“We have not been heard” – Former Christchurch School Board chairperson regarding earthquake concerns

The documents showed that the Education Ministry violated expert advice at the earthquake-ravaged Christchurch school, ran into problems and mounting costs, was obstructive and misleading.

Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon

The ministry criticized the school leadership when they asked questions – and had to apologize three times.

Mike Lai, Chair of the Board of Trustees of Christchurch High School for Girls from 2013-2018, says the ministry’s “toxic” culture does not change, and warns other schools against learning about long and incomplete drama.

“We have tried to express our concerns on many occasions, and we have not been listened to,” Lai said.

“Ten years after the earthquake, and the concerns we raised at the time, they became reality and resulted in a squandering of my estimated $ 10 million in taxpayer money.

“Where’s the accountability?”

Although the budget has increased by 50 percent, from $ 27 million to $ 40 million, the main building of 35 classrooms at Decennial State School is not yet complete.

The ministry failed to act, and when Lay tried to hold her accountable, he said they pursued him.

“In front of the employees, they described me as a health and safety hazard.

“Just because I was counting them, they really did double up.”

A senior manager told the ministry that Lai one of its employees had filed a formal complaint against him, but they had not.

“This is the broader issue,” he said.

“If any school speaks out, it sure makes it very difficult. They have the power behind it, and they choose you as individual schools.

“This is where the schools should work collectively.”

The ministry said all of Lay’s cases had been investigated, including by the Ombudsman and the Auditor General’s office.

She declined to be interviewed, and instead focused in a brief statement on the school’s acquisition of a new arts center, a rehabilitated gym, with $ 25 million spent so far.

“There is more to be done, and we are in regular contact with the school,” said Kim Shannon, Head of Education Infrastructure Service.

The High School for Girls director and current board chairman Julian Bowen will only comment by saying that they have positive expectations for a meeting scheduled for November 4.

The Ministry has completed 58 schools out of 115 under the 10-year Christchurch Schools Reconstruction Program that began in 2013; It is behind schedule, although the ministry still says most schools will be ready by 2023.

“I have already started some projects in the big high schools but they will continue beyond 2022/23 as they are organized so that the schools remain fully operational,” said Shannon.

The mid-2018 review found the $ 1.13 billion budget was $ 150-300 million short, and was boosted to $ 1.38 billion.

Lai, a chartered accountant who runs his own company in Liston, said cost bombings and “unfortunately inaccurate” ministerial correspondence marked the construction of the Christchurch Girls.

Documents including emails, letters, ministerial memorandum, and the Ombudsman’s findings back up his account.

They show that the ministry failed to provide the school reconstruction team basic information:

That the ministry aims to boost the main block to 44 percent of the earthquake code (or New Building Standard, NBS), not the 67 percent the school said it promised; The advisors advised the ministry not to start work at the end of 2017 – it did anyway, and the problems and costs that I applied for and got an additional $ 13 million swelled.

“They are very concerned about the taxpayers’ money being wasted,” Lai said.

Project manager RDT told the ministry in March 2015 that the main bowling and replacing it would cost millions less than strengthening, plus it could be rebuilt on more stable land further from the river.

The geotechnical consultants believed the ground was so bad that if they chose the option to keep and repair, a “worst case” scenario would occur with $ 34 million bills.

However, days later, the ministry told Lai: “The ministry’s perspective is still that the reform option in the main block is the most feasible and cost-effective option.”

The main block remained.

This meant that the school’s alternative performing arts center had to be built next to it, on less stable land as well. Lai believes this added $ 3 million to the project, which was completed in 2017, when the target was in 2015.

Lai said that bureaucrats were making royal decisions that they were not qualified to make.

“Back in 2013 … we said your budget will not cover what you tell us you will do.”

“They are starting to realize that,” he said and looked for “short cuts” with a goal of 44 percent of NBS.

Minutes from the school’s December 2015 meeting with the ministry says: “The CGHS considers the original budget basis defective.”

The minutes said that the ministry approved a three-month timeframe for reforming the main bloc that “represents a risk,” but that it could manage it.

The report added that the school “did not consider it aware” of the decision of the National Bureau of Statistics by 44 percent.

“We found this out through the contractors,” said Mike Lai, who alerted us to the fact that they were directed to design with lower standards.

“Here a battle started between our school and the ministry to make sure that we would get a building that would have 67 percent of the code.”

In essence, Lai said, there was a one-size-fits-all approach to rebuilding schools and did not take into account what individual schools needed.

The mistake in adopting an inflexible approach to financing school property was found in the Auditor General’s 2017 report.

