Andrew Geddis
Ref: ESOIA810
[FYI request #33025 email]
Tēnā koe Andrew
Thank you for your email of 28 November 2025 requesting the following information:
You are quoted in a RNZ news story on 28 November 2025…as follows:
"However, [Minister Stanford] also said she had heard from principals who
felt "very unfair" and "nasty" pressure to sign the statements. "Quite often
they're signing up when in fact it wasn't something that they particularly
wanted to do," she said."
I am requesting al correspondence that received by you or your office from
principals and members of school boards relating to schools' decisions to
reaffirm a commitment to giving effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi/The Treaty of
Waitangi. If any correspondence was oral in nature, I request that you provide
the date and time of such communications, as well as a summary of that
correspondence. I consent to the names of any individuals and schools being
witheld for privacy reasons.
Thank you also for your email of 8 December 2025, where you clarified your request
as follows:
I wish to clarify my request to encompass all written correspondence received
from school principals or school boards between15 October and 28 November
that references:
- either of the terms "the Treaty" or "te Tiriti"; and,
- any of the terms "want", "pressure", "unfair", "nasty" or "union".
I accept that the names of any individuals or schools may be redacted in order
to preserve the author's privacy interests.
My request also encompasses any specific oral communications that the
Minister may have had with school principals or members of a school board
between15 October and 28 November that formed the basis for her assertion
in the referenced news article that "she had heard from principals who felt
"very unfair" and "nasty" pressure to sign the statements. "Quite often they're
signing up when in fact it wasn't something that they particularly wanted to
do." In respect of any such oral communications, I request the day and
approximate time they took place as wel as a summary of the information
contained in that aspect of the communication.
I have considered your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act).
I am refusing your request under section 18(f) of the Act, as the information requested
cannot be made available without substantial collation or research.
Despite your attempt to refine this request, over 400 email results were returned from
an inbox search for the following:
all written correspondence received from school principals or school boards
between 15 October and 28 November that references:
- either of the terms "the Treaty" or "te Tiriti"; and,
- any of the terms "want", "pressure", "unfair", "nasty" or "union".
Collating and processing this for release would have a significant and unreasonable
impact on my office’s ability to carry out other operations.
Although your request has been refused, in the interests of transparency, I am
attaching the appendix from a similar OIA, which may contain the information you
are seeking. I have attached this as
Appendix A. The contact with principals on which I have based my statement are as follows:
- I can recall approximately six phone cal s I had from principals.
- I can recall principals, board members, and teachers approaching me at
events and out in public across the country
Some of these principals advised that several of their colleagues have also felt the
same pressure as they have.
Thank you again for your email. You have the right to ask an Ombudsman to review
this decision. You can do this by writing to
[email address] or
Office of the Ombudsman, PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143.
Nāku noa, nā
Hon Erica Stanford
Minister of Education
