KEY POINTS:
The commissioner in charge of troubled Waverley High School says he will find work for teachers who no longer have any students in their classes.
Year 10, 11, and 12 students (Form 4-6) at the school now have to travel 48km to Wanganui City College to get their
school marks formally recognised, after the school was banned from carrying out any NCEA assessments. Teachers had been handing answers to students, accepting incorrect answers, and giving credits to work that had been plagiarised.
National's education spokeswoman, Katherine Rich, said Waverley High had an excessive number of teachers and they were sitting before empty classrooms.
She called on Education Minister Steve Maharey to act on the "farcical situation". "This Waverley saga is turning into a bizarre 1930s-style work programme where people turn up and do nothing."
But Government-appointed commissioner Dallas Murdoch said teachers at the school were not staring at empty chairs and desks. "There are still Year 7, 8, and 9 students (Form 1-3) and all teachers are involved in their classes. Teachers will still need to turn up to the school. They will remain because the students (including those travelling to Wanganui) are still on our roll. It's a very unusual situation."
The teachers were employed and protected under a collective employment agreement.
Although the school's capacity has in the past been 300, Ms Murdoch said its roll was now down to about 62.
The senior school made up nearly half that number, and would have to travel away from Waverley to get their NCEA results recognised. "The numbers are very flexible," Ms Murdoch said. "We still have not got a grasp on the roll at the moment." She admitted there was only limited work for the 11 teachers at the school, however.
"I will have to find something more for those teachers to do, but my immediate concern is to get my students settled in to a learning environment." The staff issue would be addressed once the student issue had been resolved.
Waverley Community Education Action Group spokeswoman Joan Manson, an ex-principal of the town's school, criticised the commissioner for moves that appeared to be readying the school for closure.
"I don't think anybody in Waverley is happy."
The role of the commissioner was to get things up to scratch, she said, and Patea Area School, not Wanganui, was the best place for the displaced students.
Students will be able to travel to other schools to gain NCEA credits, but free transport and uniforms are only being offered to those who choose the Wanganui option.
The new arrangement will take place from February 26.
It will be term 3 at the earliest before Waverley High School can administer, monitor and mark NCEA assessments again. Principal Tony McIvor refused to comment.