Students who strike for climate change will be marked as truants, principals say
Schools are threatening to mark students as truants if they strike for climate change, with one principal calling it "wagging" that won't make a difference. Thousands of students plan to strike across New Zealand next week as part of a global campaign urging politicians to treat climate change as a crisis, and act now to protect students' futures from its effects. Christchurch strike organiser Lucy Gray, 12, said students were striking for their future. "Teachers, they strike all the time to get what they want and that's just money. We want our future; I think that should be allowed." READ MORE: * UK students protest lack of action on climate change * Christchurch pupils to strike as part of global climate change action * Climate change could shrink kiwi habitat, DOC says But Secondary Principals Association president and Pakuranga College principal Michael Williams said students' impact on climate change would be "probably zero". "If my environmental council students came to me and said they wanted to strike, I'd say 'What's it going to achieve?'," he said. "We're concerned that students are wasting good learning time." Christchurch principals said the strike should have been held on the weekend, not on Friday afternoon. On advice from the Ministry of Education, they have adopted a unified stance that students must have their parents' permission to attend, and will be marked "unjustifiably absent" if they do not. Anyone who attends without their parents' permission will be marked as truant. A template letter sent to local parents said schools "do not support students attending this event". "Our understanding is that the event has no recognised, official body organising it. Plans for management on the day, if they do exist, have not been brought to our attention." Gray could not be reached for comment about principals' concerns on Wednesday. In an earlier interview with Stuff , she said the strike was a way for students who weren't able to vote to have a voice on issues that mattered to them. Canterbury West Coast Secondary Principals' Association president Phil Holstein said schools supported students' commitment to the cause. But approving a student strike would set a worrying precedent, he said. "On the list of things we can justify [student absences for], a strike is not one of them. "We would have liked to have some kind of notice before it was just imposed on us. Just on the basis of health and safety for students ... we couldn't take responsibility for that." Steven Mustor, director of Ao Tawhiti Unlimited Discovery in Christchurch said the school would be "100 per cent supportive" if its students wanted to attend the event, although he wasn't aware of any who did. "We would make it into a learning opportunity for them." However, any "more serious action" would not be sanctioned, Mustor said. The school learned how to deal with student activism when several Unlimited students chained themselves to a fountain to protest the redevelopment of Cashel Mall in 2007. "We didn't take any action against those guys the police did." The Strike 4 Climate Change movement started with 16-year-old Greta Thunberg from Sweden, who skipped class to sit outside government buildings for three weeks last year. Following Greta, children across Europe and Australia held their own demonstrations, and the worldwide strike next week involves youth from more than 50 countries. In Wellington, school leavers Isla Day and Sophie Handford, both 18, said they were expecting hundreds to attend their strike in Civic Square. Day said students could learn more going to Parliament for the strike compared to a day at school, and Handford said they'd had more support than criticism. "If I think about the burden of truancy and then I think about the burden of the catastrophic consequences of climate change - what's more significant?" Handford said. "We only have a small window for change and this is really important, I really hope parents will support that." Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said climate change is something the next generation cared about deeply. "We've seen that globally, and what I'd like to think is in New Zealand there is less cause for protest, we are certainly trying to do our bit." Minister for climate change James Shaw said he completely understood why students were pressing for action on climate change. "How principals choose to respond is entirely up to them. But I learnt, when I was at school, that it is never wise to try and tell the principal what to do." Student action was already making a difference, Shaw said. "They have put politicians on notice that we need to get moving and get our climate change response plan right." The Zero Carbon Bill being pushed through this year was partly influenced by the work of campaigning by the youth movement, Generation Zero. "The concerns and influence of young people is already making a difference to what the Government is doing." March 15. The school strike continues. 524 places in 59 countries and counting... Everyone is needed. Everyone is welcome. Find your closest strike or register your own here: https://t.co/ROmtFMrj6Y #FridaysForFuture #SchoolsStrike4Climate #ClimateStrike pic.twitter.com/LCPIzyvKJ0 Climate change strikes on March 15 Dunedin - Expected to start with a march down George St at noon on March 15, followed by a rally in the Octagon. Christchurch - 1pm at Cathedral Square with music, guest speakers and cultural showcases from schools. Wellington - 10am at Civic Square followed by a walk to Parliament down Lambton Quay, including speakers. Auckland - from noon at Aotea Square, with performers, speakers and music. Events are also planned for Nelson, Raglan, Russell, Hamilton, Lower Hutt, Kapiti, Palmerston North, Whanganui, New Plymouth, and others.