NORMAL SCHOOL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27044, 31 March 1949, Page 4

NORMAL SCHOOL

Parents of Children Perturbed SOME STRONG CRITICISM Parents of pupils evacuated from the Normal School, Dunedin, this week are as much concerned about the welfare of their children now as they were when the pupils were accommodated in the structurallyunsafe buildings. Previously, concern was felt for the life and limb of the children in the long-condemned Normal School buildings—and the hurried evacuation this week is held to justify that concern. Misgivings are now entertained about the detrimental effects on: 1. The future education of the children now labouring under the handicaps of make-shift classrooms and the attendant distractions; 2. The health of the pupils under the unsatisfactory new conditions in the face of a fast-approaching rigorous winter. This information came to the Daily Times yesterday from parents of the children. “ Out of the frying pan into the fire,” was one expression used to describe the fate of the pupils. Another parent demanded to know why it was always the primary school children who were buffeted about.

The Normal School pupils are now being accommodated at the George Street School, the Dunedin North Intermediate School, and in the old Manual Training School building. Parents consider that adequate and proper facilities are not available for teaching the children under these conditions. It is said that in more than one instance two classes are being crowded into one room and separated by only a light screen or curtain. _ Another case mentioned is where children are being accommodated in a gymnasium at the back of the George Street School—the gymnasium has no windows but only skylights. Attention is further drawn to the fact that the old Manual Training School building, to which children have been relegated, has been condemned for many years. Parents emphasise that there has been no suggestion that these make-shift classrooms are to be temporary only. They say that the time of reckoning is at hand. It is mentioned that an endeavour will be made by the authorities to obtain five army huts for erection on the Normal School grounds to accommodate the evacuated children. It is explained that these five huts are the only ones available in New Zealand and that various applications from outside Dunedin have already been made for them. Criticism is levelled at the fact that the Acting-Director of Education, Mr A. F. McMurtrie, and the Otago Education Board rushed in during last week-end and made a decision in one day to evacuate the pupils, whereas the school had been condemned for the past 10 years and the need for evacuation had been discussed for the past two years, during which period numerous articles on the subject had appeared in the Daily Times. Practical Suggestion A suggestion made by parents is that the Dunedin North Intermediate School be disbanded immediately, its pupils sent back to the various primary schools from which they came and where they could be absorbed without difficulty, and the Dunedin

North Intermediate made available for the children from the Normal School. Even if the Dunedin North Intermediate is not taken over entirely—and parents know how dear to the heart the intermediate schools are held by the Director of Education, Dr C. E. Beeby, still overseas—it is contended that a number of rooms should be made available, such as the sewing and music rooms and the library, all of which are never in constant use. The ultimate plan, it is stated, provided that the Normal School pupils should move into the Dunedin North Intermediate when the new intermediate school was available at NorthEast Valley for the Dunedin North Intermediate pupils. It is argued that the new intermediate school should be built immediately to solve the Normal School problem. Parents ask what has been causing the delay. “It is the general procrastination by the Otago Education Board and the department that has incensed the parents,” the Daily Times was told. Not months but years had passed since both the board and the department became aware of the predicament, yet when the day of reckoning arrived the authorities were found wanting. Extra Cost to Parents The scattering of the Normal School children among the three other schools will prove costly to parents, acceding to one woman. She said that many of the children now require to travel to and from school by tram. The passes cost 2s 6d a month, and in a number of families there are three and four children each of whom must have a pass. Parents are asking what provision will be made for tne children in the make-shift classrooms during the cold winter days. In what way will these rooms be heated? Many of the children are now taking cold lunches to school because they are unable to go home at mid-day for a cooked meal. Under such conditions, parents fear that the children’s health will suffer in the coming months. Some of the parents said yesterday that they considered a protest meeting of parents should be called to deal with the problems the authorities seemed so reluctant to tackle.