Moerewa School's only crime is having the audacity to set high goals for pupils of a decile one school, the founder of a successful Maori school says.
Hilda Halkyard-Harawira, a former principal at Te Rangi Aniwaniwa, north of Kaitaia, said she had been struck by the positive attitude of Moerewa's
senior students.
''They're so positive. They want to go to school, and they want to go to that school,'' she said.
Instead of shutting down the unit, Education Minister Hekia Parata should see Moerewa School as ''an oasis of opportunity'' and a template for other communities.
Principal Keri Milne-Ihimaera and the ousted board of trustees were ''a flower in the desert of educational paucity''.
''Now Tai Tokerau will have to watch while some commissioner comes in and botches up the smooth running of Moerewa School,'' Ms Halkyard-Harawira said.
The school had shown it could make a positive difference for Year 9-10 students and should have been allowed to make a case for Year 11-13s.
In the case of her school, it had taken almost two years to satisfy the Ministry's requirements for wharekura (secondary school) status. Te Rangi Aniwaniwa faced some of the same challenges as Moerewa, such as its small size and lack of specialist teachers, but that had been overcomewith videoconferencing, using units prepared by other schools, and making use of Correspondence School workshops.
Ms Halkyard-Harawira said it was ironic the National Government had opened the door for charter schools to be run by businesspeople with little or no educational experience, but slammed a school that was delivering better results than some established schools.
