New Zealand Teachers Bullied at School

I received a reply from the Ministry of Education to my questions and it is just another white wash.  http://shadow.blogtown.co.nz/files/2010/11/Minedu-10-11-10-Ray-Webb.pdf I had specifically asked that if no action was intended on the part of the Ministry that they state that, in their view all is well at the school.  They don’t do that, instead passing responsibility on to other organisations such as ERO and OSH. Clearly this was never going to satisfy my call for an independent investigation and doesn’t meet the Ministry’s obligations to the students and teachers at the school.  Schools are after all about learning they are not designed to be centres of excellence in administration.  The focus should be on students and teachers in classrooms working together. Administration should for the most part be invisible and fully transparent supporting the role of teachers. 

Yesterday I wrote to the Prime Minister Mr J Key requesting he use his authority under section 11 of the State Sector Act 1988 to have the State Services Commissioner undertake an investigation I will keep the progress on that on the blog. Could be interesting to see how it turns out.

With shrinking rolls at Dunedin High Schools and the ongoing closures of Primary Schools it doesn’t take a genius to work out that the city is in an over supply situation and that the falling rolls in Primary Schools will ultimately be reflected in closures of Secondary Schools. Logan Park High School’s proximity to both the University of Otago and the Otago Polytechnic makes LPHS a prime candidate for closure as the buildings could easily be reallocated to other educational purposes.

Is the Ministry of Education’s unwillingness to engage on the issues at LPHS hiding some other agenda?  Am I being used and abused? I find this quite likely as without a publicly independent inquiry all the evidence will never be viewed.  It’s clear that the school is suffering from the inaction of the BOT and the dishonesty and incompetence of its managers.  What may not be clear to the staff there, is that if these matters go unresolved I will continue to take an interest in the staff I consider inept and unethical into there new careers or employment. 

What amazes me is that the staff hasn’t stood up and questioned the competence of the Management.  A vote of no confidence would go a long way to saving the school.

Perhaps in the current CAPNA round one of the senior management positions could go say Deputy Principal.  Its hard to imagine how the administrative overburden in the school can be maintained as the roll falls.

Filed under: Back ground, LPHS, Minedu