An independent consultant is reviewing Tauranga City Council's handling of the $11.4 million Marine Precinct following years of concern from independent fishing captains. 
Fishing fleet owner Dan Harvey says working ships are being pushed out of Tauranga by the Marine Precinct which favours  luxury yachts and added no berthage space. 
Larger independent fishing vessels share just five metres of truck-to-boat space which causes delays if two ships want to use the space at the same time. 

"When you consider a backwater like Whangarei has 490 metres of space, Napier has 400, Gisborne has 286, and Whakatane has 80 it is ridiculous Tauranga only has 5 metres of truck-to-boat space," Harvey said.
Tauranga City Council confirmed consultant Max Pedersen, who has previously identified poor management issues within Council, has been commissioned to review the Marine Precinct.

​"The scope of the review is to look at any issues or opportunities for improvement," communications manager Aimee Driscoll said. 
Pedersen previously reviewed four council projects which were plagued with communication and consultation issues. 
The report concluded a poor culture was present in council with an emphasis on staff to complete tasks, rather than facilitating the best outcome for the community.

Pedersen's report followed on from a  scathing MBIE report into the council's building inspection team over the handling of the Bella Vista Homes saga. 
Erika Harvey has campaigned against the Marine Precinct for three years saying what was delivered was not what was promised. 
"All we want is what was promised to us originally," she said. 
"Instead things have not been built and the water's edge is being sold. That should stay in public ownership." 
Council documents show companies have purchased lots in the precinct that run up to the water's edge with a service lane for trucks located further inland. 
Other fishing captains asked for comment said the most important thing lacking from the Marine Precinct was berthage for vessels to allow catch to be offloaded but also repairs to be conducted without lifting a vessel out of the water completely. 
A publish date for the review is not yet known. 

Original Article: 
​https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/112858937/another-tauranga-city-council-project-under-review

Tauranga has grown hugely over the past 20 years – but it has come at a considerable cost.
Frustrated motorists are often left battling queues of vehicles on key roads in the mornings and late afternoons across the city – putting pressure on them, their families and their lives.
In the first of a comprehensive five-part series, the Bay of Plenty Times reveals new figures which show exactly how traffic has grown, where the city's chokepoints are, how it's affecting people and businesses, where we're at with public transport, and what the potential solutions are.
This is Gridlock – Tauranga's No. 1 issue.
Tauranga's weekly vehicle count through 10 of its busiest intersections has soared by nearly 800,000 in six years – a rise of almost 40 per cent.
And the mayor warns the city faces an ''absolute crisis'' if nothing is done to fix the problem.
Dramatic new council figures, released exclusively to the Bay of Plenty Times , show 767,000 more vehicle movements through those key areas compared with 2013.
It confirms what many frustrated motorists already suspect – thousands of additional cars on our roads are causing gridlock most weekday mornings and afternoons, placing an enormous strain on lives, businesses and the wider city.
The busiest intersections of the 10 this year are Hewletts Rd and Totara St, 15th Ave and Cameron Rd, Hewletts Rd and Jean Batten Drive, and Moffat Rd and State Highway 2.
Most of the increase in weekly vehicle movements across all 10 intersections has been in the past three years.

​The council data also shows:
•In 2019, there are more than 2.8 million vehicle movements through 10 of our busiest intersections weekly.
•Over the past six years, that weekly traffic total has risen 37.54 per cent.
•Between 2013 and 2016, the weekly total grew by 10.2 per cent and between 2016 and 2019, it grew by 24.81 per cent.
The figures point to a transport network under increasing stress and a city reaching a crossroads in dealing with its worsening traffic problems.

The traffic situation in Tauranga has reached boiling point, with the city council and the national roading authority clashing in a tense stalemate.
The council suspended millions of dollars of major transport and safety projects in protest at a "paralysis" of action from the New Zealand Transport Agency.
The agency said the city's plan did not align with the Government Policy Statement and focused too much on cars instead of alternative transport.

​Like thousands of others, Tauranga mum and businesswoman Erika Harvey battles traffic Monday to Friday.
Her family lives in Bethlehem, her daughter goes to school in Greerton and her office is in Mount Maunganui, which means she is often held up at more than one of those 10 busy intersections.
"I have found myself working from home instead of going to the office due to the traffic congestion. It is no longer productive as I waste too much time in my car."
Harvey has changed routes and the times she leaves different locations because of the increasing commute times and sometimes rides her bike to meetings to avoid the congestion and save time.

