BETTER SCHOOL BUILDINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 221, 17 September 1919, Page 13

BETTER SCHOOL BUILDINGS.

■WANTED AT PAPATOETOE. ANOTHER CASE OF OVERCROWDING. The overcrowded condition of the Papatoeioe public school resulted in a deputation consisting of Mesdames Porter and Bryant, iind Messrs. Waters and Reid waiting upon the Education Board at its mooting , yesterday afternoon.

It was stated by Mr. Waters, chairman ! of the local school committee, that the present school accommodation was hopelessly inadequate, and that the amount of floor space per child was a great deal less than was laid down under the regulations requiring twelve square feet per child. With the advent of the hot weather and the possibility of a recrudescence of the epidemic, the parents were becoming alarmed and urgently de. sired some remedy. He suggested that either a marquee be erected in the school grounds or that the hall in the township, about half a mile from the present school, be acquired. He also pointed out that at the existing school there was absolutely no accommodation for teachers of either sex, and that this too was a matter, together with the totally inadequate sanitary arrangements generally, urgently requiring attention. A third request was that the new infants" school which the Department proposed to build be constructed of brick apart from the main school, which was an old wooden building. He stated further that the progress of the Ellerslie district warranted the Board's consideration of the establishment of a modern school to replace the present one.

Mrs. Porter and Mr. Reid, members of the school committee, also addressed the Board, asking for the suggested reforms.

In reply, the chairman said that the requests made by the deputation would receive careful attention. It was a 7>ity. he thought, that the Department adopted the short-sighted policy of never allowing for anything further •than present needs. As far as building ■went, the Board could not go above v.ha: was required by the average attendance at the time of making the additions. lie personally would like to see a more progressive policy of anticipating the district's needs adopted. Subsequently, when the deputation had withdrawn, a committee consisting of Messrs. MeKenzie and Murray, together with the Board's architect and the senior inspector, was set up, with power to act after inspecting the school.