Children return to school

Press, 10 June 1977, Page 1

Children return to school

Waipara children who were kept away from, the local school yesterday by their parents will return to school todav.

Of the 86 pupils on the school roll, only 26 arrived at school yesterday. Many of these were primarypupils whose teacher is not a member of the sect. About 80 parents and residents of Waipara met Canterbury Education Board members in the local hall yesterday afternoon. The locals were trying to have the two teachers suspended until an inquiry into the activities of the sect has been completed. Reporters were excluded from the meeting, after the chairman (Mr S. Macdonald) said that the people would then feel freer to speak their minds. Mr Macdonald is headmaster of the Amberley School,

about five miles from Waipara.

One man who left the meeting before it finished said: "Two of one sect at one school is a bad influence. If I want my children to go to a religious school I will send them to one.” In a statement after the meeting, the chairman of the Waipara School Committee (Mr J. D. Thomson) said that the children would return to school today.

“The majority of the parents are still unhappy about the two sect members of the school staff,” he said.

“However, the parents have resolved to get the Education Board and the school committee to meet the two staff members involved.”

This meeting would be held on June 14.