White Flight

The Aranui High School principal claims white flight is why his school has 500 students fewer than its capacity.

I’d be very interested to know if anyone has demographic breakdowns for the various Christchurch schools, so one can judge how greatly they differ by school.  Anyone can make an assertion.

It may also of course just be the case that parents do not think Aranui High School is as well run as other schools, hence why they go elsewhere.  Or they may prefer a single sex school. Or the other schools may have better academic standards.

If I ran a school which students actively avoid and is only 59% full, then I would spend a hell of a lot of time and energy working out why this is the case, and coming up with strategies to mitigate it.  Now maybe “white flight” is part of the problem, but where is the evidence for this, and are there are other issues around the school which can be changed?

At the end of the day, regardless of the reason, I support parents having a choice.  The Principals’ Association wants to ban out-of-zone enrolments. That suggest to me a focus on principals (as one would expect) not students.