Concern Dunedin secondary school may close

Tracy O'Brien.
Tracy O'Brien.
A meeting between the Ministry of Education and Dunedin's 12 secondary schools has left some school leaders questioning whether the ministry is gearing up to close one of them.

The ministry met board chairmen and principals of Dunedin secondary schools in October to share demographic and enrolment data, and start a discussion about what future secondary education provision could look like, and what schools need to ensure pupils continue to receive high-quality education.

But some of the data presented at the meeting left some questioning the ''elephant in the room'' - is a Dunedin secondary school going to be closed?

The ministry has denied the suggestion.

Information released under the Official Information Act revealed a set of slides was prepared as an overview of the secondary network in Dunedin, and were shown to schools to engage them in maintaining an ''efficient and sustainable network'' in the region.

One of the ministry's slides showed 6742 year 9-13 pupils were enrolled across Dunedin's 12 secondary schools in 2014 - nearly 500 fewer than the number enrolled in 2004.

Another slide showed much of the roll decline appeared to be occurring in state co-educational schools.

It also showed that across the 12 schools, there was capacity for 9204 pupils, and the Dunedin network had 1431 spare spaces - the equivalent of two large secondary schools.

There was also a slide showing Statistics New Zealand demographic projections, which gave a worst-case scenario forecast for the number of 13-17 year-olds to decline by more than 1000 over the next 15 years.

A Dunedin secondary school board of trustees member, who declined to be named, said the question of whether the ministry was gearing up to close one of the city's secondary schools did cross his mind following the meeting.

''I would say that that's the elephant in the room.

''The ministry are clearly saying that this is a community issue and it needs a community response, and they don't want to impose solutions on the sector or the community, and I guess we've got to take that at face value.

''But when you look at the numbers ... you can do the maths.''

Another Dunedin secondary school board of trustees member, who declined to be named, said his board was also concerned the ministry was looking to use its facilities more efficiently and sustainably in Dunedin.

''When pressed, the ministry said it would be up to schools to decide which schools, if any, would be closed,'' he said.

A Dunedin principal who also declined to be named, believed the issue had arisen because rolls at a couple of Dunedin secondary schools had shot up in recent years, sucking pupils away from other schools.

''That's the key issue.

''If a whole lot of students are going to one particular school, who previously didn't, and with the overall roll drop in year 8 and 9 pupils, you've got potentially a problem of having too many schools now and in the future.

''So they [the ministry] are asking us to collaborate and come up with a solution.''

She suggested schools could cap their rolls and establish enrolment zones to stop the tide flowing in one direction, but there had been resistance to the idea from some schools, and roll caps needed to be approved by the ministry.

''We think the ministry should be coming up with the solution.

''It's a very vexed issue.''

Ministry of Education sector enablement and support acting head Jill Bond said there were no plans to close any secondary schools in Dunedin.

She said the ministry often met schools to discuss what support they might need to help them manage expected changes in roll numbers.

''This is an opportunity for schools and the ministry to work together. This meeting was an opportunity to start planning for the future.''

Ministry sector enablement and support deputy secretary Katrina Casey said the ministry was responsible for managing the network of schools, and it was engaging directly with the sector around future planning so it could collectively look at what a sustainable, efficient network of schools could look like, and possible ways to achieve that.

''As a starting point, we have had an initial meeting to look at city-wide enrolment trends and patterns.''

Kavanagh College principal Tracy O'Brien congratulated the ministry for showing good leadership in looking at the issues.

''I've been in other jurisdictions where these kinds of issues were shelved for a decade or more.

''No-one ever talked about the elephant in the room ... and as a result, it created some real mayhem.

''It's good that we're talking about it. It needed to be brought to life and discussed.

''If [school closures] was the agenda, and I don't think it is, we are a long way off from that,'' he said.

-john.lewis@odt.co.nz

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