Proposed Merger of the Deaf Education Centres UPDATE

At the end of 2018 we consulted with parents, staff and the Deaf Community about a proposal to merge the two Deaf Education Centres.

Your consultation feedback:

The feedback we got from all of the sessions was consistent:

• Overall people were in favour of the proposal to merge (77%)
• Those who weren’t felt that they needed more information – particularly in regard to their own situation
• People share our goals of improving services nationwide, and providing consistent and relevant services to a wide group of deaf and hard of hearing children

We submitted our request and your responses to the proposal to the Minister of Education, early this year.

We have heard from the Minister’s Office.

The Minister has agreed to our proposal.

• The merge will be effective from the beginning of Term 3, 2020
• The merged organisation will initially be called “Deaf Education Aotearoa New Zealand”
• It will include all of the services and children currently working under both the van Asch and Kelston Deaf Education Centres

What happens now?

What you can expect:

• Services to students will carry on as normal
• The Board will begin the process of recruiting a new Executive Principal
• In time we will be looking at our name and our logo, to ensure that our visual image represents our history and our future
• When we have specific information for parents, we will share that with you.

The Board would like to acknowledge the staff, students and whanau, as they continue to work hard through this time.
Thanks again for the very rich feedback received during the consultation process. We will be reflecting on it as we review and develop our services going forward. You can find links to our charter, the consultation feedback, and the Ministry’s announcements about the merge on our website www.deafeducation.nz

Kind regards

Rachel Douglas - Board Chair

Terri Johnstone - LSM Employment, Policies

Michael Rondel - LSM Finance, Property