Schools go online amid state of emergency
High schools in central Nelson have moved to online learning for the start of the week, as the city remains in a state of emergency.
Nayland College principal Daniel Wilson said the school would switch to distance learning today and tomorrow to support the emergency efforts.
Twenty-two staff were directly affected by the heavy rain event, and many of them were unable to work for at least a few more days, he said.
‘‘We know that many in our community have had to evacuate, others are cut off by slips or fallen trees, and others are wary of travelling by road.’’
Supporting emergency services and ensuring safety was the school’s top priority, he said.
‘‘We have been informed by the Nelson City Council that this is still very much an active emergency situation, with slips continuing to occur around the city.
‘‘The council have also requested that people stay off the roads if at all possible.
‘‘At the same time we are very conscious that this is yet another interruption to student learning, especially for our senior students finishing assessments and working towards external exams.
‘‘We will be reviewing our calendar for the remainder of 2022 to ensure we maximise learning time.’’
The school would review the situation this afternoon, but were unlikely to be back on site until at least Wednesday, he said.
The Senior Leadership Team would be available to supervise online learning in the library for any students who couldn’t remain at home.
Nelson College principal, Richard Dykes said ‘‘quite a number’’ of the school’s staff were directly affected and others ‘‘indirectly affected’’, and the schools was asking students to stay at home.
‘‘While [in] the state of emergency, the authorities have asked people to keep off the road, and it was appropriate that we didn’t try to bring staff and students back in.
‘‘We’re also mindful that if we’d actually tried to bring people in, we’d have half and half.
‘‘And it’s either better to have everyone in, or everyone at home learning, so we made the call to do online learning.’’
Nelson College for Girls principal, Cathy Ewing said the school would switch to online learning up to and including Wednesday, at this stage.
The college had affected staff, and respected the need to keep traffic off roads, she said.
The schools said the situation would be reviewed at the end of each day.