TEACHER'S APPEAL
COURT'S FINDING
Judgment, has been givea by the Teachers' Court of Appeal in a case of special interest ttf teachers'in'State schools and also to education boards and;school committees.. Jhe. Court of Appeal consisted of Messrs. H. A. Young, S.M. (president), H. F. Penlingtoh (nominated by the North' Canterbury brancli of the New Zealand Educational Institute), and W. Brock (nominated by the Canterbury Educa-tional-Board).
Mr. J. R. Ashbridge, secretary of the New Zealand Educational Institute, appeared for the appellant, Ethel May'Livingstone,'a'teacher1 at the, Phillipstown School, who -had been suspended for two. weeks, by the Canterbury Education Board. • It was alleged that Miss Livingstone refused to co-operate with ■ the headmaster of the Phillipstown School, in training students. In her appeal Miss Livingstone submitted that she did not refuse to co-operate, that she had not been asked by the board for an explanation before '. being " suspended, and that the suspension was unreasonable. : •■:...; ...■'•
In its judgment the Court found that Miss Livingstone refused-in, one respect only .to co-operate.. ■■ It had not been proved that generally she had shown herself not amenable to the discipline required of members of the board's teaching staff.
: "In our opinion the sentence. of suspension in this case was too severe from the point of view of .probable loss of salary," the .Court's decision stated. "It was unnecessarily humiliating and was probably prejudicial to the school and pupils. Miss Livingstone has had 28 years' experience as a teacher and is in charge of the sixfli standard in one of our largest primary schools. The inspectors' annual reports and the evidence of the headmaster and others show that she is a very capable teacher, Her relationship with- the headmaster with respect to actual school matters has always been satisfactory. In and out of school she has done her utmost to develop her pupils in all respects to their utmost capacity. In our opinion, by reason of certain personal matters set out in the evidence and absorption in the welfare of her pupils, she had for the time being lost her sense of proportion."
TEACHER'S APPEAL
Evening Post, Issue 82, 6 April 1936, Page 15
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