Tauranga Mayor Greg Brownless said traffic was now the city's No. 1 issue and predicted an "absolute crisis" if authorities did not act now.
"It's bad enough now and if nothing's done, if all these things that are being planned to be done don't happen, then it will get to that," he said.
Brownless said the increasing traffic reflected the population rise.
"More people coming to live here, more cars on the road."
He has experienced first-hand the congestion at some of those 10 busy intersections, as well as others around the city.
"There's just so many … all of those intersections with the state highways – they're all equally bad, in my view."

The new data shows nine of the 10 intersections have seen percentage increases in double figures since 2013.
The three most significant surges have been at the intersection of Takitimu Drive and Elizabeth St in the central city (91.84 per cent up), at the Maungatapu roundabout (91.64 per cent up), and the Welcome Bay roundabout (81.7 per cent up).
Bay of Plenty regional councillor Stuart Crosby, who is the chairman of the regional transport committee and was Tauranga Mayor for four terms (2004-2016), said several factors were contributing to Tauranga's unique traffic problems.
The city's busiest intersections were often used for through traffic – trucks and other vehicles travelling through the district.
"The other big reason is of course that the state highway network is also used by our locals to get from A to B, which is not always the case in many areas of New Zealand."
Add to that, Crosby said, the population growth of Tauranga and the Western Bay, and also the high business activity and ongoing GDP growth in the area.
"Which is great, but it does ... highlight weaknesses in our infrastructure, particularly transport."

​Crosby said people in Tauranga and the Western Bay had been reticent to get out of their vehicles and use other types of transport, which had only been made easier by a strong economy and relatively cheap fuel prices and cars.
Work had started in designing a refreshed transport system that would give people more transport choices for moving around the city, he said.
James Wickham, manager of the Tauranga Transport Operations Centre, said the 2019 city council traffic figures were mostly collated during the second week of March, using inductive loop counters embedded in the ground at each intersection.
Where this technology and method were not possible or unavailable, the latest and nearest relevant rubber tube counters were used to deduce the volumes on each approach of the intersection.
Wickham said there could be some seasonal factors that influenced the data. For instance, March was generally considered to be the busiest month of the year.
He said increased traffic coming over the Tauranga Harbour Bridge would be impacting the Takitimu Drive/Elizabeth St intersection, and the increases at the Girven Rd/Maunganui Rd intersection outside Bayfair mall in Mount Maunganui would be contributing to the increases on Hewletts Rd.
"However, a significant increase has occurred at Totara St, possibly people moving permanently into what were once holiday homes at the Mount."

Wickham also noted the "significant area of growth" through Bethlehem.
There were five major roads leading into the Tauranga CBD and all needed to be counted together when assessing traffic going in and out, he said.
"You have to remember that it is a transport network and looking at sites in isolation can provide a distorted perspective."

Original Video: 
​https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503343&objectid=12224494 

A wheelchair-accessible playground swing has made an almost 1000km journey to its new home at Greerton Village School, much to the delight of the community.
Dubbed a "liberty swing", the playground equipment meant children and adults in wheelchairs were able to enjoy the thrill of soaring on a swing.
The swing was gifted to the school by Variety, a charity for disadvantaged Kiwi children, after Tauranga City Council and Greerton Village School explored options to make the school more accessible to students and the community.
Representatives of Variety and the council attended a mihi whakau at Greerton Village School yesterday morning, where the swing was unveiled to the students and staff at the decile two school.
Previously kept in Christchurch, it was left unused after the devastating earthquakes that rattled the region in 2011.
Greerton Village School principal Anne Mackintosh said the school was "very happy, very excited and very grateful" to be gifted the swing.
She said the school was always fighting for equity and equality at the school.
"It's the biggest shot in the arm we've had when it comes to resources for our treasures - that's what we call our high needs students.
"This generous donation will make a big change [for] them."
School board member Erika Harvey said she teared up when she heard the school would be donated the swing.

