There is now a survey online designed to canvass the opinions of parent’s and student’s knowledge of the laws relating to private schools.  This is a national survey and we understand that all private schools in the country have been individually asked to pass the survey details on to their clientele.

Well, we know we’ve had our differences in the past, but don’t let that stop you from having your say.  Don’t be prejudiced against it, just because we’re the ones telling you it exists.  

It’s only up till 8th October, so fill it in, and pass it on.  

www.pss2010.net

Meanwhile, back in West Auckland.  Less of a survey, more of a quiz really.

Here are a few questions that are very hard for the Titirangi Rudolf Steiner School to answer.

(The survey questions from the above survey look easier)

(we reserve the right to add to this list if/when further questions arise)

Does your school policy state that parents should talk to teachers about any matters concerning their children’s daily lives in school?

Did the parents of the Titirangi Three, meet with the teacher, Susanne Cole and make arrangements with her about their daughter’s daily life at the school?

Was that compatible with school policy?

Did the Manager of the school, Mark Thornton, interrupt these arrangements and tell the parents that Susanne Cole should not have made them?

Did Susanne Cole defend the arrangements she had made for the welfare of the child?

What age do you allow children to use sharp knives, hammers, saws and axes?

In view of the fact that Michael Lipshulz admitted he was not there at the time our daughter alleges that [a boy] threatened her with an axe, do you tell people that it did not happen?

In view of the fact that Michael Lipshutlz admitted he was not there when the axe wielding occurred, do you infer that it did not happen?

Did Michael Lipshulz first deny and then admit that he hadn’t been present when our daughter reported being threatened by [a boy] with an axe?

Did Trustee Desmond Burdon tell us that Trustees had “no power” in the school and that they were “only in charge of the buildings”?

Did the Trustees respond to a letter requesting an urgent response to a worsening situation 17 days before Mark Thornton, with the College of Teachers, illegally expelled our three children?

Did your Trustees, Sean Gribben and Paddy Delaney admit during the “secret meeting” they requested that they did not know about the exclusions until after they happened?

Did Sean Gribben, Chairman of the Board, and Trustee Paddy Delaney try to say during the “secret meeting”, that there was no axe involved, because “parents” said so?

Did Sean Gribben, Chairman of the Board, and Trustee Paddy Delaney admit during the “secret meeting” that only children were present at the time?

Did the Chairman of the Board and Trustee Paddy Delaney admit in secret that no-one would ever know whether the axe wielding took place or not?

Were the parents of the Titirangi Three offered any warning that their ‘behaviour’ might result in their children losing their right to attend the school?

Did your Trustee Desmond Burdon describe the Titirangi Rudolf Steiner School as a Micky Mouse operation?

Did your Trustee Desmond Burdon, being the only Trustee that apparently knew of the expulsions before Monday, when the meeting was to take place, act to safeguard the contracted meeting?

Did your Trustee Desmond Burdon, being the only Trustee that apparently knew of the expulsions before Monday, when the meeting was to take place, claim that he couldn’t take sides?

Did the Trustees admit at the secret meeting that the conduct of the school in failing to stop the bullying and expelling the bullied child was not compatible with Steiner Philosophy?

Did Susanne Cole tell assembled parents of Class 3/4 that teasing and ridiculing are not bullying?

Did a parent whose child had been pulled off the monkey bars, with her arms pinned by her sides, so that she banged her head on a post, tell the assembled parents that she was keen for her daughter to “toughen up”?

Is the policy on bullying for children to tell the teacher or other adult?

Did the eldest child of the Titirangi Three follow the school policy on bullying, which is to tell the teacher?

Did the parents of the Titirangi Three continue to complain about the bullying because in spite of the child following school procedure, the bullying children were not separated and so the bullying continued?

Did your enrolment officer tell an enquirer that the reason the parents of the Titirangi Three had been “upset” was because of “a bit of teasing between girls”?

Did one of your Trustees tell an enquirer that acts of peaceful democratic protest which the parents of the Titirangi Three did after the expulsions, were in fact justification for the expulsions in the first place?

Is it true that the family have never been given an actual concrete reason for expelling the children, illustrating any actual instances of behaviour proscribed by your stated school policy whatsoever?

Was a meeting held on school grounds in which Mark Thornton and Susanne Cole allowed parents to make slanderous comments and allegations about the family including the children?

Did they allow a parent to make the comment about our daughter, such that “my kids said she was asking for it” on school grounds without challenging it?

Does the school tell enquirers that the eldest child made the bullying up to please the parents?

Did a parent at the school threaten the mother of the Titirangi Three if she was to go to the Press about the expulsions?

How many families have left your school in the last eighteen months?

Have you informed or do you inform parents at the school, or enquirers, that the parents of the Titirangi Three brought cameras into the school office because their children had been, to the best of their knowledge, illegally expelled?

Have you informed or do you inform parents at the school, or enquirers, that the expulsions occurred because the parents of the Titirangi Three brought cameras into the school office?

Did your Chairman of the Board, Sean Gribben, come to a “secret meeting” six weeks after he was asked for an “urgent response” and four weeks after the expulsions, believing that the children were expelled because the parents brought a camera into the school office?

Did Susanne Cole fail to answer a letter from the oldest of the Titirangi three telling her that her belongings had been interfered with before she got them back, shortly after being expelled?

Did Susanne Cole stand by her professional integrity in defending the arrangement she had made, according to school policy, with the parents?

Did the teachers stand up for the children in their care when it was decided to withdraw their places without following any procedures?

Did the parents of the Titirangi Three know, or could they have known, that they had a contract with the school such that their children’s education could be in jeopardy in this way, with no notice, because they were obliged to continually flag up the fact that school policy was not being followed?

Is it true that less than a month before failing to stand up for her charge, Sheryl Mace had both made her a birthday present and a card which she gave to the five year old at a special birthday tea which the parents were not allowed to attend?

Did Heather Peri fulfil her contractual promise with the parents to have a meeting to fully welcome Our Eldest Child into the school, after she had been there for over a term?

Are members of the school community happy to misrepresent the easy-to-issue Trespass Orders slapped on us during the illegal expulsions, as “Restraining Orders” which require application to a judge? 

Has Paddy Delaney been able to substantiate his claim that we are anti-Steiner?

Is it possible to hold a school policy such that children should tell and that bullying will be taken very seriously at the same time as operating a philosophy that ‘boys will be boys’ “wildness is fantastic”, and that teasing and ridiculing are not bullying?