Hutt Valley High School has failed to secure a binding commitment from the Education Minister to quickly rebuild a mould-riddled teaching block.
A block of classrooms at Hutt Valley High School has had to shut due to mould and leakage problems. Photo: Supplied
Five hundred senior students have been forced to learn from home for half the week due to classrooms that have leaked for years, becoming unsafe with toxic black mould.
Students aim to protest outside Parliament today.
Board of Trustees chair Hamish Bowen and two former board chairs sought assurances from Minister Chris Hipkins in a 45 minute meeting on Tuesday.
"He showed a real interest in the school which I was impressed with" but Bowen said he did not emerge with any new information.
There was a definite intent to do something about the worst of several compromised classroom areas, C Block, though the ministry had already indicated that.
"It's always nice to have a formal, firm commitment - that was my objective from the meeting - didn't quite achieve it."
Other blocks are also compromised by leaking roofs, identified to the ministry as posing a threat in a consultant's report in 2019.
Tonight, the Education Ministry will front at a meeting for parents at the school hall.
On Friday, school leaders will meet with architects who work for the Education Ministry.
Bowen expects it will take a lot of time to get a replacement built.
Meantime, the ministry is promising to put in temporary prefabs.
Head Boy Patrick Maslen said the impact on Year 12 and 13 students was due to lack of funding.
"It's clear to see that the education of young people... is not as much of a priority as it should be," Maslen said in a statement.
Head girl Charlotte Leach said they wanted this sorted out with a permanent fix.
"We never expected that we would be forced to spend time at home rather than in our classes, learning in the same rooms as our teachers and our friends," Leach said.
"We don't want any other students to have to go through what we are going through right now."