This means that the $10 million-plus spend for this new facility was dedicated to meet the wishes of only 2 per cent of our Maori parents and their children.
A number of other local schools provide total immersion Maori education in one or more of their classrooms.
The new facility that is planned for Arataki is to cater for only those at the extremist end of Maori education.
Ms Parata listened to this 2 per cent - and the 98 per cent, she has proved she wasn't interested in. Rest assured, Havelock North that Ms Parata will be leaving no stone unturned as she is determined to have the Total Immersion Maori Education facility built on the Arataki site and Craig Foss will certainly not be speaking out against her.
Here in Havelock North, the Ministry of Education has now admitted that they have got it all drastically wrong and there is a need for a new primary school.
The number of out-of-zone children was a complete red herring and they were using this as an excuse.
In an abysmal attempt to rectify the situation, they have offered an olive branch by allocating $4 million to bring in eight new transportable "A" classrooms. (Two for Te Mata, two for Lucknow and four for Havelock North Primary).
This more than justifies the claims that we have continually heard expressed that a new school is needed for Havelock North.
I am sure no one will been sucked in by this latest announcement - it is nothing more than a sticking-plaster measure. It is a very short-term solution to release the enormous pressure that our three local schools are under and no doubt they will welcome it.
However, classrooms are only one part of the solution. All they will do is reduce class sizes but they will increase the health and safety concerns on playgrounds, and pressure on parking, school halls, libraries, staffrooms and the administration facilities at each of the schools.
The more transportable classrooms that are dropped on school grounds the further down the track a much-needed new school becomes for Havelock North.
Where to from here?
When and if the mushroom farm odour concern is solved, the Total Immersion Maori facility may still be built on the Arataki site and our local primary schools will be overcrowded with even less space than they currently have.
The dedicated area for the new primary school will have been lost and currently there is no other suitable site available in Havelock North for the next five to 10 years.
Demand answers from the Ministry of Education now.
Everyone is aware that Havelock North is expanding rapidly and the need for a new primary school is imminent. There is an urgent need for an independent review of the educational requirements of Havelock North. The Education Ministry has now shown they are incapable of actually getting it right.
They heed the requests of the politicians and not the needs of the residents.
A new primary school here in Havelock North would have been a state-of-the-art modern learning environment in a similar format to those that are being currently being built in other parts of New Zealand.
This is now not even on the radar in spite of the proven and recognised need.
All you are getting, Havelock North, is eight transportable classrooms.
I will let you decide who needs to be made accountable.
- Malcolm Dixon is a Hastings district councillor and spokesperson for lobby group, New School for Havelock North.
- Views expressed here are the writer's opinion and not the newspaper's. Email: editor@hbtoday.co.nz