​"I was crying ... words cannot express how truly grateful we are at Greerton Village School to be the recipients of such an amazing and charitable gift."
The school had funding for 27 children through the Ongoing Resourcing Scheme - a Ministry of Education initiative that provides extra support for high-needs children - out of the 410 children on the roll, she said.
Not all of the high-needs children at the school were in wheelchairs, but it upset Harvey to see any students limited in their play.
She said it must be hard for less-abled children to watch other students play around them while they were restricted to their chairs.
"Most of the time the students are just pushed in circles," she said.
David Drake, a volunteer with Variety for over 20 years, was one of the unsung heroes involved in the mission and drove the swing nearly 1000km from Christchurch to Tauranga.
Drake embarked on the voyage at 6.45am on Monday morning, caught the afternoon ferry to Wellington then zoomed up to Palmerston North. After an overnight stay there, he arrived in Tauranga on Tuesday evening.
He was "delighted to bring [the swing] up" for the "special day".
Tauranga City Council community development team leader Dani Jurgeleit said the swing was part of the council's vision to make Tauranga "the most inclusive city" in the country.
The council helped out by covering the $1000 cost of transporting the swing, which included the ferry, petrol and accommodation.
The installation of the swing at Greerton Village School was part of a larger conversation about how the council could make the city more accessible.

Original Article: 
​https://www.nzherald.co.nz/good-news/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503279&objectid=12205564

Independent fishermen say they are being pushed out of Tauranga as council ignores pleas for more wharf space.
Members of the Black Fleet, a designation given to all working vessels, have to share 5 metres of truck-to-boat space between them at the public Cross Road wharf. 
While private wharves are in the process of being built which will ease usage, fisherman are still angry.  
"When you consider a backwater like Whangarei has 490 metres of space, Napier has 400, Gisborne has 286, and Whakatane has 80 it is ridiculous Tauranga only has 5 metres of truck to boat space," fishing captain Dan Harvey said.

​Harvey said the newly opened $11.4 million Marine Precinct, operated by Tauranga City Council, did not cater for the needs of working fisherman. 
"We had hoped the final design would have a seawall with additional truck to boat space," he said. "Instead they've sold the water edge privately."
Harvey has been fishing the Tauranga Moana (the seas of Tauranga) for 15 years. Over that time he has seen a decline in fishing vessels calling Tauranga home due to the lack of facilities. They take with them jobs and revenue.  
Data compiled by different vessels showed on average each fishing ship employs eight people and turns over $1.4 million.About $1 million of that turnover is spent covering costs locally, including ice, fuel and maintenance.

"Ships are leaving," he said. "If I didn't have my family and daughter settled here I would leave as well.
"The problem is we can't get more than one truck to a boat at any time."
Captains coordinate arrival times before booking space. Despite this double ups occur as each ship uses the wharf 2.3 hours per visit on average.
"The precinct has chased the super-yacht market and forgotten about the needs of the working fleet," Harvey said. 

Another fisherman, who asked not to be named, said they were forced to downsize so they could use smaller wharves in the district.  
"It cost us a hell of a lot of money to do so," he said.
"It's hard being a fisherman in New Zealand you get pushed out of the wharves unless you're in a small town like Westport or Greymouth that is geared for fishing. Numbers are reducing across the country."
Council says the Marine Precinct caters for all water users and upgrade work is under way to assist fisherman.
Two private fishing companies have resorted to build their own wharf which council predicts will free up public wharf space by 40 per cent.

In the mean time, smaller vessels can use the smaller, Fisherman's Wharf in Dive Crescent to unload catch or can book space at the Port of Tauranga. 
Since opening in August the Marine Precinct has serviced 28 vessels including a super-yacht, high-performance catermaran and a 298 tonne fishing vessel. 
Twelve were 'white boats' and 16 were 'black boats' showing working ships are using the facilities.
Harvey says he hopes the precinct expansions will provide more facilities to fisherman as new travel lifts in Whangarei will create more competition. 

"I'm worried all these super yachts they think will come to Tauranga will probably just not when that opens," he said.
"We're the ones that live here and will use these facilities year in and year out."
Original Article: 
https://www.stuff.co.nz/bay-of-plenty/109974821/tauranga-fisherman-feel-pushed-out-by-114-million-marine-precinct-to-make-way-for-superyachts 

Greerton Village School students make a plea for more funding.

Providing education to children with special learning needs has left one school $125,000 in the red.
The decile 2, Greerton Village School has highest number of special needs children at any mainstream primary school but catering for so many students has left the school in debt.
Parents have even resorted to opening a Give-a-Little page to fundraise money to pay teacher aides and help meet the two-year deadline to repay the debt. ​

​Principal Anne Mackintosh says the school attracted high numbers of  children  requiring learning support because parents were discouraged to enrol their child at other schools.  
Now, seven per cent of their roll requires funding from the Ongoing Resource Scheme and many others require learning support. 

