Musical rooms for Aranui

Press, 27 October 1982, Page 1

Musical rooms for Aranui

After removing two classrooms from Aranui High School last March because they were “surplus,” the Education Department has found it will have to put three back. The classrooms were removed in spite of objections by the school’s principal and board. They said they were in full use and would probably be needed more next year when they expected the school’s roll to rise.

The department disagreed with the school’s predictions and removed two prefabricated classrooms. The chairman of the school’s board, Mrs C. L. Radcliff, said yesterday that the predictions had proved correct: the school needed three more classrooms next year.

Mrs Radcliff said the removal of the classrooms was a “damned nuisance.” They were being used, and their removal meant that class timetables had to be reorganised. The department had said the classrooms were needed at Kaiapoi High School. “When a school is crying out that it is desperate, the department starts looking round for schools with surplus rooms,” she said.

Aranui’s roll had fallen, and because a school’s classroom allocation is based on pupil numbers, Aranui’s loss meant an official “surplus” of classrooms. The school’s predictions about an increase In pupil numbers next year conflicted with the department’s.

“There was no way we could prove there would be a big increase,” Mrs Radcliff said. The department was able to ignore local advice and could remove classrooms. “That is what happened to us, but we just have to put up with it,” she said. The department had given the school a fair hearing, however, and had been sympathetic during discussions. She said the decision was sensible for the department at the time, but it now seemed silly. “All it means is that the department will have to find us more classrooms.”