FLEMINGTON SCHOOL

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27010, 9 April 1953, Page 12

FLEMINGTON SCHOOL

NO NEW BUILDING THIS YEAR

COMMITTEE CRITICISES EDUCATION BOARD

Education Department officers have eliminated the rebuilding of the Flemington School in Mid-Canterbury from this year’s building programme of the Canterbury Education Board because of the big demand for new classrooms. However, tenders for the replacement of the teacher’s residence have been in Wellington for some time, and early action is expected. This information was given last evening by the chairman of the Canterbury Education Board (Mr S. J. Irwin) in reply to a statement issued by the Flemington School Committee. He said that other urgent works had also to be postponed. Messrs K. Taylor (chairman), T. E. Taylor, R. G. Read, N. J. C. Anderson, and G. M. Miles, of the Flemington School Committee, have issued the following statement:— “As considerable publicity has been given to the condition of the Halswell School, the Flemington School mittee (Ashburton county) wish to draw the public’s attention to the condition of both their school and residence, and to the manner in which the Canterbury Education Board has pursued a t promised rebuilding programme. “The Flemington School, which is 72 years old, is a cold, poorly-lit, dilapidated building which the board since 1947 has refused to repair, as a new school building was on the list of works for 1P49-50. Today, six years later, the new school has not been started. Board' officers have admitted the school is in a worse condition than Halswell.

“The structural supports have rotted away, weatherboards are falling off, window frames and barge boards are also in a rotten state, and the whole building, which has not been painted since 1939, is riddled with borer. The windows are totally inadequate for efficient lighting and ventilation and, as there is no ceiling, the heating stove on a cold winter day does not raise the temperature above 45 degrees. Teacher’s Residence “The school teacher’s residence was demolished in 1949 as being unfit for human habitation.” the statement says. “A new residence was placed on the board’s list of works for that year. “The present schoolmaster is living elsewhere, and has had a series of difficult housing problems, and yet, in 1953, after a tender had been accepted in June, 1952, the building of the house has not begun. This lack of action is apparently not the builder’s fault. The importance of a country teacher residing adjacent to the school cannot be over-emphasised. If the present conditions continue, we fear we will not retain our present teacher, and we know that a country school without a residence does not attract the better class of teacher applicant. “There have been numerous protests, visits, and correspondence by the committee to the Education Board, and in spite of promises of immediate action no building operations have commenced.

“The committee is thoroughly disgusted with the manner in which the board has handled this matter, which is of great importance to our district,” the statement concludes.