"We became a bit of a victim of our own success," Mackintosh said. 
"Because we support inclusion and our treasures never feel they miss out. They do everything from swimming to kapa haka."
To curb the rising number of students the school had to put in place an enrolment zone to slow down their student intake. This stopped students being encouraged to enrol in their school outside of their zones. 
On September 22 the Coalition Government announced sweeping changes to the way learning support was organised in the draft disability health action plan designed to create better pathways for students. 
Submissions to the select committee also identified parents being discouraged from enrolling their children at certain schools.
"Some parents report their child  has not been welcome and/or allowed to attend for full school hours; or that their child has been excluded from education opportunities outside of the classroom," one submission read. 
Mackintosh says the reason for this is purely financial. Inclusion comes at a cost, with teacher aides being funded by the Ongoing Resource Scheme - a fund that allows teacher aides to be hired. 
"Sometimes children are only allocated 10 hours of teacher aide but in reality need more or even full-time," she said. 
"We go through all the hoops and try to fight for additional funding."
Mackintosh said the additional hours ate away the school's budget but it was done for the betterment of the children. The school passed 15 years of audits and has had no financial mismanagement issues.
"The problem is just the funding for the number of children we have," Mackintosh said. 
After going to the Ministry of Education the school was told to cut costs by $100,000 which will mean the loss of at least five teacher aides. The school has already cut the budget to the bone and even gone without rebuilding their junior playground which had to be dismantled years ago.  
Ministry of Education's deputy secretary sector enablement and support, Katrina Casey, said the two-year repayment plan was arranged to allow the school to stay cash-flow positive.
"Regarding your question about claims parents are being discouraged from enrolling their children in certain schools, every child and young person has the right to education," she said. 
"We know though that some parents and whānau experience challenges in having their children's needs recognised and supported."
Associate education minister Tracey Martin said too many children have been missing out on the support they need. 
"Once finalised, the Disability and Learning Support Action Plan will provide a clear structure and path for delivering this help.
"The goal is that we have an inclusive education system where children and young people with additional learning needs, including disabilities, are welcome, and where their achievement, progress, wellbeing and participation is valued and supported."
The announcement came on top of a March announcement of an additional $272.8 million over four years to learning support. 
Erika Harvey's child Piper attends Greerton Village School and says their existing model of inclusion and learning support has transformed her child 
Piper has severe autism but since changing to Greerton Village School she is no longer being excluded. 
"You always want to have hope for your children but before coming to this school, I wasn't sure there was much," she said. 
"She doesn't feel like she is missing out or different.
"They let her do everything from kapa haka to even being on the school radio."
Mackintosh is hopeful the changes will make a difference for schools like hers the promote inclusiveness but said resources are the key issue. "From the new changes, which took effect in July, we've only received about $5000 more and we are grateful for it," she said.
Stuff : https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/107264172/greerton-school-principal-school-in-financial-issue-due-to-learning-support

Tracey Formosa-Archbold has not worked since her son started school.
Kaden Murray, 12, has severe oro-motor dyspraxia, meaning his speech is delayed. He has also been diagnosed with anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism and an intellectual disability.
Kaden was granted Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS) funding from the Ministry of Education when he was 4. It provides support for students with the greatest learning needs.
"You think, 'That's great, that will mean he's got all the support he should have at school', but he doesn't," Formosa-Archbold says.
​It was "always a battle" getting teacher aide hours approved.
"When he started school, he had quite severe separation anxiety. So for the first two years when his teacher aide wasn't with him, I had to be with him."
Formosa-Archbold still has to be available for Kaden at his current school in Christchurch, in case he has a panic attack or behavioural problem when an aide is not by his side.

​

"I just haven't worked, I didn't work. There was no way ... And it's not just when his anxiety is high. He'll struggle, they'll call me. Being available to him at school has just been part of the way it is.
"The school doesn't have the resources to manage your child if they need that extra one-on-one. If they've got the aide there, that's great, but I don't know anybody that's got a full-time [one]."
THE PROBLEM WITH ORS FUNDING
ORS funding is categorised by two levels of needs: high and very high.
To meet approval criteria, students must have either ongoing severe difficulty in learning, hearing, vision, physical or language use/social communication, or moderate-high difficulty with learning, combined with high needs in two of the other four areas.
ORS funding allows the ministry to provide specialists, additional teachers, aides and support items to students, to help their needs.
About 1 per cent of students receive ORS funding.

