Primary schools feel zone heat

&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;" alignright size-full wp-image-521" style&equals;"margin&colon; 5px&semi; float&colon; right&semi;" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;schoolnewsnz&period;fastrackdev&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;03&sol;School&lowbar;Zone&period;jpg" alt&equals;"School Zone" width&equals;"200" height&equals;"150" &sol;>Stressed primary schools are struggling to fend off enrolment challenges from out-of-zone parents&comma; according to the Herald on Sunday&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p> <&excl;--more--> <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It reported that heads of decile 9 and 10 schools in some of the Auckland&&num;8217&semi;s most desirable areas say they don&&num;8217&semi;t have the funding or resources to keep up with increasingly complex ruses from people claiming to live within school catchments&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Popular high schools have long complained of zone cheats but it has now spread to primary levels&period; Overworked headmasters are knocking on doors in their own time during evenings and early mornings to weed out the pretenders&period; They say it is the only way to catch people&period; Some school staff even pore over power bills to compare electricity usage with a typical family&period; But the parents appear to be winning&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The newspaper said Ministry of Education figures it had obtained revealed Auckland schools had annulled 16 enrolments&comma; unchallenged&comma; in the past year&period; In another 24 cases&comma; parents had challenged the rejection&period; The ministry ruled in the parents&&num;8217&semi; favour on 14 and directed the school to accept the enrolments&period; In three other cases&comma; the schools backed down and accepted the child&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;