Readers' views: School zoning

Pressure on school zones has been highlighted by the return of classes this week. One school has closed its roll and the Government says it will step in over late enrolments if necessary. Here are some contributors' views:

For all its perceived faults the current system provides for easier access to public education than the previous discriminatory method of student selection.

Under the previous system ... schools spent large amounts of resources on travelling overseas to attract foreign fee-paying students as a profit-making enterprise. In addition "top" students were poached from neighbouring schools.

This led to many occasions when students, some of whom lived almost next door to their local school, were refused enrolment.

Zoning gives these students the right to go to their local school. More importantly, it refocuses the objectives back on to educating our young people rather than operating schools as business units.

With the current zoning method students get the right to go to their local school. Under the previous system the schools got the right to choose which students they enrolled. I know which practice I prefer for our students.

Grant Gillon, Birkenhead.

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In the zoning debate the local child gets no consideration. By local, I mean the child who has grown up in the area and continues to live there long after the transients have gone.

For every child who pushes in, a local child will be pushed out and a child who has gone to the local primary school and intermediate will be denied the friendship of their peer group at secondary.

Someone has to go to the school up the road - why shouldn't it be the new guy? He is in for change anyway.

By allowing zone cheats we teach kids that society condones cheating the system. The next time a kid cheats do we really have to scratch our heads and wonder where they got the idea that cheating is okay from?

Grace Haden, Epsom.

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Taxpayers fund the education system and should have the right to send their children to their school of choice. Zoning only perpetuates mediocrity and does not drive for excellence.

Schools such as Auckland Grammar and Avondale College would have a queue a mile long, whereas schools such as Green Bay High would be virtually empty. Surely the signal to the lesser schools is that their type of education is not what the majority of parents want for their children.

If the Government insists on continuing with zoning, the least it can do is make sure there are enough Auckland Grammar-style schools to fulfil the requirements of parents.

Judy Knights, Blockhouse Bay.

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Just how abolishing school zoning would help Auckland Grammar beats me. Surely this would only make the problem worse, as every parent who lives anywhere would want to send their child to Auckland Grammar.

This would result in some schools having massive rolls and other schools struggling to survive. The solution is to provide additional help to those schools.

As a society we need to get away from the snob value of sending our children to elite schools.

And those who live in the Auckland Grammar zone would not like the value of their properties to fall if zoning was abolished.

Corran Vincent, Mangere East.

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Whether zoning is fair depends on where you live. When we moved into this area 16 years ago we did so because it was a desirable school zone - primary, intermediate and secondary.

But before my children reached the secondary school age, the zone was shrunk and we were left out of the zone for the school of our choice. We had to decide whether to buy in zone and take on a hefty mortgage. Or we could go into a ballot at the school of our choice with no guarantee of getting in; go to the not-so-desirable school; be dishonest and rent in zone and move back home after six months; or choose private education. We chose private education.

Both my children were accepted into their private schools and as a consequence I have to work fulltime. If there was no zoning there would be no reason for people to be dishonest and schools could get on with teaching instead of hunting down the system abusers.

D. Burton, Meadowbank.