The school insisted 67 percent, and won – but this pushed up costs.

Lai said it was the students’ turmoil, though, that was the killer.

The council expressed “serious concerns” in early 2017 in the ministry’s registry and statements about delays, in the “most dangerous phase of rebuilding” due to disruption.

Later that year, the ministry wanted to move forward, even as experts told it not to start strengthening the main bloc, and it anticipated major problems.

The ministry went ahead anyway.

“They ignored the advice of the consultants and kept building,” Lai said.

“They were never transparent with us about the fact that there was advice from the consultants not to go ahead.

“They had an obligation to inform us of this, but they did not.”

The documents show that the ministry assumed that the school would not want a delay, which means that builders cannot benefit from the 2017-2018 summer vacation.

He started working, but by April 2018 he was restricted entirely to working outside school hours, to avoid disrupting classes and slowing down.

The costs vanished. An early stop has been called. The main block, although safe, is still incomplete.

The department sought and secured additional funding of $ 13.7 million in April 2018, which inflated the budget in this school only by 50 percent.

But she didn’t tell the school that.

The Ombudsman, in May of this year, described what happened when Mike Lai asked whether she had applied for more money: “The department’s initial responses were misleading, and they sounded contradictory,” the ombudsman said, adding that the employees were not dishonest. .

He continued, “I continued to dispel his concerns. While the ministry explained the situation now, it did not apologize for the confusion caused by its statements.”

Now it has.

Lay received three apologies from the Education Minister, Iona Holstead, the last one in June of this year.

She said they should have explained to him about the consultants telling her not to start building.

“I also apologize for the confusion our comments caused about the funding request,” Holsted wrote.

“Either way we should have done a better job explaining these situations to you from the start, and I am sorry for the way we dealt with the concerns you raised with us about this.

“I acknowledge that these failures on our part have caused you great anxiety and frustration over a number of years.”

The Ministry now considers these matters to be closed.

Amidst the current events of 2018, the Ministry told Mike Lai that a staff member had filed a formal complaint against him; In this email, the words “intimidation”, “harassment” and “bullying” are used.

But that wasn’t true – there was no official complaint.

Education Minister Iona Holstead apologized but insisted her employees had real concerns about his behavior

Lai said it had a huge impact on him, on the board, on the manager at the time.

“To be fair, Iona Holstead apologized … She has admitted to some of these issues, but this is having a negative effect.

“Hearing stories from other schools lately, and I think these are the same problems I have been through,” the board of directors and the principal.

So, yeah, you get an apology, but what change has been made?

“I see toxic behaviors and culture present within the ministry.

“No one is asking to roll heads but they have to be ready to change their position.”

In June this year, Lai sought to stir up school rebuilding problems with the Education Secretary, but Chris Hepkins told him no, “The things that matter to you work.”

In the 2017 election campaign, Labor promised to form a new ruling group to help rebuild. She didn’t, but she told RNZ the concerns had been addressed.

The department told Hepkins in December 2017 that the “full” redevelopment of the Christchurch girls under the rebuilding program “is likely to be completed in 2018-19”; 12 works have been completed and four projects are under implementation.

The ministry told RNZ that rebuilding its Christchurch schools has so far spent $ 758 million out of $ 1.3 billion.

It will provide one of the “state-of-the-art education networks in the country, with 2,400 refurbished and new learning spaces and more than 80 percent of them will be innovative learning environments.”

The program aims to:

Building 13 new schools in new locations Rebuilding 10 schools and redeveloping 92 schools over 10 years

“We expect to complete projects in 17 schools over the next 12 months,” said Kim Shannon.

There were 31 projects in the design and planning phases, 19 under construction and five for tender.

Decimal one school questions priorities

Wellington’s director, who is fighting his own battle with the ministry, says the division of property is clearly broken.

And when I say it’s leaking, the water flows into the building so much that when we do things like kappa hakka on a rainy day I have to put buckets among the kids .

“There is severe water damage … throughout the school. There is still black mold exposed as we speak. I doubt the school’s air quality.”

He said that the Ministry of Education assured the school that the buildings were safe to use.

Roof repairs were completed “about five years too late”.

“We can see a little light at the end of the tunnel, but trying to work with the ministry to get work inside buildings now is difficult.”

He found the Ministry of Education “extremely dodgy when it comes to addressing any of the issues in the school.”

Im said he believed there were “systemic” issues in the Education Ministry’s property department.

“I wonder why 10 schools in the ten are rebuilt, renovated, and renewed, when you have a ten-year school in which water flows, and this mold is damp and exposed, and we are struggling to accomplish any important work within our school.”

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