TEACHERS’ ACCOMMODATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 3803, 1 February 1927, Page 67

TEACHERS’ ACCOMMODATION.

ABSENCE OF OUTHOUSES. EDUCATION BOARD PROBLEM. At Wednesday’s meeting of the Otago Education Board, Mr G. W. Johnstone, secretary of the Blackstone School Committee, wrote as follows: —I have been instructed again to write to you with reference to the insufficient accommodation provided at the school residence. The building is much too small. There is an absence of conveniences, there being no bathroom, washhouse, or coalhouse, and in winter, with snow on the ground, sacks provided by the residents are not sufficient protection to keep the coal dry. The conditions are shocking. The so-called kitchen is at present serving as a bathroom and living room. The teacher cannot be expected to live alone in a lonely; place like this, and in order to have company she a + present sleeps on a sofa in the kitchen, and rises from there to teach the children hygiene! We respectfully ask you how any member of the board would expect his daughter, after an expensive training, to' live under such conditions. If we are to have a change of teachers, as seems likely, the children will/ not have much chance of making good. The Chairman (Mr J. Wallace), remarked that members knew the position quite well. The board had put up a shack at a cost of £2OO, and he did not see how they could give any more accommodation. The board provided accommodation for teachers, not for boarders. Mr Horn said there was no coalhousa and no washhouse. Mr Wallace: But there would have been if other teachers had not refused to live there. Mi- Horn said there was no place near the school where a teacher could board. He really thought that something should be done to give the teacher more comfort. Blackstone was 2000 ft above sea level. The Chairman said they could perhaps make arrangements to drive the children to another school.

Mr Horn said that would perhaps be better than the present position. The Chairman said it was one of the problems of the board to find accommodation for its teachers. The residence at Blackstone was burned down 10 years ago. Of course, there was no disputing the fact that their teachers should have ordinary conveniences. After some further discussion it was decided to erect a coalshed and washhouse, and to decline the application for increased* accommodation meantime.