Classroom muckup avoidable – principal

A million dollars of taxpayers’ money has been wasted through continued delays in building urgently needed Nelson classrooms, a principal says.

The ministry has confirmed that the new classrooms at Waimea College in Richmond, the biggest school in the top of the South Island, won’t be ready until 2020, two years later than originally promised by the Government.

In June last year, the Government announced $4.2 million for the provision of eight new teaching spaces to accommodate the school’s rapidly rising roll. Then-Associate Education Minister Tim Macindoe said it was hoped construction could get under way ‘‘almost immediately’’, with the classrooms being available ‘‘some time’’ in 2018.

In March, the ministry said the teaching spaces would not be completed until 2019, because of a change in scope to address weathertightness.

The ongoing delays were ‘‘simply unacceptable’’, Waimea College principal Scott Haines said.

The school was now operating ‘‘nine teaching spaces beyond its capacity’’, and classes had had to be held in the staffroom this year, for the first time, he said.

Students and teachers were having to move more during the school day, including during double periods, causing ‘‘a level of disruption’’.

‘‘We said to the associate minister, ‘We’re in dire need of these buildings’, and he said, ‘Yes, I understand’,’’ Haines said. ‘‘And here we are now . . . and the sum total of that progress is the appointment of an architect and, just at the end of last term, the development of a preliminary design.’’

The ministry said it had engaged ‘‘extensively’’ with the school and its board to ensure the project would be completed to the standards required by both the ministry and the college. It was providing the school with a two-storey, nineclassroom block, which would include a horticulture facility previously planned to be a separate facility, spokesperson Kim Shannon said.

Construction would begin in mid-2019, and was expected to last nine to 12 months, she said. Meanwhile, temporary buildings containing eight teaching spaces were being erected and would be ‘‘ready for occupation for the start of the 2019 school year’’.

The expected cost of the relocatable buildings was about $1 million.

‘‘Part of me is concerned that the need for those relocatables has only come about because of the delays that have occurred,’’ Haines said.

‘‘If the provisioning had occurred in a timely manner, then actually there would be a whole lot less stress for both Waimea College, our students, and the ministry, and taxpayer dollars wouldn’t be spent on providing an interim solution while these buildings are put in place.’’

The school was ‘‘struggling to understand’’ why it was taking so long for the ministry to deliver the new block, Haines said.

When the Government announced the cash injection 16 months ago, the school also decided to build a performing arts teaching space, using international student funds. That building was now in use, Haines said.

The new build had required some scope changes since its announcement, Shannon said. This included an additional teaching space, and creating warmer, drier teaching and learning spaces

‘‘We’re in dire need of these buildings.’’

Waimea College principal Scott Haines

around the wider campus.

‘‘A change in timeframe is typical in construction projects when there are changes to the scope and specifications of a project. While we understand that this can be frustrating, our focus remains ensuring the best possible property outcomes for schools and their students.’’

The school was working hard to make sure students’ learning needs were still being met, Haines said.

‘‘Schools are great at solving problems, so student outcomes aren’t being affected, but that’s also not an excuse to not provide the buildings that actually those students are entitled to.’’

Student numbers at Waimea – the only zoned secondary school in Nelson – stood at 1607 this year, up from 1575 in 2017, and were forecast to reach 1637 next year, he said.

While the school’s and the ministry’s growth projections were aligned, the ministry had a policy of waiting to see ‘‘bums on seats’’ before making property decisions, Haines said, which meant schools with growing rolls were constantly coping with a deficit of teaching spaces.

The length of time it took for the ministry’s ‘‘bureaucratic machine’’ to deliver on those decisions exacerbated the situation, Haines maintained.

The ministry did not respond to a request for comment on those points.