MP Lawrence Yule speaking during the meeting. Photo / Laura Wiltshire
MP Lawrence Yule speaking during the meeting. Photo / Laura Wiltshire
A Hawke's Bay community says proposed government changes could force them to move their kids to new schools and add an extra hour travel time each day.
Elsthorpe residents say changes to the bus service could prevent students getting to school in Havelock North because parents would have totransfer their children to a rural address midway along the current route.
The Ministry of Education says to be eligible for transport to school, children must attend the school closest to them, which it says is Central Hawke's Bay College, not Havelock North High School.
At a community meeting on Wednesday many residents said it was further for their children to get to CHB College, one saying for his son it would require an extra hour on the bus each day.
The ministry says it will pick children up from a rural address closer to Havelock North.
A second bus will carry primary school pupils to Elsthorpe School, who currently use the Havelock North bus on its return trip.
Around 50 members of the Elsthorpe community attended the meeting. Photo / Laura Wiltshire
Elsthorpe School principal Sandy Crawford said the bus has been running to Havelock North for more than 40 years, and the change in the route is stopping children accessing Havelock North for their education.
He said CHB College in Waipukurau was further away for many families in the area.
"It's about access for our children to get a choice about which high school they go to."
According to Google Maps, Central Hawke's Bay College is marginally closer to the Elsthorpe township, taking 33 minutes from Elsthorpe township as opposed to 39 minutes to Havelock North High School.
To get children to Havelock North for school, parents will have to get their children to 1234 Kahuranaki Rd. Photo / Google Maps
MP for Tukituki Lawrence Yule, who attended the meeting, said the Government was following the current rules, but he hoped to negotiate an exemption.
He said the current system is more cost effective, using one bus rather than two, and has been working without issue for the past 46 years.
However, he was concerned about being able to get an exemption indefinitely, due to a recent report that showed schools in Havelock North were edging closer to capacity.
The report will likely lead to a zoning change in the next five years, Yule saying it would likely become more difficult for Elsthorpe children to attend school in Havelock North.
"That's where the growth is, it's getting bigger and bigger, and there is spare capacity at Central Hawke's Bay College."
He argued that saving the bus for a five-year transitional period would be more realistic.
Ministry education infrastructure services acting head Sharyn Pilbrow said the redesigned routes better reflect the location of eligible students, and help ensure they are transported to the closest school they can enrol at.
"The current routes, which were designed many years ago, do not reflect the dispersal of eligible students at present.
"For that reason, we do not intend to retain these routes going forward."
Residents at the meeting unanimously resolved to try to negotiate an exemption with the Minister for Education, to be reviewed after five years.
