Posts by Hilary Stace
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I went to a Wellington in February which was catered by Ruth Pretty. She must have had access to a good fig crop because her staff handed around several plates of fresh figs which were cut in half with a scoop of (possibly) goat's cheese in the middle drizzled with some kind of balsamic tasting dressing. Not sure exactly what it was - but they were delicious.
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I wish we had the political will to move the voting age down to 12 - could be done gradually.
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There's a pure and naked dark chocolate one at Wellington airport.
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I have been on both sides of the tender process with disability-related tenders at the Ministry of Health. At various times over the last decade I have been either a consumer rep on an MoH panel or part of a group tendering. What I found from being on the inside is that every decision has to be clearly justified and they are meticulous about using a transparent scoring system so the decision can later be justified if challenged by a losing tenderer or other interested party. Maybe things have changed now, as that was a few years ago, but the rationale for the decision should be available with an OIA request.
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Excellent commentary from the excellent Autism and Oughtisms blog about the Green Bay High situation where the board is now spending money to keep a kid out. To think that once Green Bay had a reputation for inclusion!
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Hard News: What Hekia Parata actually said, in reply to Sacha,
I have been following this issue since it was revealed by the Dyslexia Foundation following an OIA request last year. Apparently the Ministry itself did not realise the extent that the private schools had grabbed the funding and the Kings/ Otahuhu College (literarily on opposite sides of the fence) example is such a good illustration. There has been some work on it behind the scenes and I was pleased to see that a move towards equity has just been announced.
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Busytown: School bully, in reply to Jason Kemp,
Chris Hipkins had a press release out in response to Hekia's comments by Sunday afternoon. He's pretty active on twitter education debates. He also has a regular enews called Education Matters. Today's one has quite a bit of policy.
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Former school principal, Labour Party minister, educational administrator in the UK and generally wise person Marian Hobbs has a blog on education. Latest on measuring performance.
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I came across this forgotten photo recently when sorting some papers. It is interestingly prescient of my later interest in disability issues. I like how the supposed passive occupants of chairs have the same body language and resigned expression. I had no idea who Russell Kerse was (the head of CCS, and significant disability activist), and was slightly overawed by Helen - who was actually quite friendly.
It is from the Newsletter of the National Parks Centennial Commission (hence the poor reproduction quality) about 1988. The event was the launch of a book 'Out and About' about accessible parks and gardens which was then a new idea, supported by the young energetic minister who was having a tough time fighting the tsunami of Rogernomics. The local playcentre was asked to come along and this photo was staged by the photographer. Oscar, who preferred to run, was strapped into another child's pushchair while the rightful occupant had to stand behind. I'm not sure how I got into the photo, and would have been reluctant (particularly as in playcentre mother mode).
The accompanying text records that the launch was not straightforward, as the venue was not as accessible as hoped.
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Why is everything in italics?
