3 December 2003
Media Release:
Government Withdraws Threat Letter
Special Needs Units Safe for Now…
QPEC is very pleased that the government is withdrawing its letter to schools which threatened the existence of many
special needs units.
We have been assured this is the case after a deeply frustrating 6 days of attempting to get a response from Trevor
Mallard concerning letters sent by the Ministry of Education to many schools last week (see QPEC media release 30
November)
Those letters pressured schools to withdraw their RTLB (Resource Teacher of Learning and Behaviour) staffing from
special needs units and require the teachers to itinerate. This move would have put these units under threat of closure
as well as being in breach of the agreement reached following the 5 year legal battle – the Daniels case - which was
settled only a couple of months back.
We are pleased at the outcome at this stage but annoyed and angry that schools had been put through this upsetting
situation just 2 weeks before the end of the school year – a favourite time to drop unpopular education policies onto
schools.
We would like to hope a more constructive approach to special education could be developed but judging by recent history
we won’t be holding our breath…
John Minto
National Chairperson
Ph (09) 8463173
Fax (09) 8463176
Email: jbminto@xtra.co.nz