Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

Thank God the flooding and torrential rain's abated and for parents thank goodness school's back. Although is it? The Ministry of Education spun the wheelie on school closures, but it’s been an incredibly frustrating process as a parent. And not just me, I’ve heard from countless parents absolutely exasperated about the way this has yo-yoed around.  From saying all Early Childhood Centres will be closed, to then backtracking and saying some can open, to shutting schools but not making it a clear directive.  Hence the likes of Auckland Grammar announced they’d be opening regardless - only to then have to email parents again late that night and backtrack saying the Ministry had said they couldn’t.  I heard from primary parents who’d been told that even though school was shut they’d still run a school holiday programme for children in the school hall, only to then have to tell them no, they weren’t allowed to do that either.  My daughter’s school emailed initially to say the school was undamaged and would open a