SCHOOL COMMITTEES IN CONFERENCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIII, Issue XLIII, 19 April 1909, Page 1

SCHOOL COMMITTEES IN CONFERENCE.

FROTIiST AGAINST RECENT LEGISLATION. At the- invitation' o( ttle Town Schools CummiHee a conferertce of members of S' ' ""' Committees in tho Nelson Edu> c ' -i^t wad beia at the Boys' I i on Saturday afternoon. '. of the conference Wait io' c .nt legislation which had depr. Committees of their power in co>.. .n with the transfer and appointmenVof teflchers. I There tture present : —Rev* .J H.I MacKenzie arid Jf. P Kempthorra, J. N. Easdale, W. Tfiomstfrt, W'« ' Conchie (Nelson); J. Hunt, J. B. Bartlett, H. Croucher, W. E>. Harkrtess, A., •i. Wray (Richmond); J.. O'Connor (Ap. ' plebv) ; ' P. Higgins (Foxhilt) ; J. J. ' Kickelts (Sprins; Grove) ; f . CTiing Stoke); 0 J. \V. Boundy (Motuekn); 7. "Slorrison (Suburban North); W. Palmer (Pangatotara). The Rev. J. H. MacKenzie was voted to the chair. The Chairman, in opening, said that all were aware of the jfisftion to which Committees had been, :fedllced. In 1877, lie said, thfi Committees had ■.cry considerable poWefs, Slid ..qtMrt3ioiis were made from speeches of legis'ators who fir.st promoted the EdUca^ ion Act, bearirig out his statement. , By Ihe Act of 1905 three names of appli : i-anls for teachersbips wer c Sent to the Committees, and, one being chosen", the Board was bound to appoint. But under ihe Act note in force the Board had rhr final say iri regard to transfers and appointments. There might be b list j. of a dozen applicants, but tfie B° a J" j •lfed send only one name on to the • Committee. Really wlut rhe Commit-. teas did was a waste of money. Again,! thfi Cprmnittees had no power to give a I holiday— application for a holiday must! be made .to the Board. The Committees were left nothing to do except to see that the school was cleaned out, and j it was a waste of time for Committee- j men to act. It would be far better to ' ibolish the Committees — (hear, hear — ) >han for them to continue as at present. He had a resolution to move to show '.hat the Committees were not going i to take the amendments to the law i ■'lying dowM." Mr MacKenzie remarked ■hit the present Minister for Education , ivas one of those most strongly opposed to Committees having powers. He inovfd the following resolution: — 'Whereas the Education Amendment Ait, 1908, provides (section 14) that in '.lit c.i.-e of a proposed transfer of a '.eacher the Board shall give to the school comnittee concerned an opportunity to express its opinion on the transfer, but leaves the final decision enirely with the Board, and, whereas the *aid Act also provides (section 14) that ■n the cse o f an appointment from ■ iiiion^ applicants, the Board may send •o the committee the name of only one of such applicants, thns EivLdg no ■hoice U> the committee ; and, Whereas .he members of school committees, as ■ompared with Board members, have (1) l better knowledge of local circumstan- 1 res, (2) a closer connection and a i cbepc-r personal interest iii the schools, | thiough their children attending, (3 c >qual ability to read and neigh all certificates and testimonials produced, and ;'4) more frequently to meet with the teachers in connection with the affairs if the schools, and hence the commit'ees are better able to jud^o of the •usability of a teacher than the Boards This conference of members of school ommittees in the Nelson districts re■so'ves to protest against ".he provision? ->t' the Education Amendment Act, 1908, by which committees have been deprived of all real power in the selection of teachers for the schools in the district^ in which they are legally supposed to have 'the management of educational matters, and, further, is of opinion that any such 'management,' if thn language is not to be meaningless, nii't include authority to arrange school hours and school holiriavs. ' ■ontinuing, Mr MacKenzie said that in he Nelson district, at any fate, ■ members of the Committtc knciv better han members of the Board tho requifo'nents of the respective schools. Those who were sending children to school* 'cnew what was best for the schools, and liouhl determine the hours and holidays. Schools were not run for teachers, and ieachers must submit, to what seemed best for the whole district. A strong point made was that the Committee were in touch with the teachers, whereaf the Boards were not, (Hear, hear). Mr MacKenzie concluded by reading from jlansard the speech made by Mr Hornsj.v, SI. P., on the proposed curtailment if the power of School Committees. . Mr J. Hunt seconded the resolution. Mr P. Higgins said that the Committee's power had been so reduced that for some time he had thought the Committe?s might as well be abolished. The Foxhifl Committee had passed a resolu'ion that it would not take any notice )f the Board's circular with reference 'o holidays. The Board could now take? what steps it liked ' Mr O'Connor said that he knew of no case where the Board had refused a holiday when aplied for. Sometimes the inspectors had gone a long distance and found the schools closed. 'That was the reason of the Board's action in regard to holidays. He also thought thr Board were th? best judges of the quali fications of the teachers. With these ex ceptions he was in favour of the resolu tion. Mr Wray agreed with the resolution 'le held that the Committee ware 'Uk >est judges of the teachers and holidays. it was ridiculous that a Committee could lot grant a half-holiday without refer■nee to the Board. Mr Morrison thought that if the Comnitfees wer? treated a little more liberilly by the Board they would jet op 'ictter. Ho believed that the drift war v the direction of doing away with Biard* and Committee, and centralis : nf everything in Wellington. At present it vns not worth while wasting time serving on Committees. He thoroughly igieed with the resolution, and house'lolders should enter a protest against the legislation at the annual meetings of householders. The resolution was put and carried unanimously. , Mr Morrison moved, and Mr Croucherl -oconded that the resolution carried be forwarded to the Minister of Education, the local members of thfl House of Kepresentatives and Legislative Council, and the Secretary of Education.. — Carried. Mr Ching moved and Mr Higgins seconded, "That the citizens assembled in each district for tho election of Echool comittees on Monday, the 26th inst., be asked to pass the following resolution : ' That this meeting of householders, gathered in connection with cduci/tion, calls upon the Government to restore to the people, as represented by the committees, tho management of educational matters in each school district,' and that this resolution be forwarded to the local M.P."— Carried. Mr Thomson mentioned the matter of schools being demanded by Returning Ofiicers for polling purposes. The Chairman remarked that this matter affected the towns more tenously than ths- country. In towns buildings other than schools were available, but in many country districts the school buildinfc was the only place that could be used as a polling booth. Xo resolution was moved on this subject.

