SCHOOL AFFAIRS

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1640, 12 May 1925, Page 5

SCHOOL AFFAIRS

THE COMMiTTEE DEADLOCK.

SEVEN RESIGNEES RECONSIDER THEIR DECISION.

AGREE TO CONTINUE IN OFFICE.

We were handed this morning, at 10 o'clock, copies of the correspondence 'that has passed between the Auckland Board of Education and the seven members of the Te Awamutu District High School Committee who rei-igned as a "sympathy strike" against the non-election of their former chairman by the forty householders present at the annual meeting last Monday evening. Together with the copies of correspondence was a statement setting out the reasons actuating the seven gentlemen concerned. It is as follows: — "As has been a certain amount of hostile criticism of the recent action of the seven members of the School Committee in tendering their resignations to the Board, they have d to forward copies of the whol correspondence to the press for publication. They felt that the late chairman Mr C. F. Battson, had not had a fair deal at the recent election and in the hope that by resigning the Board would have to hold another poll, they decided to bring matters to a head. However, the Board ruled otherwise, and further, Mr Battson himself having requested us to remain on the Committee, we came to an unanimous decision to withdraw our resignations, as we considered it would not in the interests of the school, be advisable to have a Commissioner. We felt confident that when the whole facts of the case had been placed before the public that, at least, all fair minded householders would realise the loss the school would sustain if Mr Battson's services were lost to the School Committee."

The following letter was received from Mr E. C. Purdie, secretary of the Education Board, dated May 6th:— "I am directed to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the sth Inst, tendering your resignations as members of the Te Awamutu School Committee, as a protest against the nonelection by the householders of Mr C. F. Battson. In reply I am directed to ask you to reconsider your decision and to withdraw your resignations. The Board, you will understand, could not adopt an attitude directly contrary to the wish of the householders as expressed by the election of yourselves and others to the membership of the Te Awamutu School Committee. Under the circumstances the Board would have no recourse but to appoint a School Commissioner in place of the School Committee which had failed to function. The Board' hopes that you will recognise the importance to a School District! of local jurisdiction, and will therefore comply with the request contained above." Mr C. F. Battson addressed the following letter to the resigning members on May 7th: —

"I wish to thank you most sincerely for your unsolicited expression of loyalty and sympathy extended to me in my recent defeat shown by your action in resigning in a body from the Committee. The motive underlying this is one of which any man placed in my position would be justly proud showing as it does the esteem and respect of my colleagues. As this action has shown your feeling and protest to the public and as I prefer to place the general welfare of the school before any personal feeling it is my earnest desire that you withdraw your resignations and carry on the work already in hand, i I am quite satisfied to retire with the knowledge that the work I have done is appreciated by my fellow committeemen and also by a large section of the parents."

A letter bearing the signatures of the seven members, under date of May 9th, was forwarded to the Board, which read:—

"Your memo of the 6th inst. to hand, and in reply we beg to inform you that after giving the matter due consideration we have decided to withdraw our resignations. We understand from your letter that the Board would have no recourse but to appoint a Commissioner which we do not think would be in the best interests of the school. Our object in resigning was to force another election, the late one being in our opinion quite unrepresentative on account of counter attractions." As will be noted, the outgoing letter to the Board of Education is dated May 9th (Saturday) but Mr Jourdain, who handed us the copies this morning, explains that the seven met on Saturday evening to consider what action they should take, and eventually it was decided to withdraw their resignations. Asked why the decision was not made public earlier, Mr Jourdain said that only a verbal decision was come to, and the letter had to be drafted on Monday. Then he had to get the signatures of the seven, a task that was not completed until Monday afternoon. Our representative asked last evening for some information as to the position and was told that there was nothing available, but probably it would be released for public information this morning. It is apparent that there has been a good deal of secrecy about the whole affair, for individual members of the party of seven also preserved a reticence on the point until this morning. Yet they complain of public interest being aroused! Was

it any wonder that interest was displayed by householders, for the position was a public one. and the facts should have been made available without any delay. The seven' deliberately withheld information that may have sated the public desire for facts and reasons, and therefore they were parties to the creation of public curiosity and interest —and possibly a certain amount of resentment. Mr Jourdain informed our representative on Friday last that he had communicated with the Board asking it to sanction grass-seeding of the vacant paddock opposite the infant school—a work that had been entrusted to a sub-committee of the old committee, and not put in hand before the householders' meeting. Yesterday he received authority to go ahead with the work, a grant of £7 10s having been made by the Board for the purpose. Mr Jourdain's request to the Board had only been intended for authority in view of the fact that there was then no quorum of the new committee, but the Board (perhaps to remove any possibility of future trouble, not knowing the latest developments here concerning the people's feelings) made a grant to cover the estimated cost. The work was at once put in hand. The reference in two of the letters to the alternative of appointing a Commissioner to conduct Te Awamutu School affairs is somewhat peculiar, for the fact that two of the nine gentlemen elected by the householders did not resign would have presented a difficulty that the Board, even if desirous of appointing a Commissioner, may have found it awkward to surmount. A regulation of the Department points out that in the event of the reduction of members of a committee to less than a quorum, from any cause whatever it is the duty of the Board to convene another ■meetinfi: of householders to fill the vacancies. This point appears to have been overlooked by the Board's secretary.

However, quite a number of people will be relieved to learn that the seven have now reconsidered their impulsive decision to resign, and that the nine gentlemen chosen by the householders a week ago will function as a committee and seek as amicably as possible to carry on the affairs of the school district for another year.

It is expected that the committee will be convened practically at once to elect a chairman, and it is evident that the appointee to that position will have full support in his : under-