Puddles in Tauhara College's A block of prefabs after a downpour on Wednesday. Photo / File
Puddles in Tauhara College's A block of prefabs after a downpour on Wednesday. Photo / File
Taupō Tauhara College parents have pointed to the poor state of the building as the cause of the devasting impact the flood had on the school, forcing it to close for the rest of the year.
Parents were angry and frustrated with the buildings' inability to cope with weather, citing an apparent lack of funding the school received from the Ministry of Education.
However, the ministry says the school received $121,000 this year for day-to-day property maintenance.
The school's 42-year-old prefab classrooms were so badly damaged by a downpour on Wednesday that they cannot be entered.
Today, the school Facebook page informed families end-of-year prizegiving, as well as activities, camps and trips were also cancelled as a result of the flooding.
This was on top of the news yesterday that the school would be closed for the remainder of the year.
Only Year 9 and 10 students were still at the school this week and last, with NCEA exams under way for senior students. Exams are continuing in the school hall, which was unaffected by the deluge.
"These decisions have been made under very trying and challenging situations, following advice from the Ministry of Education and other experts," the post read.
"The main driving force in these decisions is the health and safety of everyone involved."
Tauhara College is the smaller of two colleges in Taupō, with a roll of 645 as at July 1. It was established in the 1970s with temporary prefab classrooms.
About 40 years later the prefabs are still in place and it's an increasingly uphill battle keeping them weathertight and fit for use. Leaks in corridors and classrooms are not unusual.
The college has been working with the Ministry of Education for a few years to upgrade its campus with a complete overhaul but its business case for a rebuild is still awaiting a decision.
Parent Adrian Armstrong, who has a son at Tauhara College, said the school buildings are old and cannot cope with the weather and have been in need of repair or upgrading for quite a while.
Puddles in Tauhara College's A block of prefabs after a downpour on Wednesday. Photo / File
He said it was frustrating that Tauhara College appeared to get almost zero funding to even upgrade its facilities, while Taupō-nui-a-Tia College has been building entire new blocks.
Armstrong said facilities aside, Tauhara College provides an excellent education.
"My son has grown as a student while being there and he truly wants to be there learning.
"Online learning can fill a gap, but it will not replace what he needs from face to face teaching."
Other parents are also angry about the state of the school. Stephanie Hasse said on the college's Facebook page that the blame lay squarely with the Ministry of Education.
"If I remember correctly there was talk of remodelling the school starting 2019. If they had done what had been proposed then this never would have happened.
"Funny how millions are available to fund a small private 'green' school, but nothing in the coffers for a 40+-year-old public school valued by the community, staff and students. Very disappointing MoE."
Ministry head of education infrastructure service Kim Shannon said the school received $121,000 this year for day-to-day property maintenance.
This was in addition to funding assigned every five years for property maintenance, small projects and classroom upgrades, which schools chose how to spend.
"We originally assigned Tauhara College $1.35 million for these works in 2017/18 but have since topped it up to $2.25m," she said.
"Using this funding, further work will be carried out at the college to fix roofing and cladding issues and deliver changing room and bathroom upgrades.@
The discussions about larger-scale developments were put on hold while the school led a community consultation on future schooling for the region with Taupo-nui-a-Tia College, she said.
"We are working with the school on a plan to fix their broader property challenges."
Shannon said people had been on-site to assess the damage and organise emergency repairs, and engineers were assessing what needed to be done to ready the college for the new school year.
