Cleave Hay
At the start of the second week of the school year,
Rotary Park School's roll has dropped to 22 pupils, prompting
commissioner Cleave Hay to investigate the school's viability.
Mr Hay said he was not aware of any new entrants coming to
the school soon, and until he knew the funding implications
of the roll drop, it was difficult to say whether there was a
long-term future for the school.
Investigations would be carried out during the next two
weeks, he said.
Principal Carmel Casey was not permitted to comment on issues
surrounding the school's roll yesterday, saying it was a
governance issue for Mr Hay to investigate.
Pupils from Rotary Park School appear to have drifted to
nearby Andersons Bay School and Grants Braes School, as a
result of the controversy surrounding Mrs Casey.
Mrs Casey has been the focus of allegations of incompetent
teaching practices and staff bullying at the school, and last
week parents threatened to remove their children as a show of
defiance over her return to the school after six months'
leave.
Mr Cleave said a parent-teacher meeting would be held tonight
for the school community to outline ideas for tackling the
issue.
Andersons Bay School principal Hamish McDonald confirmed his
school had enrolled some Rotary Park School pupils, but
declined to say how many.
"We've got a healthy roll at the moment. We have picked up
some children from Rotary Park."
He said Andersons Bay School finished 2011 with 245 pupils
and started school this year with 223 pupils - up marginally
from the 217 pupils at the start of the 2011 year.
The roll had declined slightly because a particularly large
cohort of year 6 pupils had left the school at the end of
last year to go to intermediate.
Grants Braes School principal Christopher McKinlay said he,
too, had enrolled pupils from Rotary Park School, but added
he had enrolled many other pupils from around the city and
beyond.
The school finished 2011 with more than 150 pupils and
started term one yesterday with pupils numbering in the "mid
to late 130s", he said.
Ministry of Education's March roll return figures show Grants
Braes School started 2011 with 129 pupils.
While he too had a "reasonable number" of year 6 pupils go to
intermediate last year, the school had expected a healthy
start to this year, and the roll was expected to increase
throughout the year.
He declined to comment further.
john.lewis@odt.co.nz
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