After a horror holiday period of vandalism, the principal at Auckland’s Titirangi Primary School wanted to give teachers and students a cheery start to the year.
As the school returned to class this week, changing the old bell signal to the song Poi E to celebrate Waitangi Day was a great way to start the year, or so thought principal Julie Lynch.
The old PA system was not up to standard, so a new one was installed over the holidays, one that didn’t just sound like a clanging bell, but could play any song they wanted.
But some people living near the school have expressed vexation over hearing the 1984 hit song coming from the school, taking to Facebook to air their concerns on a local community page.
“I initially loved the music,” said one local on a community Facebook page.
“But the multiple times a day at that very loud volume across the valley is wearing a bit thin.”
“I’ve recently moved into the Atkinson/Kaurilands valley area and have noticed someone playing the chorus of Poi E for about 15 seconds at full blast at random parts of the day,” said another.
“I’m not really bothered by it but more interested to know who? And why?,” they said.
School principal, Julie Lynch told 1 NEWS she had chosen the song for the new PA system to celebrate Treaty week and to make things “a bit more fun” for the children.
It plays six times a day for about 15 seconds at the start and end of school as well as break times.
It comes after a holiday period of extreme vandalism at the school, costing upwards of around $3,000, according to Ms Lynch, not all of which insurance would cover.
“Our water blaster was stolen, and our school pool was broken into with soil and cement dumped into the pool,” she said.
On top of that, a fire was started on the school field and explicit graffiti had to be removed from a number of areas.
“It was quite upsetting,” said Ms Lynch.
Aside from this, she says the 400-plus children at the school have had “a great start to the year,” as have the “wonderful group of teachers in the school”.
Ms Lynch says a technician will be visiting to change the direction of the speakers in the new sound system, which appear to affect the song volume.
She says so far, only one person has emailed her about the issue and has no plans to change it back.
"Our children are just delightful and we have an amazing and supportive community," she said.
“If the community would like to send in some ideas about which song to play next week I’m open to suggestions,” she added.
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