Boys’ High election stymied—claim

Press, 31 August 1989, Page 1

Boys’ High election stymied—claim

By

MARITA VANDENBERG

The failure to elect a suitable student representative on the Christchurch Boys’ High School board of trustees was because the election was stymied, say some teachers and pupils. They say students were inadequately informed of the election dates and procedures in spite of keen interest from students at an early stage. A Christchurch Boys High School teacher telephoned "The Press” yesterday in response to the principal’s reported criticism of the school’s student representative. The teacher wanted to remain anonymous, fearing repercussions. He said the only notification students got of the election was an A 4 sheet posted in the administration area and a newsletter sent to parents in February. “Effectively students had no idea what was going on. They would normally expect to hear such information through form teachers or via assembly,” he said. Several students are believed to have sought the position but their nominations were declared invalid because of lateness. The

single nominee was automatically elected.

The teacher said some boys had been aware of the election and had gone to the Education Department or the Secondary Schools’ Council for information. They were told that this would be provided by the school. “Nothing happened and it was too late—by the time the boys acted.”

The returning officer, Mr Malcolm Richards, whose job it is to notify schools of the relevant election details, said that because of time pressure, no checks were made of schools to see if information was displayed.

Mr Richards said he prepared information sheets to be pinned up in every classroom of the city’s 22 high schools. He said 40 sheets were sent to Christchurch Boys’ High School. One of the students whose nomination was invalid told “The Press” he had sought information from the principal as early as last year. The student contacted the returning officer and was told all the information would come to the school. “We kept waiting for it. I was the only one who found out and I tried to send in a late

application.” In an attempt to validate his nomination, the student wrote to the Minister of Education, Mr Lange. He was referred to the Director-General of Education and then to the Tomorrow’s Schools implementation unit. The letter was mislaid and, when it was found, the student was told the period for registering complaints had closed a week earlier.

The student had letters from former teachers supporting his claim and a copy of edited letters in the school’s student newspaper which also criticised the elections.

The school’s principal, Mr Zane Kidd, was not available for comment last evening. The chairman of the board of trustees, Mrs Margaret Sheard, said she did not wish to comment but said it was not the principal’s job to run the election.

The school had the students’ interests at heart in its submission to a Parliamentary select committee, she said. It had called for next year’s elections to be held later than planned to enable students more time to campaign after the summer holidays.