Waiouru Kindy fight continues

Ruapehu Bulletin, 24 November 1992, Page 1

Waiouru Kindy fight continues

by

JAN

Savell

Waiouru parents are doing it all again - fighting for their kindergarten. Initially they thought their arguments at the Ruahine Kindergarten Association's consultative meeting three weeks ago had brought a reprieve, now they're not so sure.

Chairperson for the association's Board of Management, Kathy Fraser, said the position of the Waiouru kindergarten is tenuous. "It is solely dependent on the information that the Army will have for the Association on 20 November," Ms Fraser said, last week. "If only the army can

pull children out of a hat. They would need an extra 60 children under five to sustain two kindergartens. Historically they are looking at very little growth," she said. Committee members for the threatened Keningston Street kindergarten are more positive. They have a copy of the list of the

expected rolls for both kindergartens which the Army provided for the Association. The children of military personnel guarantee Waiouru kindergartens 112 children in total. With the addition of children of civilians and families who have been posted out but are awaiting housing the commit-

tee is confident this number will more than cover the 120 needed to fill both rolls. "We've got another 58 military children aged between two and three on the waiting lists so there's enough to replace the 56 children on the roll who will turn five within the year," said Sue Peterson, a member of

the Kenningston Street Kindergarten committee. "The two kindergartens are very important to us in Waiouru. Even with an operating te kohanga reo Maori children make up 50% of the kindy population. With our husbands away so often we don't have the support of extended family."

"We have enough indecision in our lives without this," Sue Peterson said. Mrs Peterson will be a member of the group who will travel to Palmerston North to represent the community at the Ruahine Kindergarten Association's meeting on Tuesday 24 November.