The Ministry of Education has corrected the record and confirmed Onslow College was not told its library was prone to damage in an earthquake.
“Not informing the board about the library’s earthquake prone status was unacceptable and is deeply regrettable,” Secretary for Education Iona Holstead stated in a letter to the school principal this week.
“I apologise to you, the board, staff, students and community of Onslow College for this failing on the Ministry’s part.”
The Wellington school’s principal Sheena Millar found out about the building’s risk last month — only after the local council sent a letter to the school asking for an update on the building’s vulnerability.
“I think I felt a little bit sick,” she told 1News earlier this month.
The library was rated at just 15% of the New Building Standard, before it was strengthened to 50% NBS last year, without the school’s knowledge.
Buildings rated less than 34% NBS were considered prone to damage in an earthquake.
Under health and safety law, school boards were responsible for the safety of all people onsite.
Ministry of Education head of property Sam Fowler previously told 1News Onslow College and Wellington Girls’ College had been informed of their buildings’ seismic vulnerabilities, but he accepted communication could have been clearer.
Wellington Girls’ College also discovered a seismic risk posed by one of their buildings by chance this year, when requesting property rebuild planning from the ministry.
In the letter to Onslow College, Holstead said she shared statements last week implying Onslow College’s board was given seismic information about all of the school’s buildings in 2020.
But the letter said it wasn’t until 2022 that the Ministry of Education found out the library was rated at approximately 15% NBS.
“The ministry did not share this information with the school’s board.
“I also apologise for the inaccuracy in my public statement about this, which further compounded the harm to you and your board,” Holstead stated.
Why the information wasn’t shared had been “difficult to establish” due to staffing changes, the letter stated.
“I appreciate that this situation has seriously impacted the school’s trust in the Ministry and that we will need to work hard to rebuild that.”
Onslow College principal Sheena Millar said in an email she felt relieved to receive the letter as the school board was shocked and concerned the information shared with the school as part of its rebuild plans had been misrepresented by the Ministry, on top of the board’s shock of discovering the library’s historic risk.
Millar stated the letter allowed her to “reassure the Onslow community; students, staff, whānau, that we would always be open and transparent with them”.
“I do respect anyone who takes responsibility for getting things wrong.”
Millar stated the school board had spent a lot of time re-examining emails and meeting minutes to try and find the information.
Secretary of Education Iona Holstead said in the letter she had reinforced her expectation to staff that information related to health and safety must be communicated to school boards quickly and openly, so boards could carry out their health and safety responsibilities.
