Kelston Boys\u2019 notified its community of the news in a letter<\/a> published on the school\u2019s Facebook page on October 29, explaining that the proposal goes against the wishes of the school.\u00a0With \u201cbattle lines<\/a>\u201d drawn and charter schools back in the<\/a> headlines<\/a>, it raises questions about whether a conversion can happen without a school\u2019s consent.<\/p>\n Who\u2019s driving this?<\/p>\n Siaosi Gavet, a former presiding member of the school board who\u2019s also worked for the Ministry of Education. Bangerz Education and Wellbeing Trust (BEWT) is the proposed sponsor for the charter school. BEWT is a \u201cby-youth-for-youth<\/a>\u201d charity that provides youth development and tutoring in Kelston and New Lynn. Chaired by James Cherrington-Thomas, the board<\/a> is otherwise entirely made up of M\u0101ori and Pacific youth under 25.<\/p>\n BEWT says consultation<\/a> with the community and students has been under way since February and they\u2019ve already met with the Charter School Authorisation Board. A payroll provider, Smartly, has been selected, as has an accounting firm, Education Services. They\u2019ve even chosen a new principal from three interviewed candidates, one of whom was a \u201cformer principal of the school\u201d.<\/p>\n Is this even legal?<\/p>\n It seems like it. A conversion application process can be initiated by \u201cone or more members of a school community<\/a>\u201d alongside a sponsor. Applications (submitted via email) must identify problems the charter school model would solve and explain how it would benefit the students and community. The proposed sponsor also has to demonstrate capability. Applications are approved by an Authorisation Board, which has a \u201cdecision-making and monitoring<\/a>\u201d focus and the power to apply conditions. Sepuloni has questioned<\/a> whether the charter system has enabled \u201ccowboy organisations\u201d to pressure public schools.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t the first time BEWT has applied for approval, with unsuccessful attempts to establish an Auckland Sports College as a designated character school<\/a> or charter school<\/a>.<\/p>\n Remind me what a charter school is again?<\/p>\n The charter model was reintroduced<\/a> last year (Labour had got rid of them in 2018<\/a>) with new legislation and $153m allocated in the 2024 Budget. The government hopes to have 50 of them, 35 of which<\/a> would be state-school conversions.<\/p>\n As Shanti Mathias outlined in this helpful Spinoff explainer<\/a>, charter schools are paid for by the government and free for citizens and New Zealand residents to attend. They operate outside of the public education system and are run differently.<\/p>\n Though publicly funded, each is operated by a \u201csponsor\u201d organisation \u2013 anything from a business to a charitable trust \u2013 that has to be approved by the Charter School Authorisation Board. The sponsor signs a contract with the Crown to operate the school.<\/p>\n They can be run as non-profits, but don\u2019t have to. Like state schools, charter schools aren\u2019t allowed to charge school fees but can accept voluntary donations. As outlined in a March 31 letter<\/a> from Seymour to the Authorisation Board chair Justine Mahon, a new charter school should \u201cdemonstrate a strong business model\u201d and \u201censure good value for money\u201d.<\/p>\n So what is Bangerz\u2019 business model and why do they want to take over?<\/p>\n Its concerns range from \u201clow achievement\u201d and \u201cviolence\u201d to \u201closs of community confidence\u201d. The reasoning for the \u201cintervention<\/a>\u201d was laid out at length on BEWT\u2019s website<\/a> and the application<\/a> to the Charter School Agency. It claimed Kelston had a \u201clong history of low achievement which has worsened over the last six years\u201d \u2013 a decline it described as a \u201cdeath spiral\u201d in a letter to the school board in September.\u00a0<\/p>\n Though its strategic goals are \u201cvery much in draft form\u201d it had many proposed solutions, should Kelston become a charter school. These include reallocating funding to provide all students with a device, plans to \u201cexplore the use of AI as a \u2018\u201cprivate tutor\u2019\u201d for each student\u201d, flexible timetabling to allow for work and family commitments, introducing a \u201cmodern curriculum where students with a keen interest in sport are prepared for careers in the sport and recreation sector\u201d with new subjects like \u201csales\u201d.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the school is running as normal?<\/p>\n Yes, with acting principal Daniel Samuela. He\u2019s been in charge for a couple of months, after former principal Adeline Blair left following 29 years at the school. (She was appointed to the role in 2018, making her Kelston\u2019s first female principal<\/a> and the first woman to helm a public boys\u2019 school in Auckland.)<\/p>\n He certainly has. The school published a letter on its Facebook page on October 29 notifying the community of the proposed takeover and confirming \u201cBEWT is not affiliated with Kelston Boys\u2019 High School\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n Criticising the \u201clack of transparency\u201d behind the attempted takeover, the letter stressed the proposal wasn\u2019t \u201cendorsed or supported\u201d by the school, and senior leaders and staff didn\u2019t believe a conversion was in the best interests of pupils.