Poor Auckland school in dark over future

By DITA DE BONI

One of Auckland's poorest intermediate schools says it is being "strangled to death" by lack of funds and expects to be closed as early as next year.

The trustees of Glen Innes Intermediate say the school is suffering a chronic poverty of resources and funds and, despite repeated requests for help, is being ignored by both the Ministry of Education and its minister, Trevor Mallard.

While the trustees believe the school is being readied for closure and have spoken out about their plight, they have been accused by Mr Mallard's office of "forcing" him to make a decision in the heat of electioneering.

But principal Rose Neal said the school could not even get an emergency grant from the ministry for a fence to keep out weekend intruders, who had left "nappies, glass, tampons, condoms and God knows what" for staff to remove on Mondays during a recent spate of break-ins.

The school has no internet connection, has old and worn benches, the most basic equipment and, until a year ago, had few dictionaries or maths resources.

Ms Neal said Mr Mallard had refused requests to come to the school in the past year, even though he had visited Tamaki College, just five minutes away.

"Our roll is declining because the Ministry of Education won't fund the school properly," she said.

"The ministry says it won't fund the school because the roll is declining.

"It is just a terrible situation where children who need a well-resourced education are simply missing out, and in New Zealand that is ridiculous.

"It almost feels as though, because these students live in Glen Innes, they will automatically receive a substandard education and the authorities know the parents won't kick up a stink. It's just incredibly unfair."

Tim Heath, whom the ministry appointed to the formerly troubled Glen Innes Intermediate board in early 2000, said he was also in the dark about what his employer intended to do with the school.

Meanwhile, students with complex educational needs were suffering, he said.

"In the past two years, these kids have spent their entire intermediate education in limbo while we've repeatedly tried to get a dialogue going.

"We know we could provide a good level of education to this community if only we had the resources to do it properly."

He said it was strange to be kept in the dark by the ministry which had appointed him to help the school develop a 10-year property plan.

Glen Innes Intermediate is a decile 1A school, meaning it sits within the lowest socio-economic community possible on the ranking scale. Its roll, which has fallen from 300 to 100 this year, is 99 per cent Maori and Pacific Island.

In 1999, the Education Review Office issued a scathing report on the school, calling it poorly managed and unsafe.

Since that time, Pakeha students have practically disappeared from the roll.

Also in 1999, a "historical and viability" report on the school described it as having Third World status and recommended it be resourced as if an entirely new school were being built on the site.

A business case was then prepared by Deloitte Touche Tomatsu, which again recommended that close to $800,000 be spent "immediately" on getting the school up to standard.

The business case has languished since it was written last year, but last night a spokesperson for Mr Mallard, who is out of the country, said a submission was with the minister and a decision was expected soon.

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