04-03-2024, 02:56 PM
I think a part of the problem is that in David Seymour, we seem to have someone totally lacking in understanding who is apparently also a complete stranger to empathy. 
The stark contrast between his ideas & that of the Green party on this are vivid.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/top/510590/de...nches-axed
"A school leader says he is worried truancy will increase if school meals are limited to certain students next year.
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has confirmed the government-funded lunch programme, Ka Ora, Ka Ako, is under review ahead of the Budget.
Porirua College deputy principal John Topp said the school feeds more than 1000 students a day in the area through the free school lunch programme.
The contract runs out at the end of the year and he was worried it would not be renewed for all students.
"Sometimes it's the only food they'll have in that day - and [they ask] can we have more? So we've got to keep doing that.
"But we can't target the students that need it the most because they are going to feel whakama [shame] about that and that's going to make it worse here at school, and they just won't come."
Since 2019, the programme had been offered to students at schools with the highest levels of disadvantage.
Leaders at the school said truancy was an ongoing challenge due to poverty and the cost-of-living crisis hitting families hard."
Seymour said everything was on the table when it came to truancy, including imposing fines on parents who do not send their kids to school.
"We fine people who speed past the school, but somehow we apply a totally different standards to the duty that says you've got to send your kids to school."
He said fines were just one idea to tackle truancy, and they were not going to be used on families in financial hardship.
"We don't intend to do it in a way that equates to 'the beatings will continue until morale improves'.
"We are not going to fine people who are already hard up and may in fact not be sending their kids to school because they are in financial hardship," Seymour said.
Te Tai Tokerau principals' association president Pat Newman questioned how a fine system would work.
"What are they going to do if they don't pay them, put them in jail at $150-$200,000 a year? You've got to look at how you are going to enforce this."
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/s...%20meeting.
"Act leader David Seymour has described free school lunches as ‘wasteful’ public spending and argued that the new Government should cut them. Alex Spence reports that health campaigners are alarmed he has been given responsibility for the initiative and have asked for an urgent meeting.
A coalition of health charities has slammed the Government’s decision to give ministerial responsibility for free school lunches to David Seymour after the Act leader campaigned for the programme to be abolished.
Representatives of the Health Coalition Aotearoa (HCA) wrote to Seymour, an Associate Education Minister, on Monday requesting an urgent meeting so they can plead the case for keeping the scheme, which provides free lunches to about 220,000 students across the country, according to a letter obtained by the Herald.
“We are concerned that we have a minister in charge who has made it clear he wants the programme shut down for ideological reasons without full consideration of the evidence,” Swinburn told the Herald.
“His appointment signals that the future of the programme is in question, which is extremely concerning because it would jeopardise the health and wellbeing of these kids.”
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/498...0-children
"The Green Party wants to increase the number of children receiving free school lunches by 58 percent from the start of next year, saying the programme faces being cut.
The party proposes expanding the Ka Ora, Ka Ako programme, which provides about a million lunches each week to 230,000 students at about 1000 schools around New Zealand.
Party co-leader Marama Davidson said the Greens' policy would see the programme cover all schools with an equity score of 450 or higher, increasing the number of students from 230,000 to 365,000 from the start of the 2024 school year.
The Greens would also eventually pursue expanding the service to all schools.
"Feeding children is essential and I know that many people in Aotearoa understand the basic need to just make sure as a country that no child goes hungry," she told RNZ's Midday Report host Charlotte Cook."
The stark contrast between his ideas & that of the Green party on this are vivid.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/top/510590/de...nches-axed
"A school leader says he is worried truancy will increase if school meals are limited to certain students next year.
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has confirmed the government-funded lunch programme, Ka Ora, Ka Ako, is under review ahead of the Budget.
Porirua College deputy principal John Topp said the school feeds more than 1000 students a day in the area through the free school lunch programme.
The contract runs out at the end of the year and he was worried it would not be renewed for all students.
"Sometimes it's the only food they'll have in that day - and [they ask] can we have more? So we've got to keep doing that.
"But we can't target the students that need it the most because they are going to feel whakama [shame] about that and that's going to make it worse here at school, and they just won't come."
Since 2019, the programme had been offered to students at schools with the highest levels of disadvantage.
Leaders at the school said truancy was an ongoing challenge due to poverty and the cost-of-living crisis hitting families hard."
Seymour said everything was on the table when it came to truancy, including imposing fines on parents who do not send their kids to school.
"We fine people who speed past the school, but somehow we apply a totally different standards to the duty that says you've got to send your kids to school."
He said fines were just one idea to tackle truancy, and they were not going to be used on families in financial hardship.
"We don't intend to do it in a way that equates to 'the beatings will continue until morale improves'.
"We are not going to fine people who are already hard up and may in fact not be sending their kids to school because they are in financial hardship," Seymour said.
Te Tai Tokerau principals' association president Pat Newman questioned how a fine system would work.
"What are they going to do if they don't pay them, put them in jail at $150-$200,000 a year? You've got to look at how you are going to enforce this."
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/s...%20meeting.
"Act leader David Seymour has described free school lunches as ‘wasteful’ public spending and argued that the new Government should cut them. Alex Spence reports that health campaigners are alarmed he has been given responsibility for the initiative and have asked for an urgent meeting.
A coalition of health charities has slammed the Government’s decision to give ministerial responsibility for free school lunches to David Seymour after the Act leader campaigned for the programme to be abolished.
Representatives of the Health Coalition Aotearoa (HCA) wrote to Seymour, an Associate Education Minister, on Monday requesting an urgent meeting so they can plead the case for keeping the scheme, which provides free lunches to about 220,000 students across the country, according to a letter obtained by the Herald.
“We are concerned that we have a minister in charge who has made it clear he wants the programme shut down for ideological reasons without full consideration of the evidence,” Swinburn told the Herald.
“His appointment signals that the future of the programme is in question, which is extremely concerning because it would jeopardise the health and wellbeing of these kids.”
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/498...0-children
"The Green Party wants to increase the number of children receiving free school lunches by 58 percent from the start of next year, saying the programme faces being cut.
The party proposes expanding the Ka Ora, Ka Ako programme, which provides about a million lunches each week to 230,000 students at about 1000 schools around New Zealand.
Party co-leader Marama Davidson said the Greens' policy would see the programme cover all schools with an equity score of 450 or higher, increasing the number of students from 230,000 to 365,000 from the start of the 2024 school year.
The Greens would also eventually pursue expanding the service to all schools.
"Feeding children is essential and I know that many people in Aotearoa understand the basic need to just make sure as a country that no child goes hungry," she told RNZ's Midday Report host Charlotte Cook."
in order to be old & wise, you must first be young & stupid. (I'm still working on that.)
