ROYAL COMMISSION FINDS ROTOTUNA READING LOG DISPUTE 'REGRETTABLE, YET INSTRUCTIVE'
After 14 months, 47 witnesses, and one crying deputy principal, the Commission has delivered its findings.
The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Rototuna Primary Reading Log Dispute (2024) has released its 340-page report today. It concludes the matter could have been resolved at the school gate, had the parents been capable of that. The matter concerned whether eight-year-old Harper had read 'The BFG' in a single evening.
The Commission's terms of reference were established after a Board of Trustees meeting collapsed in acrimony last March. They required inquiry into one reading log entry, the conduct of the class parent WhatsApp group, and the incident referred to as The Muffin Table Confrontation.
The Commission heard evidence from 47 witnesses. These included the class teacher, three teacher aides, the school librarian (called twice), and a Year 3 pupil identified only as Witness H. Witness H told the Commission that Harper had 'definitely not' finished the book, but had 'watched the movie on the iPad in the car'.
On the balance of probabilities, the Commission finds the reading log entry of 14 February was, at best, aspirational. Harper's mother, Fenella Cartwright-Boon of Rototuna, submitted that her daughter was 'an advanced reader' and that the log was 'a broad indication of engagement'. The Commission accepts she believed this. The Commission does not accept the log.
This wouldn't have happened in 1974. You read the book or you got a clip round the ear. Recommendation 14 suggests reading logs be abolished and replaced with 'a nod from the teacher'. Recommendations 1 through 13 all concern the muffin table.
The Board of Trustees will table the report at its next meeting. Ms Cartwright-Boon has already requested a right of reply. Total cost to the school community: $0 and one friendship.
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Reader Letters
Trev_Hornby
Absolute piss-take!
Garry (Halswell)
Back in my day, no one argued over a reading log at all. We just accepted what the teacher decided and moved on. This is what happens when parents have too much time on their hands!
ropeable_dave
@Garry (Halswell) Society's too soft now. Parents nit-picking over everything. We need to toughen up.
wayne1987
Mate, this whole thing is ridiculous. A Royal Commission for a reading log dispute? I've got bogans on my street doing burnouts every weekend but no one's setting up a commission for that!
MumOf3
@wayne1987 I've got the same issue! It's shocking what gets ignored. But a bloody muffin table gets prime investigation. Where's our priority?
tired_in_riccarton
Costing $0, except for that poor deputy principal. Imagine crying in front of a Royal Commission about kids' reading habits. What a world.
Sandra McKenzie
Fenella sounds like she was more concerned about being right than anything else. Maybe admit you made a mistake and let the kid read another day, right?
couchgremlin
Clearly the whole thing was munted from the start. How do 47 witnesses get roped into this kind of madness?
Garry (Halswell)
@couchgremlin That's called padding the stats. How else do you justify a 340-page report on a reading log?