SCHOOL COMMITTEES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22609, 28 June 1935, Page 7

SCHOOL COMMITTEES

ANNUAL MEETING OF ASSOCIATION The annual meeting of the School Committees' Association of Otago was held in the Education Board's ofhce last night. The president (Mr G. A. Rutherford) occupied the chair, and there was a good attendance of members. The chairman referred to the death of Mr Ralph M'Donald, of the Portobello School, who, he said, had passed away since their last quarterly meeting, and it was decided to send a letter of condolence to the widow and family of the deceased. ANNUAL REPORT. The annual report stated, inter alia: — The number of committees affiliated at the end of the year was 61. We regret to report that no further affiliations were applied for during the year. The meetings of our association continue to be fairly well attended. There is room for improvement, however, in the attendance of some delegates. Country committees may have proxies appointed from the town school committees by communicating with the secretary. School Committee Elections. —As was pointed out at the last annual meeting, amending legislation was passed by Parliament providing for biennial elections. Your executive has further considered this question, and has supported the federation and the Parliamentary Committee in its endeavours to have this amendment brought into line with the remits passed by conference —namely, that half the committee retire annually. This remit did not find favour with the Minister. Library.—This scheme is still in operation, and has been extended to other schools, and is much appreciated by both teachers and scholars. Our thanks are due to the City Council for this privilege, and to tie librarian for the interest he takes in this splendid asset to our schools. Dominion Federation of School Committees' Associations.—The annual conference was held in Timaru on August 28 and 29, 1934, and proved successful in further establishing the need for such an organisation. You are invited to appoint your representatives for this year, when the meeting will be held in Palmerston North, some time during August. General.—General satisfaction was felt when the then Minister of Education made the announcement that the finances of the country had so far improved that he was enabled to ask Cabinet to approve of an extra grant being made to education boards for the use of committees to the extent of £4OOO. The action ot Mr Masters was much appreciated. Political questions have taken up a good deal of time and thought during the year, and development work, which should be the primary objective, has been to some extent hampered. Much remains to be done, and we urge on all school committees the importance of the work of the association. School committees are reminded that the association exists to overcome the serious disadvantages oi isolation for individual committees, and to secure for each the assurance of sympathetic advice and effective support in any difficulty, as well as 'to provide means for the free discussion of problems affecting the primary schools. Financial.—As will be seen by the balance sheet, the position of the association has improved on the past.year. lhis was largely due to the generosity of school committees in forwarding donations in addition to the affiliation fee, and also to individual members for donations to the funds. There is a need for further augmenting the funds of the association, and your executive has given some thought to the question of organising a combined concert with this object in view. Obituary.—We regret having to report the loss by death of one of our members during the >,ast year in the person ot Mr W Wright. He served the association a a 'a member of the executive for some years, and for one year was a vice-presi-dent Macandrew Road School and the association have lost a very ardent worker and a very estimable citizen has passed to his long rest. , The chairman formally moved the adoption of the annual report and balance Mr H. H. Johnson, in seconding the motion, referred to the death of Mr Wright, and said that he was a very ardent worker in the interests of school committees. . The motion was carried. DENTAL CLINICS. A series of resolutions adopted at a recent meeting of delegates of the Metropolitan Dental Clinics was forwarded by the St. Albans School (Christchurch), and it was decided to refer the proposals contained in the resolutions to the Dominion conference to be held at Palmerston North in August. , , The principal suggestions were that the Minister of Health should pay from departmental grants the whole of the salaries of dental nurses, and' that the national service should be extended to children above Standard IV. _ WIRELESS INSTALLATIONS. Some discussion took place on the question of providing wireless installations in the schools, the general opinion being that broadcasting in the schools would prove of great educational value. Mr M'Donald (High Street School) moved as follows: —" That the Education Board urges the Government to bring down without delay regulations providing for the installation of wireless sets in the primary schools for assisting the education of pupils, and that the necessary broadcasting and receiving of such installations and their maintenance be at the cost of the department." The motion was carried unanimously. GENERAL. It was decided, on the motion of Mr R. S. Vercoe, that the Otago Association retain its affiliation with the Dominion body in the meantime, and that the Canterbury School Committees' Association be advised to that effect. Mr Vercoe, in a short address on the present education system, said he thought they should have some change. He believed in decentralisation with a co-oper-ation of the services under a unified board controlling both the secondary and primary schools. It was stated that the receipts for the year had amounted to £36 9s 3d, 'and the expenditure to £27 19s 7d, leaving a credit balance of £8 10s Id.

ADDRESS BY MR CARRINGTON. The secretary of the Education Board (Mr G. W. Carrington) gave some details of the conference of delegates from Education Boards held in Wellington. He iaid that this conference had been a very valuable one, as the director of education and his officers had been present, and had taken a full part in the discussion. The question of the overhaul of the administration, etc., of the education system had been brought up, but it was pointed out that the director of education was going abroad, and it therefore considered that the better plan would be to await his report on investigations into the education systems in other countries. Capitation on the average roll number of pupils as against the present system of capitation on average attendances had been discussed, and it had been agreed that the average roll figures would be considered as a basis. He 'did not think, however, that the committees would improve very much in their gradings. Other matters discussed at the conference related to the age at which children should be allowed to come to school, teachers' salaries, the grading of teachers, the procedure which should be adopted at the expiry of the contract for the printing of school books in 1937 for the compiling of new school books, etc. The Minister had now approved of an annual meeting of delegates from education boards.

Mr Vercoe said that the bulk of the remits which had come before the conference had been on the same lines as their school committees had been hammering at for years. He moved that a vote of thanks be accorded Mr Carrington for his address, the motion being carried by acclamation. OFFICE-BEARERS.

The following were appointed officebearers:—President, Mr J. D. Clyde; vice-president, Mr C Sherlock; secretary, Mr R. S. Vercoe; executive—Messrs W. Ripley, G. S. Warwick, S. Ritchie, J. Adamson, R. M'Garrigle, H. H. Johnson, W. D. Sutherland, J. C. H. Somerville, and the Rev Hugh Graham.