The hole they are digging keeps getting deeper

by SB on February 15, 2018 at 1:00pm

When you find yourself in a hole stop digging.

Labour’s Māori MPs have declared that Maori charter schools are safe which is a shocking announcement for a number of reasons. One of the reasons why that is a shocking announcement is because all Partnership schools have large Maori And Pasifika student populations and this announcement appears to only protect those schools lucky enough to have a Maori name for their school.

 

Photo-Facebook South Auckland Middle School

South Auckland Middle School pictured above is one of the partnership schools not considered to be a “Maori” charter school so has not been protected by the Maori Labour MPs.

Labour’s Māori MPs, including associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis, have given their word that Māori charter schools will not be shut down.

That is wonderful news for those charter schools but it is also patch protection and blatant favouritism that does not help Maori students in schools like Vanguard Military School, South Auckland Middle School or Middle School West Auckland. It will not help save this young man’s school…

Photo supplied to Whaleoil

And it will not help these students’ school either.

Vanguard Military School students.
PHOTO-Vanguard Military School facebook page

[…] There’s been a mixed response from the heads of two Māori charter schools in Auckland and Whangārei about their likely future.

Raewyn Tipene, chief executive of He Puna Marama which helps to run Te Kāpehu Whetū in Whangārei, said she was shocked by Education Minister Chris Hipkin’s announcement.

To be so aggressive in his desire to close down what are effectively schools and children and families – you know we’re not prisons, we’re not doing something abhorrent.”

Ms Tipene said she could not understand why the current government wanted them to change.

“Here we are four years on and our results are year on year spectacular – why would you get rid of a process like that?”

She felt more assured about the future of the school after speaking to Te Taitokerau MP Kelvin Davis, Ms Tipene said.

“I think Kelvin’s very very keen to reduce that angst that’s occurring and get us all to the table and work through it.”

She said the authority wanted to turn around low levels of education achievement for Māori.

“They got sick of seeing our young children, our Māori people failing at education and then seeing this failure creeping through and presenting quite disturbingly at primary school level.”

[…] “I don’t want to undermine anything that the other charter schools are choosing to do collectively because they’re all great schools.

“I’m just conscious that I have to do the best for my school.”

Translation: I know it is unfair that we have been singled out for help but I have to do what is best for my students even if we are benefiting from patch protection.