<\/p>\n Challenging the application\u2019s claims of poor performance, the letter noted the school had a growing roll, achieved its highest ever NCEA Level 3 pass rates in 2024 (86.1% of year 13 students), topped its Polyfest categories and had champion league and rugby teams.<\/p>\n Rugby\u2019s important there, right?<\/p>\n Correct. Kelston is pretty renowned for sporting achievements and alumni like Mils Muliaina and Sione Lauaki. In 2024 the First XV won<\/a> the World Schools Rugby Festival for the third year. The school has won the national rugby championship<\/a> five times, most recently in 2011, and topped the Auckland competition 14 times<\/a>. Sir Graham Henry was the principal from 1987 until 1996, and Black Ferns coach Brian Evans ran the school from 2011 to 2018.<\/p>\n BEWT has claimed that opponents to the charter school proposal believe the conversion \u201cthreatens the primacy of rugby at the school\u201d. The charity has been canvasing at matches; representatives are \u201cregularly present at Saturday sport and have engaged in numerous sideline discussions<\/a> about the school\u201d.<\/p>\n Speaking of discussions, what\u2019s everyone else saying about this?<\/p>\n Teaching staff at the school aren\u2019t into it<\/a>. \u201cThe Kelston Boys\u2019 High School branch of the PPTA opposed the introduction of charter schools,\u201d confirmed BEWT in its application, which included a PPTA letter<\/a> opposing forcible conversions (\u201cOur policy remains firm that we do not believe Charter Schools should have a permanent place in our education system\u201d).<\/p>\n Sepuloni has expressed concern about BEWT\u2019s application. \u201cIt\u2019s been done in the most unusual way, in a way where the school\u2019s felt quite threatened, it\u2019s been relentless,\u201d she told RNZ<\/a>. Sepuloni pointed to visible support for the school on social media.<\/p>\n Reactions online have ranged from surprise and scepticism, to support for the current staff, students and community, and most people seem pretty shocked that a charter school conversion could potentially happen without the support of the school itself.<\/p>\n Across the aisle, converting has \u201csupport from local National Party MPs\u201d according to BEWT. David Seymour told RNZ <\/a>the government hadn\u2019t endorsed the school\u2019s potential conversion.<\/p>\n What happens next?<\/p>\n In November<\/a>, the Charter School Authorisation Board will consult with the school board, staff, students and community about the proposal, assessing support for the change.\u00a0<\/p>\n If it approves the conversion the school board would \u201cno longer exist<\/a>\u201d. Current parent reps have already been invited by BEWT to join a new advisory board (one has reportedly accepted) made up of staff, students, parents and representatives from the PPTA and local iwi Te Kawerau \u0101 Maki. Siaosi Gavet would be the presiding member, and the plan is for it to meet before Christmas.\u00a0<\/p>\n The new principal would be on it too. Their job\u2019s described as \u201cCEO of the school<\/a>\u201d and has operational authority, leadership and manages day-to-day finances and procurement.<\/p>\n As a charter school it would lease the Crown-owned property of Kelston Boys, so the Ministry of Education would essentially be its landlord (BEWT expressed concern about maintenance responsibilities in its application).<\/p>\n Staff would automatically become charter school employees, transferring to Individual Employment Agreements and no longer covered by collective agreements, though \u201cPPTA members can remain members of the PPTA\u201d, according to the proposal. The school timetable would be \u201creworked\u201d in January.<\/p>\n And what if it doesn\u2019t get approved?<\/p>\n Applicants are notified in writing this week<\/a> and, if unsuccessful, offered a \u201cdebrief<\/a>\u201d. It\u2019s against the Education and Training Amendment Act 2024 to operate a charter school without approval<\/a>, so in the case of Kelston Boys, it would remain a state school and continue operating as normal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Can you really just take over a school? Kelston Boys\u2019 High School could become a charter school by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[83595,492,84,42,21999,83596,43,4062,2935,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-118080","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-charter-school","9":"tag-comments-enabled","10":"tag-education","11":"tag-headlines","12":"tag-high-school","13":"tag-mp-for-kelston","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-school","16":"tag-society","17":"tag-top-news","18":"tag-top-stories","19":"tag-topnews","20":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The state school was founded in 1963. (Image: Facebook)<\/p>\n
Kelston 2025 Student Leadership Team with then-principal Adeline Blair. (Image: Facebook)
\nAnd has Samuela or the school said anything about this takeover bid?<\/p>\nThe school excels at union and league. Its 1st IV won the New Zealand Secondary Schools Rugby League National Championship this year. (Image: Facebook)<\/p>\n