Queen’s High School has turned its roll around so drastically the Ministry of Education is proposing an enrolment scheme to limit its growth due to concerns of overcrowding.
In a letter to the Minister of Education Erica Stanford, Dunedin and Taieri Labour MPs Rachel Brooking and Ingrid Leary said the proposed home zone left girls in large pockets of the city without an option for a single-sex secondary school.
Boys, on the other hand, could go to either King’s or Otago Boys’ High Schools, which did not have enrolment schemes in place.
"The minister needs to show some leadership and appreciate the unintended consequences of what they're trying to do."
Ms Leary said there were several solutions to the school’s capacity issue and the minister needed to look beyond the arbitrary nature of geographic zoning.
"The minister needs to look at all the solutions including whether there needs to be expansion or whether there are fairer and more equitable ways of managing the school roll without creating impacts for particular communities."
Ms Brooking said many people in her electorate were concerned a choice to send their girls to a single-sex school could be taken away from them.
People in Dunedin were used to having the option of a single-sex education and it was upsetting for them the option might be taken away.
Submissions from the public about the enrolment scheme closed on Thursday last week. A spokesman for Ms Stanford said they were not able to respond by deadline.
