NEED FOR SCHOOL

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 92, 19 April 1945, Page 5

NEED FOR SCHOOL

STRATHMORE GRIEVANCE

Grave concern at the delay in the provision of a school at Strathmore Park was expressed in a letter from the local progressive and beautfying association read at a meeting of the Wellington Education Board yesterday. The letter stated that there are 563 children in the district, including 233 under school age, and that even without making allowances for any increase, the present school population was sufficient to justify the immediate erection of a school. In a letter to the board the Director of Education (Dr. C. E. Beeby) referred to published criticism of the Education Department over the delay in beginning the erection of a school in the district, and said that such criticism was unwarranted. The responsibility rested with the board, which had failed to supply information to substantiate a case for the establishment of a school. Members of the board spoke strongly over the Department's attitude in the matter. They recalled that in August, 1943, the Minister of Education, during a visit to the proposed site, had agreed that the board should proceed with its preparation, and that the Minister of Works and member for the district, Mr. Semple, at the opening of the local Plunket rooms, had said that there would be a school there within twelve months or he would want to know the reason why. It was mere quibbling on the Department's part, it was contended, to suggest that there was spare accommodation at other schools, when it was recognised that Strathmore Park was a self-con-tained district. It was. decided to inform the association that the matter of the immediate erection of a four-roomed school would be taken up again with the Department, which already had the plans in its hands. It was also decided to reply to the Department that the board's actions did not bear out the allegation that the delay was attributable to the board, and that the suggestion concerning alternative accommodation was irrelevant, since such accommodation could not meet the heeds of the Strathmore Park children.