Mike Butler: Two Ministers and a kura

A stoush between a retired principal and the government over the provision of a new primary school for the Hastings suburb of Havelock North stepped up a notch at the weekend with the National Party MP for Tukituki blaming the Labour Party.

Frustrated by a continued lack of response from both Tukituki MP Craig Foss and Education Minister Hekia Parata, the retired principal, Malcolm Dixon, yesterday launched a website www.schoolforhavelocknorth.co.nz to fight for the new primary school that was promised in 2010.

Mike Butler: Kura proceeds as schools struggle

A very public stoush is going on in Hastings over a plan to build a new Maori immersion school in the predominantly non-Maori suburb of Havelock North while primary schools there are bursting at the seams.

Education Minister Hekia Parata is pushing the plan while a recently retired long-time primary school principal and first-term Hastings district councilor Malcolm Dixon is leading the opposition.