te Wananga Whare Tapere o Takitimu board chairman Tawehi Munro this week and was concerned the institution had received a "take it or leave it" ultimatum from the Minister and ministry over the Havelock North site.
"We also need to know if the original decision for the designated land which was originally purchased to cope with the projected increase demand for primary schooling from the Havelock North area has changed, and if not, how this will be managed," she said.
