Use of guards causes upset

DEAN KOZANIC/The Press

VANDALISM RISK: A security guard patrols the grounds of Aorangi School which will close for good in January.

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The Education Ministry is spending about $1200 a day for guards to patrol Christchurch's Aorangi School to prevent vandalism.

The board of trustees says the money could have been better spent on keeping the Bryndwr school open.

The ministry's acting southern regional manager, Raymond Webb, said there would be around-the-clock security patrols over the Christmas-New Year period.

He said the patrols would ensure the buildings were not vandalised after Monday's High Court decision that dismissed Aorangi's judicial review into the process Education Minister Anne Tolley used to close the school.

The school will officially close on January 27.

Webb would not say how much it was costing the ministry because it depended on the period that security was necessary, but The Press understands the rate is about $50 an hour, or about $1200 a day.

Webb said the ministry was aware there was a risk of vandalism, but no specific threat had been made. It was standard practice to have a guard at closed schools, he said.

School board chairman Greg Thompson said it was a "kick in the teeth" for the ministry to spend big money on security, especially when it talked about wanting to save money.

Board member Andrew Oh said an independent report commissioned by the school calculated the Government would save $38,000 a year by closing Aorangi. He said the cost of the court case and school security could have paid for the school to stay open for another few years.

Webb said the the ministry had yet to decide the future of the school's land and buildings.

There was a process for the disposal of government property, he said. Other government agencies would be consulted. If they were not interested, the property would be offered to the former owners or their willed successors, and then it would be offered to Ngai Tahu.

After that, the Office of Treaty Settlements would make an assessment. If no-one wanted the land and buildings, they would be put up for sale.

Thompson said there had already been a couple of property developers inspecting the site.

- © Fairfax NZ News