​Cathy Johnston, whose son Mitchell, 11, has ORS assistance, says she worries about her friends more than herself.
"A number of my friends have got special needs kids, and they're not quite as severe as Mitchell, but for whatever reason it's been incredibly frustrating for them to get [aides].
"I can't say the same for other families, unfortunately, but for me it's been extremely positive ... I just wish some of them would get the kind of help that I receive."
Erika Harvey, whose daughter Piper, 7, has ORS funding, says the "extremely narrow" criteria mean parents end up battling each other over the limited pool of money.
Children who need help, but are not "the most severe", end up falling through the cracks and never improving unless parents seek outside assistance, she says.

​"Look at half of the people who have done amazing things for the world – they've been autistic. Why the heck are we not supporting these children?"
While technically illegal under the Education Act, schools also use "creative ways" to pass off potential students they know will not have or get ORS funding, Harvey says.
Piper's school, Greerton Village School, is on the opposite side of the problem, as one of the "magnet" facilities being "punished" for taking in more children than it can financially handle.
It is operating on a $118,000 deficit, Harvey says, due to the demand for aide support requiring additional hours having to be funded on top of what has been granted by the ministry.
"The funding model is so skewed. It actually promotes exclusion ... The issue is from years and years of neglect and underfunding. It's snowballed into this crisis."

Harvey does not understand how New Zealand reached this point.
"I just had a call yesterday from a parent who has three children who are autistic. She just tried to kill herself because she can't handle it and she feels like a failure.
"It breaks my heart, I'm just getting emails from parents who are suicidal and their mental health is going, they're losing their house because they have to work. They have to choose between a job and giving their child an education - these are choices that people shouldn't be making."
A HISTORY OF NEGLECT
University of Auckland professor Missy Morton, whose research specialises in disability studies in education, says New Zealand has a history of neglecting its disabled community.
When she first entered the field, Morton worked in psychiatric facilities, including Dunedin's Cherry Farm Hospital and Auckland's Māngere Hospital, where people with disabilities lived alongside patients relocated from lunatic asylums.
"There were kids there that didn't go anywhere. They lay on the floor of the ward, they didn't have their own clothes, they didn't have physiotherapy or occupational therapy, they were institutionalised in every sense of the word."
People in those institutions "experienced a lot of abuse", she says.

Most of those facilities closed only about 30 years ago, around the time of the 1989 Education Act, which said all children could go to school.
"There's still people who are in our system as educators who don't believe these kids belong at school. If you don't see somebody as a student, it's hard to believe that you can actually teach them.
"Sometimes no amount of evidence is going to change stereotypes. But for most people, continued exposure and interaction, I think a lot of people are fearful of some kind of difference, and when you actually get to know somebody as a fellow human being, they're much less fearful."
A big part of the de-institutionalisation movement was making sure people were integrated with the community, however many schools still had a special needs unit physically separated from mainstream blocks, which created an "out of sight, out of mind" mentality, she said.
"Some schools have overcome that, they've re-purposed some of those rooms and made sure that kids without disabilities spend a lot of time in those rooms, but you have to work really hard."

NO-ONE HEARS THE COMPLAINING'
New Zealand Down Syndrome Association president Shelley Waters says there is "inadequate" teacher training in the learning support area.
The Government needs to "take more responsibility" for funding specific learning support training for teachers, at an undergraduate level and with postgraduate professional development, she said.
Morton says current opportunities for such development, and teacher education, is "quite variable depending on where you train and when you trained".
A former Wellington special needs unit teacher of 10 years, who does not want to be named, says she left her job because she didn't agree with what untrained aides got away with.
She made complaints about mistreatment of students from aides. However, those employees, who often did not have formal job descriptions and were hired without qualifications, continued to do "what they felt like doing".
"If you saw what was happening ... your toes would curl. The most appalling thing is these students can't talk for themselves so they actually don't have a voice. So no-one hears the complaining. Anyone can do anything they like to, and with these students and there's no consequences."

