A week on, and the party is over as the reality of what these eight classrooms mean starts to sink in, along with how they will fit on school grounds. How does this change our education landscape and what does this really look like for our the existing schools who have now been put clearly on the path to mega schools.
This is a move to create monster-sized rolls of over 700 pupils, larger class sizes and even now a possible merger. The latest on the Havelock North grapevine is that negotiations are underway to put the new classrooms for Te Mata onto the Havelock North Intermediate grounds.
And so the cycle of moving children in and out of make-shift classrooms that were created in libraries, music rooms and hallways starts all over again.
Given its performance to date, the National Party Education Dream Team of Minister Hekia Parata and her associate Nikki Kaye and Craig Foss has proven cannot be trusted " everything that the public has been told has changed " they have kept the public in the dark of their real plans of eight classrooms and a Kura for Havelock North and they have continually covered up for each other.
First Craig Foss said he was "on the hop" over the Kura, but email correspondence under an OIA from Nikki Kaye and written questions to Hekia Parata, prove that he did know for at least a month in advance and stayed quiet. He then made out he was working behind the scenes and questioning the minister, and yet it took him nearly a year to write her just one letter.
Together, they repeatedly told us there as no need for a promised primary school but went behind Havelock North's back and relocated the land to for other purposes. They did this despite there being over 356 more students in Havelock North since the need for a new school was first identified and promised.
Then the local community and principals were told Havelock North's existing schools should and would cope by tightening up on zoning.
But then they turned around and give us eight classrooms instead of a our promised new school.
So thanks to Hekia Parata, Nikki Kaye and Craig Foss, again with no consultation with Havelock North, they force even more challenges onto our local school communities and then expect us to be happy and leave us sort it all out again" no planning, no talking, no vision.
What we need is a report into the education landscape for Havelock North. This would clearly demonstrate what the real needs are and puts all the options and solutions on the table. As part of this we should have an open and transparent process where families can get involved from the start because this helps with getting the right information into the community so we can all make informed decisions.
By working across the three school communities I am sure we can easily frame up and decide when and where a new school is needed, and what our existing school's want with zoning.
Every parent has a right to stand up for their children's education and for the primary school the local community was promised.
When it comes education it's worth it!
- Anna Lorck is the Labour Party's candidate for Tukituki in next year's general election.
- Views expressed here are the writer's opinion and not the newspaper's. Email: editor@hbtoday.co.nz
