“Parents Responsible Outside School”

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31315, 10 March 1967, Page 8

“Parents Responsible Outside School”

Parents are responsible for the safety of their children outside the hours which school grounds are officially open and under supervision. This ruling will be publicised as widely as possible by the Canterbury School Committees* Association.

This unanimous decision by the association arose from a suggestion by a member of the Christchurch Metropolitan Road Safety Committee that, because some children were locked out from school grounds before 8.30 a.m., they play on the streets and were in danger from traffic. The secretary of the association (Mr R. W. Taylor) said the Canterbury Education Board had no regulation on the matter but would accept no liability for negligence outside the hours schools were open and under the supervision of teachers. A by-law of the board said the hours a school was open should be fixed by the school committee in consultation with the headmaster, Mr Taylor said. Mr J. Cossins (Burwood) said any accident or other trouble arising from a child

• arriving at school too early or i leaving too late was the re* i sponsibility of the parents. ' Mrs M. Rae (Christchurch . East) said she agreed with I this but what about the child- ! ren of working mothers who . were “dumped at school” about 8 a.m. Many schools

allowed such children into the grounds and into shelter if it was wet. “Somebody has to accept responsibility for these children,” Mrs Rae said. This comment met a minor storm of protest on the line that “schools ard set up for education, not for babysitting.” There was no dissent to the motion that schools would not accept any responsibility outside school hours. ±