Green School at center of $ 12 million funding debacle fighting backlash

By Robin Martin, RNZ

The nearly $ 12 million given to the privately run Green School in Taranaki was always intended to be primarily loans, says CEO Chris Edwards.

Edwards said the school applied for funds for an expansion project in good faith and was fighting backlash.

In the wake of the disclosure, Green Party co-leader James Shaw apologized today for backing the $ 11.7 million grant, saying it “was an error in judgment.”

“It was for a ready-to-use infrastructure project. We also checked the green box and checked the box that said the consequence of the investment would be an injection into the economy which in our case was considerable,” Edwards said.

The application went through the appropriate review bodies and was approved, but it was never intended to be just a grant, Edwards said.

“It was never, ever an $ 11.7 million grant. There was a small part that was going to be a grant and the other items were essentially loans.”

Edwards said the language around the money had become confusing, but could not clarify whether or not it is now considered a grant.

“I can’t really answer that question, not because I’m dodging it, but because I am not responsible for that application. But I do know that there are ongoing conversations now to see if we can use the funds in the most creative way possible to benefit community “.

Edwards couldn’t say if the school’s owners would be willing to pay the money back.

He said the Green School had become political football.

“People were congratulating us just a few days ago and now they say it’s outrageous and that it should never have happened, and that it’s a very unedifying sight to watch.”

Edwards said it was undeniable that the image of the Green School had been tarnished.

“The Green School has been misrepresented, there is no question about that, so there is no point in pretending that everything this week has been normal, since much of it is really out of our control and in the hands of politicians.”

He said he had never experienced anything like this.

“I have been in education for 30 years and suddenly I find myself in this binary conversation in which to some people it would seem that we are almost taking money from the public sector. That hurts me deeply and they are not crocodile tears.

“I have never been in a situation like this. I am totally behind the public sector on leaky classrooms or whatever it takes to make the sector strong and robust.”

Edwards also found himself distancing the school from the parents of students who had publicly voiced Covid-19 conspiracy theories and held something called a “lion’s gate rally and abundance ceremony” on their grounds.

Christof Melchizedek, who describes himself on his website as a “navigator, architect, and gatekeeper” in service of the “Plan Devine” was reported to have said in a now-deleted Facebook post that Covid-19 was a “natural disaster. manufactured”. and a “UN Vision 2030”.

Melchizedek and his partner Alaya had also planned to plant a sacred crystal grid on the school property with the students.

Edwards said he would not comment on any particular parent or student.

He said that many different groups used the campus, but that did not necessarily mean that the school endorsed his views.

“I think any individual who makes comments that are not necessarily in line with the school has the right to make them, but the point I have to make more stridently is that it does not reflect the vision of the school itself.

“So when we teach health, we would follow the New Zealand Ministry of Health guidelines, etc., as any school would and if anyone has a different opinion and expresses that opinion, that’s fine, but it doesn’t reflect the school.”