Halo (left) and her mother K.C. Jordan, on their rural Te Pōhue property. They are fighting to get their school bus back to allow Halo to return to high school in Napier. Photo / Jack Riddell
Halo (left) and her mother K.C. Jordan, on their rural Te Pōhue property. They are fighting to get their school bus back to allow Halo to return to high school in Napier. Photo / Jack Riddell
Jordan says the cancellation and changes have disrupted her family and could negatively impact the rural community.
Her daughter Halo, who is starting NCEA, says she is finding the Te Kura system confusing and challenging to use.
A single mum with two daughters living in an isolated part of rural Hawke’s Bay has quit her job as a teacher to homeschool her teenager after the Ministry of Education terminated her school bus route.
The ministry says fewer than eight eligible students were usingthe bus, which meant the route was deemed not viable after a 2023 audit and 2024 review.
It has consistently stated that the primary responsibility for getting children to and from school rests with their caregivers, but it may be able to help where distance or accessibility might be a barrier, including conveyancing allowances.
But that’s cold comfort for K.C. Jordan in the Te Pōhue community, 30 minutes up the Napier-Taupō Rd, who started her new life on Monday.
Until the end of the 2024 school year, Jordan would put her eldest daughter, 15-year-old Halo, on bus D050411 to Sacred Heart College in Napier, and then drive to Te Pōhue School with her youngest daughter Harper, where she worked as a teacher.
A play-based teacher, Jordan would help students with learning difficulties and disabilities.
Harper would occasionally take another ministry-funded bus, D050410, which was amended by the ministry at the end of term 4 because of changes in the number and locations of eligible students. The amended route no longer goes past Jordan’s property.
Jordan’s mornings this week have started with her driving her youngest daughter to Te Pōhue School and then rushing home from her old workplace to help her eldest with Te Kura, formerly known as the Correspondence School.
Now on a benefit, Jordan said the Ministry of Education changing and cancelling her school bus routes had effectively ruined her life.
“I was working, my kids were at school, they were doing well, and now it’s just a big s**t storm,” she said.
“I’d love to be working; I don’t get pure satisfaction sitting here at home doing this.
“To the ministry, I’m just another beneficiary in the traffic lights.”
Jordan believes the route cancellations will have a long-lasting impact on her small rural community.
“People are going to start moving out soon, the school will shut down, fire service will shut down, and that’s everything most parents are a part of [here],” she said.
“One high schooler in the district has already moved out of the district to go to school in a different town.”
Daughter and mother Halo (left) and K.C. Jordan on their rural Te Pōhue property. Photo / Jack Riddell
Jordan said she has sent the Ministry of Education multiple emails and letters but all she got back so far is the ministry saying “there’s nothing they can do”.
“[The ministry] make the process so hard,” she said.
“There’s a lot of families around here who have been a little bit destroyed because of this and there’s not much we can do about it.
“They’re struggling to navigate through Te Kura, struggling to get hold of teachers, struggling to get their subjects done, and some are about to start NCEA.”
Halo told Hawke’s Bay Today that a few days in, she found the new Te Kura system confusing, and the app given to students difficult to use.
“None of it makes sense – it’s better to have someone there and talking to you,” she said.
Halo said she had been thinking of becoming a lawyer or a doctor when she is older but says the Ministry of Education is making her schooling unnecessarily difficult and is unsure of what her future holds.
“I just want my bus back,” she said.
In a statement from the Ministry of Education, group manager of transport James Meffon said to qualify for a school bus, there must be eight or more students who meet the ministry’s eligibility criteria on a particular school bus route.
Meffan said although Sacred Heart College and Te Pōhue School were considered Jordan’s nearest state or state-integrated schools, other criteria had not been met.
Meffan said when a route is not viable because of low patronage, the eligible students may be able to apply for a conveyance allowance to assist with their transport costs.
“We trust that parents will continue to prioritise their children’s education and meet their obligation to access education.”
Corporate sponsors step up to save buses
Meanwhile, some school bus routes set to be terminated in Hawke’s Bay have been saved at the last minute by a scheme started by locals.
Tranzit Coachlines said on Monday a coach would transport students from Bay View to and from school this year.
It comes after the coastal settlement’s school bus routes were terminated by the Ministry of Education last year.
In July, the Ministry of Education announced that nine school bus routes across Hawke’s Bay would be terminated by Term 1, 2025, joining five other routes that had been cancelled in Terms 2 and 3, 2024.
Last year, 176 school bus routes were reviewed nationally, with 21 terminated and 11 replaced with different routes or combined with others.
Meffan said at the time the primary responsibility for getting children to and from school rested with their caregivers.
However, the ministry might be able to help where distance or accessibility might be a barrier.
To be eligible to receive ministry-funded school transport assistance, there must be eight or more students using the bus, students must attend their local state or state-integrated school, and they must live within a certain distance of the school.
That criteria put Bay View routes in jeopardy for 2025.
Following the announcement, members of the Bay View Community Group on Facebook came together to figure out how they could keep their school buses operating.
They soon got in touch with Tranzit Coachlines area manager Christopher Candy-Bolan, who helped organise sponsors.
“It’s been great to see the community come together and come up with a workable solution,” he said.
Working with the community, Candy-Bolan found Valley d’vine, Vulcan-Ullrich Aluminium and other local businesses willing to help fund the bus service.
These corporate sponsorships, along with families paying for term passes, were enough to keep the service running until the end of 2025, he said.
Candy-Bolan said the service is still seeking more sponsors to keep it running long-term, but for now, the first service delivered students to school on Monday morning.
Napier MP Katie Nimon said it was great to see a community-led solution, established in time for the start of the school year.
“This is a positive outcome for families in Bay View whose school of choice is outside of the current transport entitlement zones.
“I’ve been supportive of this approach, and I look forward to hearing of further sponsors coming on board to support this community initiative.”
Labour’s education spokeswoman Jan Tinetti attended a meeting in October with Bay View parents regarding school bus route terminations.
On Monday, she said while she is pleased to see that some students now have a new way of getting to school, it should have never come to this.
“This Government’s choice to discontinue school bus routes have left families scrambling,” Tinetti said.
“Reliable school transport is essential and needs to be a high priority – not left to corporate sponsors to fill the gaps.”
Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and spent the last 15 years working in radio and media in Auckland, London, Berlin, and Napier. He reports on all stories relevant to residents of the region.
