PROPOSAL OPPOSED

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 51, Issue 175, 8 May 1931, Page 6

PROPOSAL OPPOSED

AMALGAMATION OF BOARDS. TECHNICAL SCHOOL VIEWS. STRONG PROTEST FOR AVAR DEI). The power given to the Education Department to demand an amalgamation of the boards controlling any High School and Technical School in one district by virtue of a clause in the Finance Act No. 2, was the subject of a strong motion of protest at the meeting of the Ashburton Technical .School Board yesterday.

The Education Department forwarded a copy pf the Act in question for the information of the Board. The clause dealing with the amalgar mation of any two boards, and which might affect Ashburton, read:—“The Governor-General may by Order-in-Council direct that any secondary school or schools, or any technical school or schools, whether established under the principal Act or any other Act, shall from a date to he named in the Order be combined in the manner prescribed in the Order, and shall for the purpose of control he placed under a. single governing body.” The object of the Act is to economise in the cost of running the schools. The Act further provided that the Amalgamated Board should consist of not more than 13 members, one of whom would represent. the employers and one the employees, a much smaller proportion than at present obtains in the Technical School Board, which, consisting of nine members, includes two representatives each of the employers and employees. Air Hayes expressed the opinion that it was a matter of the utmost importance. He thought that if the Department decided to carry out the idea in Ashburton there would be a grave danger of the technical side of the matter being neglected. The Principal (Mr R. J. Thompson), explained to the members that as the Act was constituted, the Board would have no say if the Department decided to demand" am amalgamation in Ashburton. What particularly concerned them he thought was the reduction m the number of employers’ and employees’ representatives. Their’s was a most important section of the Board, as it vitally concerned the welfare of the scholars when they left school. Under the new Act, ho considered they would have most inadequate representation. , The chairman submitted to tlio Board the following resolution to he forwarded to the Alinister of Education protesting against any possible proposal for amalgamation in Ashburton :—•

“That this Board, while thanking the Alinister for the copy ot the Finance Act (No. 2) forwarded, requests that the proposed compulsory amalgamation of Technical and High School Boards be postponed until such time as tiie constitution of the combined Board of Alanagers shall allow for the representation of at least two members each from employers and employees in trade and industry. “In suppoyt of this proposal, the Ashburton Technical School Board would suggest : “That the proposed amalgamation of Technical and High School Boards would not result in any further economy as in both High and Technical Schools, the staffs are fully employed, High School teachers averaging one teacher to each 2o students, and Technical school one to each 28. Amalgamation therefore would not lessen, the amount payable in salaries. Similarly there could be no reduction in the cost of equipment unless the practical work in agriculture, cookery, dressmaking, any typing are all done at the Technical School, which must have facilities in these subjects for evening classes. “On the other hand an increase m the cost of administration would he certain, as the secretarial work of the Technical School is now done by the Principal as part of his duties, and without extra payment. “The friendly competition between the Technical and High Schools certainly makes for increased enthusiasm and efficiency. “The chief danger in amalgamation of the Boards lies in taking the control of technical education away from men who have had the vision to see its potentialities and who have spent years of work ungrudgingly and without payment of any kind to introduce and develop its usefulness in a complete scheme of education. Industry and commerce, which have to absorb most of the product of our schools, is o-iven little interest in the proposed governing body of the Amalgamated Boards.” , . ... Seconding the resolution., which was carried unanimously, Air G. W. Andrews said that he was entirely in accord witii the opinion expressed in Air Hayes’s resolution. He did not think there would he any advantage to be gained by an amalgamation, and there was nothing to demand that it be done in Ashburton. Air John Watson said that it was well understood that there was an undertsanding between the two Boards in Ashburton. .jj.it Another clause in the Act that might affect Ashburton, said Mr Thompson, speaking to a “Guardian reporter after the meeting was one referring to the employment ot married female teachers. Up to the present he said the Canterbury Board had held no meeting, but the Auckland Education Board had dismissed a large number of its married women teachers already. The part of the section he referred to reads: — . , “Except in the ease ot a married female teacher who has completed her course of training at a Teachers Training College, but has not completed the term of service required In the regulations, the Board may, with the approval of the senior inspect oi . refuse to employ any female married teacher.” _____