SCHOOL CLEANING

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 65, 20 December 1946, Page 5

SCHOOL CLEANING

PRESENT SYSTEM UNSUITABLE

HEADMASTER’S REQUEST

In his report to the Whakatane School Committee at its last meeting, the Headmaster dealt with the present system of sweeping the school, whereby the pupils each attended to their own classroom, in return for a contribution by the com- * ie sports funds.

During the coming year, he stated, the staff was not prepared to supervise the cleaning and sweeping of the school. The teachers felt that with increased capitation allowances, the committee should now en-' gage labour to do the work. Other considerations that had affected their attitude towards the work were as follows: (1) It was felt that bus "children had to leave so soon after final dismissal that the work was not done thoroughly by these pupils; (2) That the lower primary school classes required too much supervision by the teachers; (3) That the general school standard was being affected by these additional demands on their .time and attention.

Commenting on the situation, the Chairman (Mr J. W. Wilson) stated that he felt the Headmaster and staff should have considered these matters more fully before they asked the committee to change the system and inaugurate the present one. A year ago, when he had pressed the committee to do so, the Head , had given his assurance that he had had previous experience of the method, and it had worked well in other schools. The excuses now offered by him seemed futile.

Within the last two months, he continued, when the committee had enquired as to how the system w;as working out, the Headmaster had assured them that it was working very satisfactorily.

Mr Clarke added that he thought the teachers might supervise the sweeping ‘once in a blue moon’, but once the older children particularly, knew what to do and how to do it, they surely did not heed constant supervision.

.. The Chairman continued that when the proposal to change to the present system of cleaning by the children had been first put forward, the question of bus children had been raised by the committee, but the Head had stated that it did not matter if the transport was held up for a few minutes.

Primarily, the. Board expected the committee to provide a clean school. The change-over had resulted in the direct expenditure of some £7O, and it was not fair, of the master to now ask the committee to revert to the old method. It was not reasonable that the system which, two months ago the committee had been led to believe was so satisfactory, should now be so perfunctorily dismissed.

Mr Lysaght: We have only a, limited amount of money to spend. If we have to employ a cleaner as well as a groundsman, then the many little purchases which the teachers request us to make will have* to be sacrificed.

The .committee intimated that in its opinion, the school was fortunate in having such a good staff, and it was hard to believe that a few minutes could not be, spared to supervise the sweeping. A full-time groundsman was now employed, and the increased capitation allowance referred to by the teachers was not sufficient to cover the employment of any additional labour whatsoever! Moreover not only was there the : difficulty of obtaining suitable labour, but owing to the restricted hours in which the sweeping could be carried out, it was impossible for any one person to cover the whole school. The change-over at the request of the Headmaster and his staff, had cost the committee some £3O to provide equipment alone &it had been made with, the object'of enabling the committee to employ a full-time groundsman. In , consideration of the work which the pupils were doing, the committee had also agreed ,to contribute the sum of £2O to the sports funds of both the High School and the Primary Department. _ . It was decided to request the Headmaster and his staff to reconsider their decision.