It remains at loggerheads with the school, which says the ministry is not going far enough to help it with its overcrowding issue.
Ministry head of sector enablement and support Katrina Casey yesterday confirmed setting up a relocatable room of any type at the school was not an option, despite the school’s pleas.
Any relocatable room would take as long to put in place as the long-term option the ministry had approved, of converting existing library and staff support space at the school, she said.
The school’s board of trustees chairwoman, Megan Carey, wrote to the Minister of Education this week stressing the "totally unacceptable" situation the school was in with a school roll at more than 220% of capacity.
The school has 85 pupils in two classrooms, learning in what Mrs Carey described as "extremely crowded conditions".
The ministry says as at March this year, only 40 of the school’s pupils lived within the school’s enrolment zone.
The situation arose over recent years where parents chose Romahapa School over others, and families that moved around the district had chosen for their children to remain at that school.
But yesterday Ms Casey said a temporary building would not be the "best or most cost-effective solution".
All buildings, including relocatables, required consents and site preparation which would take "far longer to achieve than the conversion project", she said.
Therefore, converting existing space was the most effective solution to address "immediate pressures" until the school could reduce its roll.
Board trustee Jules Witt responded that even with the ministry’s approved property plan and a plan in place to reduce the school’s roll, the school would still be over capacity for at least another three years.
The conversion project would only allow for a total roll of about 60 pupils.
The ministry was not going far enough to address the issue, he said.
"Even with the conversion, we’re going to be sitting here in six months’ time saying we’re still up 170% [capacity]."
Before the enrolment scheme was adopted, the school had no restrictions on enrolment from its natural catchment or zone.
A new rule introduced this year, enables the ministry to put in place an enrolment scheme when a school refuses or is slow to do so, and such a scheme is now in place at Romahapa School.
The ministry is providing advice to the school about using buildings as teaching spaces.
