Leanne Otene: Principals Federation President on the need for long-term plans for school property

An education leader says there needs to be a long-term plan for school property.  

The Government's expected to respond to the Ministerial Inquiry into School Property today.  

The inquiry was launched in February to address the issue of planned works being unrealistic and unaffordable.  

Principals Federation president Leanne Otene told Heather du Plessis-Allan there are issues with existing school property - like ventilation and mould. 

She says old stock needs to be addressed, and planning for future roll growth. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We should get a clear idea today of what we
can afford to build on our school properties. Back in February,
you may remember the government launched a review of school
property systems after a bunch of classrooms and buildings started
getting paused. New Zealand Principles Federation Leanne ausonaires with us now, Heyley.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Anne, Oh, good morning, Heather yea, and I.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Imagine that what we're going to find out today is
we've been wasting money, and far too much money on
all of the stuff like the design and all that
stuff before we even get to building the classrooms. Is
that what you think?

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well, first of all, I was interviewed by the review
team led by Mary mccullay earlier in the year, so
I can share what I said at that time to
support a property plan going forward. I'm hoping they took
heed of that advice because school principles and boards and
the public have been concerned about property, school property for
some time, so we welcomed the review. We're talking about

(00:48):
school property, infrastructure, public infrastructure. That is the responsibility of
the government. So I'm expecting that money is going to
be ring fenced for education because this is a state
set because at the end of the day, we want
all our children coming to healthy and safe environments so
that principles and textus can get on with the job
of texting and meaning. Our young people deserve to have

(01:10):
the best.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
Do you think that the answer is to go for
something a little bit more standardized than a bespoke design
for every single school. So like, this is what a
classroom looks like, This is what a school layout looks like.
We just roll that out.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Well, look, we need a long term plan for property.
You know, we need to be proactive so that we
have quality environments. We need to have confidence in our
public schools have you know, like I said, healthy, safe,
fits for purpose infrastructure and that just means warm and
dry classrooms. We also need to make sure that those

(01:42):
schools that are praying to flooding or poor drainage need
specific support to ensure all is done to eliminate any
of the risks going forward. So you know, that's extremely important.
But you know, key to all of us Number one
firstly is the health and safety of our children as paramounts.
So I'm hoping that this report and everything in it

(02:03):
is on that basis of you know, that is the
basis of all decision making. So for example, ventilation, we
found out during COVID that many of our schools are
not up to standards, so you know, adequate ventilation in
summer and heating and winter. Another is mold. We had
an example of where the Minister visited a special school
earlier in the year in saw mold and we thank

(02:24):
you for giving money to fix this problem. But we've
got other schools with simmilar problems. Rural schools. We see that,
you know, reticulation in ural schools needs to be attended to,
so wastewater and fresh water is of high quality. So
it's talking about our old stock, what's already out there,
and also planning for the future because we know we've

(02:45):
got role growth as well that we have to deal with.
And there's plenty of examples of where we meet. We've
got kids squashed into old dental clinics, leaning in hallways.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
It's not just we do in the future. Is how
we fix the stuff we've already got, LeeAnne, thanks very much.
Leanne Ortonny who's the New zeal Principals Federation President. For
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