Teachers come into the industry with high hopes, but leave exhausted and frustrated, she says.
"You do it for years and years and years, and the thing is it's like pushing sh.. uphill. If your management is not listening to you, and the aides are doing what they want to do, and you're trying to do the best you can for the students, you're getting nowhere.
"In the end, you give up."
COMPLETE OVERHAUL NEEDED?
Disability Rights Commissioner Paula Tesoriero says it is vital that discussions about the future of the education system focus on ensuring inclusive education is "not a nice-to-have, but every child's right".
Tesoriero referred to statistics from the 2017 June quarter Household Labour Force Survey, which reveal 42 per cent of disabled New Zealanders between the age of 15-24 are not in employment, education or training.
"This is an indication that our education system is not as inclusive as it needs to be," Tesoriero says.
"An inclusive education system where children are supported to receive, participate and achieve to their full potential can change this outcome for disabled people."
Ministry spokeswoman Katrina Casey acknowledges there are "some challenges" with the system.
Demand is increasing for learning support due to population growth and earlier identification of needs, she says. There are also more children with "complex, and in some cases enduring needs".

​The ministry is implementing a new learning support delivery approach, Casey says.
The new approach includes having single support plans for each young person to achieve their learning goals, more flexibility to create responsive support, providing families with support to navigate the system, and better facilitating connections between local education and service providers.
But Disabled Persons Assembly national policy manager Esther Woodbury says issues cannot be resolved by having a learning support division alone.
"There needs to be a total cultural shift within the Ministry of Education for all students to be able to experience the lifelong benefits of belonging, participating and succeeding in an education system which actively values them."
An inclusive education system is possible, but there needs to be co-design from the disabled community, Woodbury says.
"The whole education system needs transforming and rebuilding. Decades of reviews and tinkering have not solved systemic and structural problems which negatively affect students, families and schools.
"The change we need to see today is a large-scale move away from the segregation of disabled people in special schools and special units. Disabled people are part of our society, our communities. It is time for our communities, and specifically our education system, to figure out what that actually means."

Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin says the system has been "chronically underfunded".
There were problems around the way support services are structured, and gaps in data collections "which mean we don't currently fully understand the extent of the need".
The Government invested $273 million in this year's Budget in learning support, and is developing a Disability and Learning Support Action Plan, she says.
"This action plan will ensure that resources are allocated based on an individual needs assessment for each child, and that all students receive the individual support they require to succeed."
Martin hopes to have a draft out to talk to stakeholders about "in the next few weeks".
IHC director of advocacy Trish Grant says the plan is based on consultation done by the previous Government.
"Unless you've got good prevalence data, unless we know how many kids in New Zealand require additional support to learn, and you base your resourcing framework on that data, then you're setting up kids to fail and schools to fail."

The Budget granting funding for an extra 1000 ORS-approved students is "propping up a flawed framework".
"Total reform ... will be years in the making. Meanwhile, these kids and schools are not getting what they need."
All new teachers should have the capacity to teach all new learners, Grant says.
There should also be better reporting from schools to ensure students' achievements are visible, and can be held accountable by the Education Review Office, she says.
"If they don't deal with these systemic problems, a new model is not going to do anything. A new model will further entrench the problems from the past that we know are deeply rooted in systems that don't work for diverse learners."
The issue concerns human rights, and the fact it has gone on for so long is a "disgrace", she says. "Let's not hide behind rhetoric, we need real action ... These kids have been waiting since 1989, even before that, for a fair deal.
"We don't need another system for these kids. These kids deserve a better response from the whole system."

Original Article: 
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/105604905/the-case-for-an-overhaul-of-the-special-needs-education-system 

From Sunday Morning, 10:04 am on 3 June 2018 ​
Erika Harvey & Anne Mackintosh on Radio NZ Sunday Morning 

​In 2016-17 more than 9,000 high-needs students were funded by the Ministry of Education through its "Ongoing Resourcing Scheme" or ORS. ORS subsidises the wages for teacher aides. The average number of children receiving ORS funding equates to just over 1 percent of the school-aged population. But Greerton Village Primary School in the Bay of Plenty has 6.2 percent of its 380 students requiring ORS funding and has a $118,000 shortfall in wages. Principal of Greerton Village Primary School is Anne MacIntosh and Erika Harvey is the parent of an autistic daughter at the school.

