Eligibility rule horrifies principals

Press, 6 April 1989, Page 3

Eligibility rule horrifies principals

By

JENNY LONG

Christchurch school principals are horrified that parents who are not New Zealand citizens will be excluded from standing for boards of trustees.

Nominations for parent representatives close at noon today, but the requirement for New Zealand citizenship has become widely known only this week.

Principals said that the requirement was in total opposition to the spirit of the new system of school administration, which was trying to encourage full participation by all community groups and ethnic minorities.

The principal of Hagley High School, Ms Roz Heinz, said the school had two classes of English as a second language (E.S.L.) students, who came from South-East Asia, Samoa or Central Europe. “They are here because they have a home in New Zealand. It is ridiculous that parents are not eligible because they have not been nationalised.”

Under the Government’s plans for schools, each board of trustees will have five parent representatives. The school principal, a staff representative, and for high

schools, a pupil, will also be included on the boards. The new boards will take over many of the decisions previously made by the Education Department or Education Boards. The new boards are legally required to reflect their communities. This means that schools with a number of Maori or Samoan families, for example, must include some of those parents on their board. The Minister of Education, Mr Lange, has said that he would use his powers to dissolve boards which do not represent their community. Ms Heinz said she knew of one Samoan parent who was considering standing, but she was uncertain whether the person had citizenship. The principal of Linwood Intermediate School, Mr Clive Cotton, said it was ridiculous that nominees had to be New Zealand citizens.

“They- are parents. I’d rather have the best people, than people allowed by legislation.” The little-known stipulation about the requirement for New Zealand

citizenship is contained in the election handbook for returning officers, and says that people would be “disqualified for election by section 112 of the Local Elections and Polls Act, 1976.” The eligibility section

also says that undischarged bankrupts, some convicted criminals, and mentally disordered people were prohibited from serving on school trustee boards. One Christchurch returning officer said yesterday that such information could not be checked. A parent could stand for election if their name was on the roll of parents. The basic roll came from

parents’ names supplied when they enrolled their children at school, and the citizenship question, and the other questions were obviously not asked at that time.

At least two Canterbury parents who had already handed in their nomination forms have now been ruled ineligible on citizenship grounds. Mrs Edy Lawrey, from Loburn, and Mrs Myra Kiddey, have both had experience in helping in school affairs. Mrs Lawrey was secretary treasurer of the school committee, and Mrs Kiddey had been chairwoman of the P.T.A. Mrs Lawrey, who is Dutch, has lived in New Zealand since she was five. Mrs Kiddey is an American. Non-New Zealand citizens will be eligible to vote in the elections. There has been confusion, since the returning officers’ handbook said they would not be eligible. The Minister of Education clarified the position yesterday, saying that the handbook was incorrect.