Mr Palmer (Pangatotara) stated tbat application had been made to his eoromitteo for the use of the school as a palling place in_ connection with a loan proposal by tho Motueka Harbour Board. He would like to know whether a returning officer had power in such a case to demand r the use of tho school l The Chairman said ho did not think he had, but the Committee, before hiting the school, would havo to obtain tbe permission of the Board to grant a holiday foi tho children. , (Laughter). . , I The Chairman read ft- number of letters and telegrams from school committees winch were not represented at the conference. Wakefield /Wired: ' 'Regret cannot attend. Will lassistI assist you all we can." Ferntowflj also wired: "Sympathise with object of meeting." Fairdown intimated [that any resolutions in the direction indicated in the circular., would fiato their support. Waimangarpg ''.'di?- . approved-.of recent' legiaati6n"7*»king away powers of school" Committees." Takaka, Lower Moutere, arid. ; Qrinoeo regretted that they were unable to ba -repro:«?rited_ but expressed "-sympathy with the object of tho conference. The chairman of the Scddoflvillc com. mittee wrote, stating that the con. ferencc was a step in the right direction. Committees at present werrf .1 farce. Ho added: "Men chopped out of the bush are as good as we are under the -present state of affairs." ' The conference terminated with votes of thanks to tbe press and thc Chairman. r~ ' — . _