Ministry of Education experts have visited Greerton Village School to discuss funding concerns raised parents and staff.
The experts met with the decile two school on Friday to address the funding model to help with its pupils with special needs.
Principal Anne Mackintosh said she was encouraged by the ministry's positive response and that experts were prepared to listen and see the challenges firsthand.
"They have got faces to the numbers now," she said. "We have had our voices heard, that is the first step."
Mackintosh said the experts were shown a video from parent Erika Harvey which explained the challenges parents of children with special needs faced.
Three parents of children with special needs also spoke about their experiences.
"It was very good to hear from our parents who are living it day in and day out," she said. "It made it more real."
Mackintosh told the Bay of Plenty Times the school would have to cough up more than $118,000 to fund a shortfall and said the ministry was "very much aware" of the school's funding difficulties.
She said they discussed additional funding towards increasing support for teacher aids as part of the Budget 2018 announcement but "we are not sure what that is going to look like".
At the meeting, Mackintosh said the school had proposed to set up a pilot scheme for 2-3 years and had scheduled another meeting at the school to go through details with the head of learning support on June 7.

"It is about inclusive education. We are an authentic and inclusive school," she said.
Parent Erika Harvey was also encouraged by the meeting and was happy the ministry got to meet the children personally.
Harvey's 7-year-old daughter Piper is autistic and is a pupil at Greerton Village School.
"No one ever meets these children. When I applied for funding for Piper no one came to meet her," she said.
"It was all done on a piece of paper. I had to relive the darkest hour of the darkest day just so she has more opportunity with her education."
Harvey said a video she made exploring the funding challenges helped to shine a light on the issue and had so far been viewed by more than 20,000 people.
"It is really driving awareness," she said.
Harvey hoped the ministry would consider more funding for Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS) children at the school and nationwide.
"For every parent who doesn't get adequate funding for their child we have to think about leaving our fulltime jobs," she said. "Every child deserves an equitable education."
Ministry of Education deputy secretary of enablement and support Katrina Casey said the ministry would continue discussions with the school to look at ways of supporting an inclusive approach to education.
"We are working with the school to better understand their finances and identify options to address their concerns," she said.

Original Article: 
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503343&objectid=12060205

 6:40am Friday 01 Jun, 2018 | By Kerry Mitchell kerry@thesun.co.nz
A Bethlehem mum’s heartfelt plea to mum-to-be Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to fix the “broken” funding model for special needs students has struck a chord with parents throughout New Zealand.
Erika Harvey’s 7-year-old daughter Piper is autistic and is one of 24 special and high-needs students at Greerton Village School – more than double the number most schools have.
The school is facing a $118,482 funding shortfall this year to cater for these students – a sum it is having to fund from its operational grant instead of long-overdue upgrades of its infrastructure.
Last month Erika wrote an open letter to Jacinda Ardern asking her to fix the funding model which she, and thousands of other parents with children with special needs throughout New Zealand, believe is promoting exclusion of their children from school.
She followed this with a petition and, in the past week, the release of a moving video showing what inclusive education at Greerton Village School looks like.
The school enlisted Erika, a business consultant, to help share its plight.
“Most of what I learned I didn’t know, and I have a special needs kid. I wrote the letter hoping to get our pregnant Prime Minister’s attention because we have to change this broken funding model,” says Erika.
“We’ve got schools that are actually excluding children because it’s too expensive, and they’re winning because they get to spend their operational budget on whatever they like.
“Then we’ve got schools like Greerton Village which are fully inclusive, but are losing out because they can’t afford to buy new computers or replace the playground.”
The Ministry of Education provides funding for special and high-needs students through the Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS). Around one per cent of students receive this support at any one time and the funding covers services and support such as specialists, teacher aides and consumables that aid learning.
The funding for teacher aides is for a limited number of hours, however, and Greerton Village School has increased the hours of support it offers due to the extreme needs of its students, and a desire to give its “treasures” the best education possible.
It employs 21 externally-funded teacher aides and a further two are funded by the school board. The funding shortfall this year is expected to be $118,482.
There has been a glimmer of hope, however, with high-level Ministry of Education officials from Wellington visiting the school last week to discuss the possibility of the school being involved in a pilot project to look at a new funding model.
Erika presented the video at this meeting, which was attended by both educators and parents of special needs students.
“I wanted them to see exactly how their decisions affect schools and children. These people are making decisions about us but are going home to their normal lives and leaving us to pick up the pieces.”
Erika’s inbox was “flooded” with emails with stories from other parents around New Zealand after her open letter to Jacinda Ardern was published and some of their comments appear in the video.
“What is happening in our school is happening across the entire country. This is a big problem and I think people need to know about it.”
Erika points out that ORS funding only covers children with the most severe learning needs. Many others who suffer from mild autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia and other learning difficulties receive no support at all.
“For me to receive ORS funding I have to write the worst things you can imagine about my daughter. You have to write about their darkest day.
“The main criteria is ‘can they feed and toilet themselves and control their behaviour’. The minute your child can open a packet of chips and learn how to wipe herself, she’s screwed.
“It’s so backward. To me, there is a huge opportunity to help all children with additional learning needs to be contributing members of society, instead of only focusing on the most severe. There are tonnes of children falling through the cracks.”
Greerton Village School principal Anne Macintosh says she was “very encouraged” by last week’s meeting with the Ministry of Education
 “They came receptive and ready to listen. There were no promises made, but we’ve got a further meeting set down for June 7 to set out our proposal for a pilot scheme.
“We’re being innovative and looking at solutions – not necessarily looking for a cash hand-out, but we will need support in the short term.
“We passionately believe in inclusion and these treasures bring so much into our school. Our kids are learning about acceptance, responsiveness, tolerance, compassion and respect. The only rub is the money.”
Erika believes Piper is the poster child for what successful inclusion looks like.
“When she first started school at Greerton Village she was non-verbal, violent and always taking off her clothes. My daughter is now a totally different child and that is because she goes to a school that hones in on her skills and is truly inclusive. The difference in her after two years is crazy. They are amazing.”
You can read Erika’s open letter to Jacinda Ardern here: https://www.piperslove.com/pipers-journey/dearjacinda

