Legal right ‘denied’

Press, 1 November 1977, Page 7

Legal right ‘denied’

PA Wellington Some secondary’ school boards were denying teachers their rights in law, the PostPrimary Teachers’ Association said on Sunday. Teachers who lose their jobs because a drop in the number of pupils at a school necessitates a cut in the staff are supposed to have priority when they apply for other teaching posts. But the association’s president (Mrs Ida Gaskin) said that displaced teachers were being denied their rights in law

“The situation is rapidly

becoming both serious and urgent because some secondary school boards are refusing to recognise the priority of appointment right held by displaced teachers?’ Mrs Gaskin said. “And the Education Department claims that it is powerless to force boards to uphold and administer the law as it relates to education.” It seemed clear that internal migration of population would cause increased rolls in many schools, but also a sharp fall in rolls in some other schools and a further crop of displaced teachers, Mrs Gaskin said. The association was most

anxious to see the introduction of measures to lessen the impact of roll decreases on teaching staffs. “We forwarded proposals for such a scheme to the department in April— to date we have had no official response. “We wrote to the DirectorGeneral of Education on October 19 seeking an immediate meeting to discuss the problem. We have been sent an acknowledgement and told that the matter has been referred to an officer who is overseas on leave. “This is not a meaningful response to a serious request for discussion on a serious problem.” Mrs Gaskin said.