Hamilton's Fraser High School principal Virginia Crawford in 2004 when she was deputy principal at Edgecumbe College. Photo / Tracey Robinson
Hamilton's Fraser High School principal Virginia Crawford in 2004 when she was deputy principal at Edgecumbe College. Photo / Tracey Robinson
A "wagger wagon" collected up to 30 truants a day and brought them back to Hamilton's Fraser High School before the effort to curb truancy ended suddenly last year.
The revelation comes after principal Virginia Crawford made polarising speech about truants becoming victims of domestic violence, rape and suicide.
A source, who does not want to be named, said teachers used the school vans to return truants to class or detention each day, sometimes fetching as many as 30 students over several trips.
"The students called the van the 'wagger wagon'. They all knew that if they were found they would be brought back to school and placed in the 'op room' [opportunity room, for detention].
"Some days [staff] were picking up 30-plus kids, from out of the parks, from Nawton Mall and off the streets.
"The police, Constable Craig Bates, came to the school and congratulated [staff] for [their] efforts."
The constable told staff crime had decreased in the area as a result, the source said, and parents and neighbours would help staff by informing on truants.
They estimated 85 per cent of the truants returned to class remained at school for the rest of the day.
But out the effort ended and "truancy has apparently skyrocketed".
A former staff member estimated up to 100 students truanted each day and the "wagger van" would catch between 30 and 40 per day.
The man, who did not want to be named, believed 70 per cent of the recidivist truants were from dysfunctional homes but that others not considered at risk and were only truanting because their friends were.
"I'd say you'd have close to 100 students out of class on average, per day. They would run away, but we knew who the students were."
Estimates put truancy rates at Hamilton's Fraser High School at up to 100 students a day. Photo / Christine Cornege
He said though the trips were time-consuming they were largely successful because students who truanted were often taking drugs, causing fights, breaking into houses and intimidating the public.
The wagger wagon helped to reduce crime and the man said he was disappointed to see the effort end but believed it was the result of a lack of resources.
A teacher allegedly raised concerns in a staff meeting about the number of truant students just days before Crawford gave her speech at a school assembly 10 days ago.
Crawford, who has been principal of the decile four secondary school since 2010, took a 'tough love' approach to truancy - telling students who cut class they were highly likely to go to prison, be illiterate, be addicted to drugs or gambling, or be a rape or suicide victim.
The speech was secretly recorded by a student and uploaded to video sharing site YouTube where it went viral.
It prompted a backlash from students and parents on social media with many condemning the speech as demotivating and stereotyping.
A mass walk-out by about 100 students and some parents went ahead during school time on Monday to protest the speech.
"Any student that walks out the gate to truant is already the statistic of the worse kind," Crawford said in her speech.
"Highly likely to go to prison, either commit domestic violence or be a victim of domestic violence, be illiterate, be a rape victim, be a suicide victim, be unemployed for the majority of their life, have a major health problem, die at an early age, have an addiction, gambling, drugs or smoking."
The Herald sought comment from Crawford about the truancy van but she did not respond to messages.
The principal's personal assistant told the Herald "there will be no further comment on the matter".
Board of Trustees chairman Jeff Green said the school would not discuss truancy further.
Meanwhile Crawford takes her own education seriously. In 2016 the Board of Trustees approved reimbursement of a $1523 fee for the principal's master's degree in "Dissertation - Education Management" from Unitec.
