Letter to the Editor, Tuesday June 9, 2015

Nearly there

Your readers need the facts on the table about Northland College and what's being done to sort it out.

The educational achievement of kids is a top priority for us. So is their safety and well-being. Schools have day to day responsibility for property maintenance, and get money to do that.

In the case of Northland College, we became aware in 2012 that it had been allowed to get into a very poor state. We stepped in straight away. We spent $1.5 million on urgent issues like weather-tightness, demolishing poor-quality buildings and fixing health and safety matters.

Since then we've been working with them on plans for a vastly redeveloped school with new classrooms, a new gym, a new library and a new technology block.

It's vital the school community has its say. It's an asset for the broader community too.

We've been working through that as fast as we can. It can take up to a year to build a home. Building schools is much more complex - it's more like building a ship. But we're nearly there. We expect construction to begin by the end of this year, and to cost several million dollars.

That's a big investment. We need to get this right for this generation of kids and all the kids who'll follow.

KIM SHANNON

Head of School Property

Ministry of Education