Original Article can be viewed: 
​https://m.sunlive.co.nz/news/180930-mums-heartfelt-plea-inclusive-education.html

The Budget boost to education has been dubbed as "vast improvement" for a Tauranga primary school currently struggling with financial woes.
Thursday's Budget included an extra $1.6 billion over the next four years in operating funding and $334m in capital funding to address rising demand, fund 1500 more teachers and raise teacher-aide funding.
Greerton Village School principal Anne Mackintosh hoped the Budget boost would relieve the school's struggles under increasing financial pressure. Mackintosh told the Bay of Plenty Times the funding model meant to help with its large number of high-needs students was "broken".
"It is a start. I mean it will never be enough but it certainly is a vast improvement. It is very encouraging, it is a step in the right direction," she said.
"It depends when it [the budget] is initiated whether it will be in time to help us in our current situation," she said.
Mackintosh said the $370m to fund 1500 new teacher places by 2021 was also encouraging to help ease the "desperate need" for teachers.
A total of $272m was also announced for learning support such as teacher aides, Ongoing Resource Scheme (ORS) and early intervention.
Business consultant and parent Erika Harvey's seven-year-old autistic daughter attends Greerton Village School and was pleased the Budget included an extra 10 per cent in ORS funding.

However, Harvey was concerned how the $272m was allocated and hoped there were major structural changes being made to support children's learning to broaden the criteria.
Harvey had written an open letter to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern about funding woes at the school and will meet education representatives at the school next week.

Te Puke mother-of-three Monique Lints was pleased to see funding put into crucial services that were important in providing children a better future.
"Especially being a mother of a special needs child it is good to know I can send him off to school and know he is going to be taken care of," she said.
The Ministry funding rate for teacher aides will increase from an hourly rate of $16-$18 in 2019/2020 to $20 an hour by 2022.
Associate Minister for education Tracey Martin said the additional amount will bring the government contribution up to at least the minimum wage and reduces the pressure on schools.
Inspired Kindergartens principal Peter Monteith would have liked to see a bigger increase in "backline funding" for early education centres.

Monteith said the government had signalled an additional 1500 teachers for schools, but nothing to address the critical shortage of qualified teachers in the early childhood sector.
Monteith's said if three new centres were to be built in Tauranga "we could fill them".
Additional reporting NZME
BUDGET 2018: EDUCATION
• $1.6 billion more in operating funding and $334 million in capital funding.
• Education budget will be $12.26b, up from $11.85b last year.
• $395m to build new schools and classrooms. Includes $62m for Christchurch schools rebuild and $332m nationwide.
• $204m for a 1.6 per cent increase to schools' operational funding and to cover school roll growth. 
• $370m to fund 1500 new teacher places by 2021 ($70m more than National funded).
• Early childhood education: $590m to fund more places and a 1.6 per cent funding increase for ECE centres from January 2019.
• $272.8m for learning support such as teacher aides, ORS and early intervention.

Original Article: 
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/budget-2018/news/article.cfm?c_id=1504502&objectid=12053584