Rotorua schools rallying community support for strike action

Schools across Rotorua have enlisted the help of their pupils to gather community support today for the upcoming teachers' strike.

Primary teachers and principals around the country have voted to strike for half a day on August 15, and Rotorua teachers will be among them.

The announcement followed more than 100 meetings around the country co-ordinated by the New Zealand Education Institute Te Riu Roa (NZEI).

At the meetings, attendees voted whether to accept the Ministry of Education's pay offer or reject it and strike. The Rotorua meeting was held on June 28.

NZEI co-ordinator and Aorangi Primary School teacher Peggy Meagher had arranged a special way for the children to take home a notice to the caregivers.

Each of the children had blown up a balloon, decorated it with stickers and then attached a string with a form about the strike action.

"It is not for us, it is for you as our tamariki," she said to them about the strike.

"You are the future of New Zealand."

Meagher said the strike action later in August was because schools did not have enough resources.

"That's human resources, there aren't enough teachers to help our children be the best they are capable of.

"It's not money in our hands that we are after."

She said at Aorangi they were dealing with children who had higher needs.

"We're a little school, but our children are the ones who really do need these resources.

"We deal with a lot, often it goes beyond being teachers and we're acting as community workers too."

At Lynmore Primary School pupils were challenged to dress up as their teachers and the teachers dressed up as pupils.

Principal Lorraine Taylor said most schools had done something to raise awareness in the community about why they were striking.

"We had girls who were struggling around the school in high heels pretending to be Mrs Taylor.

"Others were in suits dressed as our deputy principal Mr Cunliffe."

She said they had received lots of emails of support from parents who were telling them to "go for it" with the strike.

Whangamarino School pupils also held a hikoi to support their teachers, and painted orange signs with messages of support on them.

At Rotorua Primary School pupils made hand-painted signs which were put up outside the school.