Rugby coach and parent Mike Allanson of Carterton wants an end to schoolyard bullying. PHOTO/GEOFF VAUSE
By Geoff Vause
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Mike Allanson isn’t the type of parent who grizzles about his son’s school just for the sake of it.
He’s involved in his community. He coaches Under 8 and Rippers rugby and has offered to serve on Carterton School’s board of trustees.
But he says the school is failing to face up to playground bullying problems, and that a lot of parents feel the same way.
“We put in a complaint to the Board of Trustees several months ago after a punch-up in the playground,” Mr Allanson said yesterday.
“The board chairman Jim Green has made contact a couple of times, but almost three months is too long without a result.
“We’re not on a witch hunt, and we’re not pointing the finger. We want answers. We laid the complaint at the first meeting of the new board months ago and we want to know our seven-year-old son and his mates are safe at the school. Other parents are also dealing with the same problem.”
Mr Allanson said the school wasn’t facing up to problems around schoolyard bullying and was losing pupils as a result.
“We’d put our son in St Mary’s, but the roll is full. Other parents would do the same. We’re looking for another school.”
Mr Allanson said he offered to serve on the board, but was told he wasn’t needed.
“I decided to stay with the rugby coaching where I can do some good with kids.”
“I think the principal has had her head in the sand for far too long. The teachers are sitting around in the staffroom instead of supervising the playground.”
Carterton School board chairman Jim Green said he was meeting this week with school principal Alison Woollard and “those concerned with the matter”.
“I can’t comment on these things, obviously, and I need to see things are done right,” Mr Green said.
Mrs Woollard was not available for comment at the time this edition went to press.
Teachers are entitled to a lunch break. Staff are rostered on duty and there are usually three to five staff on duty each break. Also what is mr. Allanson definition of bullying? Who are all the ‘we’ he speaks of or is it the Royal ‘we’.
Michael
If Mr Allanson wanted to be on the Board of Trustees he had the same opportunity as any other parent, to run as a candidate. It is an election process, not just a matter of ‘offering to do it’.