Schools and other education centres across Auckland may be able to open within days if the weather improves and roads are cleared.

Today the Secretary for Education Iona Holsted issued a special bulletin for school leaders apologising for “slow” communications yesterday when she instructed schools, kura, tertiary institutes and early learning centres to close.

But one Auckland school leader has called the reversal “unsettling”, saying schools could face a “messy” start if they chose to open earlier than the initially instructed February 7 start date.

“I know that yesterday’s message came as a shock,” Holsted said.

“[It] was necessary in order for emergency services to work on fixing road infrastructure.”

Holsted said education centres that were planning to open “may be able to do so safely earlier than Tuesday, February 7 if the situation improves and the roads are cleared earlier than currently projected.

“I want to be clear that I will review the directive daily based on advice from NEMA and the roading situation,” she said.

Find full coverage of the Auckland Floods here.

Auckland Primary Principals’ Association president Wendy Kofoed said the bulletin provided clarity, but there was “security” in remaining closed until after Waitangi Day.

“Clear messaging and a clear lead in time is important for student and staff wellbeing,” Kofoed said.

“While getting students back as soon as possible is important, the change was unsettling. Some schools have teachers only days this week, so we’re working with staff and trying to give our communities some breathing space [in the aftermath of the floods].”

Kofoed said while she understood the Ministry of Education’s decision to allow schools to open if it was safe, “flip-flopping, changing” of dates was creating a “messy start to the year”.

Schools told to close to keep roads clear

Yesterday, Holsted said the National Emergency Management Agency asked the Ministry of Education to help minimise traffic movement on Auckland roads while vital infrastructure was urgently repaired.

One principal said she was “incredulous and disappointed” about learning of the closures via news reports, especially given contrary information from the ministry earlier yesterday, she claimed.

Diocesan School for Girls principal Heather McRae said: “We are incredulous that this information is in complete contrast to the information provided to Auckland principals earlier this morning and the closure instruction has not been sent directly to us at school.

“We only learned about the order at 3.30pm today via the media. We apologise to all girls and parents for this very late notification.”

On the Ministry of Education website yesterday, a message was posted “apologising profusely” to the principals and school leaders who had to hear the news through the media.

“We agree that you should always hear such news directly from us first,” the message read. “Unfortunately, an IT fault meant our emails out to principals were blocked. We have investigated this issue and the emails resent. We will strive for this to never happen again, and apologies again for the delay in receiving this update.”

Auckland Grammar School initially announced it intended to open on Tuesday, based on advice received from the Ministry of Education.

“The Ministry of Education has now clarified that Auckland Schools do not have an option to open,” a subsequent email to parents said on Monday evening.

“Their media release has changed from, ‘Schools and kura can open or remain open for onsite instruction, but need to provide distance learning’, to ‘schools and kura can open or remain open for instruction but need to do that through distance online learning’,” headmaster Tim O’Connor said.

“This amendment means it is a directive that Auckland schools must close for instruction on campus. This is most unfortunate after 2 days of instruction and the work done over the weekend to get the campus ready for teaching this week. However, you can be assured we will reopen as soon as we are permitted to do so.”