Van Asch parents upset at idea of role change

The deaf community in Christchurch is appealing for van Asch College to remain a special school for deaf children, after some parents in Sumner and Redcliffs have suggested it become a secondary school.

Executive officer for the Christchurch Deaf Society Jo Hussey said deaf people were anxious about the college’s future after reading in the Christchurch Star that some parents in Sumner and Redcliffs were exploring the idea of a local secondary school, with van Asch suggested as a possible site.

The Deaf Society held a special meeting this week to discuss the issue, reflecting great concern about it.

Mrs Hussey said her message to the two groups of parents investigating the secondary school idea was “Please don’t push us out. We need the school for the future of deaf kids. We are worried about our deaf kids and their future.

“There are plenty of other high schools other children can go to. But there’s only one van Asch. We must keep the school going at all costs,” she said.

The leaders of the two groups — of about half a dozen parents each — say they are only at the early stages of looking into the possibility of a secondary school for the Sumner and Redcliffs area, and van Asch was one option for a site.

However, Mrs Hussey said deaf people were worried that once the seeds of an idea were sown it would grow stronger.

Van Asch was already facing big problems with Education Minister Lockwood Smith cutting its funding by almost $1.5 million a year, she said.

The Education Ministry’s South Island manager, Michael Deaker, said as far as the ministry was concerned there would always be a need for a special school like van Asch for the hearing-impaired.

He said there was no doubt that the available space and buildings at van Asch as a special school were excessive, but the need for a school for the hearing-impaired was an imperative for the ministry.

It was possible in the future the college could change the way it operated, but any initiative would have to come from the community, he said.