East Christchurch Charter School not wanted – PPTA

Media release
East Christchurch Charter School not wanted – PPTA
24 February 2012

PPTA Canterbury regional chair Brigid Raymond is calling on Prime Minister John Key to explain why there is a need to establish a charter school in East Christchurch

“Why would you put a charter school in an area where 5000 families have been red-zoned and are moving out?”

Shirley Boys and Avonside Girls have only been assured at this point in time of up to two years on their current sites.

“The Act-driven charter school experiment is just going to destabilise rolls in the existing public schools and could lead to the closure of at least one East Christchurch secondary school,” she said

Raymond, who also a member of the PPTA Earthquake Recovery Taskforce, which is meeting today, said the Canterbury district had already experienced an exodus of approximately 1500 secondary-aged students, which equated to the population of a large secondary-school.

PPTA challenged John Key to show some leadership and support the recovery of existing Christchurch schools by putting the brakes on John Banks’ ideological scheme.

“There is no educational reason. It is brutal opportunism, strictly for political gain,” she said.

ENDS

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