Letters: Government must assist struggling families to address truancy

The Government must assist struggling families to address truancy, a reader says.

Thank you for your article (News, February 25) on Rotorua's chronic and declining school attendance.

It is shameful to learn that Rotorua schools are in the bottom third of New Zealand's average school attendance.

President of the Rotorua Principal's Association, Rawiri Wihapi, believes that poverty is a major factor in chronic absenteeism. In my view, the considerable costs incurred in school uniforms, fees, transport, and food, - occurring after the festive season - hit families on low and moderate incomes hard.

The concept of "free education" in our country is farcical.

The Government must offer immediate assistance to struggling families.

I also note that no mention in your article was made of truancy officers. Do they still exist?

Jackie Evans
Rotorua

Illegal rubbish dumping

Regarding illegal dumping, we can assure the community that the council has considered all avenues suggested to try to stop this irresponsible behaviour.

Free landfill days is definitely not a cheaper option.

The fact is it costs to dispose of rubbish, $39.75 per tonne in government levies alone, and that cost has to be recovered.

If we did not charge fees, the cost of rubbish disposal would fall on ratepayers only. A user-pays system means people pay for their own waste.

We have tried a number of strategies including cameras, signage and larger bins. Nothing has been entirely successful. Cameras simply move the problem and providing larger bins attracts more rubbish - they become overfilled just as quickly as smaller bins.

Inorganic collections can cost up to $1 million for one or two, and in cities, with a larger ratepayer base, this may be economically viable. In Rotorua, it would be a large burden to place on just ratepayers. These types of collections can also cause more problems than they solve as they are easily mis-used or abused.

Illegal dumping is not unique to Rotorua and ultimately comes down to people's decisions to do the wrong thing.

Most illegally dumped rubbish is household waste that should be placed in wheelie bins.

The best way to reduce the cost of rubbish, both personally and for the community, is to be smarter about the amount of waste we produce, as individuals, families, businesses, organisations and communities.

Stavros Michael
Infrastructure general manager, Rotorua Lakes Council

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