Reports of children and their parents experiencing heightened anxiety around access to school, brought on by this summer’s catastrophic weather events, have come to the forefront after a visit to Coromandel area schools from Education Minister Jan Tinetti.

Whangamatā Area School was on the last stop of a road trip by Tinetti that included Whitianga, Tairua and Hikuai. On 28 February, in Whangamatā, she met with Principal Alistair Luke to hear his concerns and those of a local parent.

The Hauraki-Coromandel Post was invited along to the frank open-tabled discussion.

Tinetti said that one of the reasons she was visiting weather-affected areas was to “see the impacts, particularly on schooling, and anxiety around the roading” first-hand. After listening to parents, educators and local business owners, she said there was a “big story to take back” (to Parliament).

Principal Alistair Luke said the closure of the Kopu-Hikuai Road on State Highway 25A has had an “enormous impact on families” SH25A is currently closed and not expected to reopen for up to 12 months after persistent rain washed away a section of the road.

Some students bussed into Whangamatā from outlier areas, including Tairua and Pāuanui, are also at the mercy of high tides and subsequent road washouts during any periods of intense rain.

“The issue we now have is the vulnerability of the access roads,” said Luke, who stated his newest concern would be what would happen if the precarious SH25 (Whangamatā-Waihī) was closed and children were stranded.

Luke added that if access was restricted, situations like a recent event, where a bus arrived “half empty [to school] largely due to parental anxiety about what happens if a slip comes down on a school day”, would become commonplace.

 “It’s indicative of the semi-apocalyptic mindsets that are out there at the moment, and there is genuine anxiety - and we need to respect that.”

Luke said parents were now wary of any inclement weather scuppering travel plans. “They’ve seen if something was to happen to that road [SH25] what would that look like? ‘How am I getting my kids home?’”

Paul, a local parent and volunteer firefighter who had been at the coalface of the emergency response to Cyclones Hale and Gabrielle, echoed Luke and Tinetti’s sentiments, saying there was “general anxiety around town over any rain”.

Students becoming non-plussed over physically attending school was also raising concern, with minister Tinetti saying she had been told that “kids were saying now, anytime it rains, do we have to go?”

Whangamatā Area School has the option of a satellite campus at Tairua for senior students, and Luke said there were “a couple of teachers locally, so we could pivot and do a quick 24-48 hour turnaround”, should the roads be closed.

Tinetti said she acknowledged the angst circulating among Coromandel communities. “The level of anxiety is absolutely real, when we were coming through here we saw those slips and the size of those slips. We really need to know, how are kids coping?”

Luke said, in some cases, he was seeing parents’ anxiety had now transferred to the children, not only concerning roading, travel and infrastructure, but financial anxiety “about how we sustain our livelihood with a peninsula that is now seen as very vulnerable. There are tourism concerns, what does the next year look like to the people who have had two-three summers of poor trading?”

Inaccessibility has also put the kibosh on a number of out-of-school and sports events on the peninsula that require significant travel, and often rely on parents and volunteers. It is understood that the local rugby competitions are proposing to restrict junior competition between clubs to an eastern seaboard and inland organisational structure, aiming to minimise travel times.

The state of emergency that was applied to many storm-ravaged regions throughout the country, including the hard-hit Hawke’s Bay, has meant relief funding and remedial infrastructure spending has been directed on a needs basis.

The minister was asked about where the Coromandel sat in the pecking order of reconstruction.

Tinetti said an impending disaster recovery plan was “in the works”, saying it was important for her and other ministers to visit the area “so we don’t lose sight over what is required.”

The Minister for Emergency Management, Kieran McAnulty, and the Minister of Health, Ayesha Verrall, were expected to be in Coromandel this week.

In speaking with Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, Tinetti added that he was of the opinion it was important “one area doesn’t get more love than another, and he felt we needed to make certain people didn’t have that feeling”.

“I will go back [to Parliament] and have those conversations and open discussions about the state of the Coromandel.”