Petition to save Salisbury School

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Amidst the uproar following the announcement that Education Minister Hekia Parata is proposing to close Salisbury School, Nelson’s Emma Thompson has begun a petition to save it.

The Change.org petition already has 331 supporters despite being created less than 24 hours ago.

The petition will be delivered to David Wales, the National Director of Special Education at Ministry of Education.

Emma says what Salisbury wants is a proper discussion about how keeping it open and changing its focus, slightly, will positively change the lives of many many New Zealanders.

“This petition is one way we can explain to the Ministry that there should be a robust cross-agency (ie. education, health, social services and justice) discussion about Salisbury’s future so that this amazing boarding school can help improve the lives of many of our country’s most special young people.”

Among the supporters is former staff member Helen Kemp who says the school needs to be kept open.

“These very vulnerable young women deserve to have a safe place to be educated and learn life skills in this incredible, nurturing environment.”

Retired teacher Lyn Pepper says she has seen too many students at risk having no opportunity to achieve at main stream schools and just ‘tossed into the too hard basket’.

“Giving main stream schools funding to ‘help’ students is a complete waste as the support given is by untrained specialists.”

Cliff Mullenger, the mother of a former Sailsbury School student says it’s important that the school remains open.

“My daughter benefited from her time at Salisbury until the national govt moved the goal posts on eligibility and she no longer met their criteria. We fought that time too.”

The consultation on shutting down the school closes on August 12th, 2016.

For more information on the closure, Click Here to view the initial story on the closure.

To view the petition, Click Here.

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