BAY OF PLENTY BEACON Published. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, DEC, 15, 1948 OHOPE SCHOOL

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 33, 15 December 1948, Page 4

BAY OF PLENTY BEACON Published. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, DEC, 15, 1948 OHOPE SCHOOL

There are three pre-fabricated classrooms lying at Auckland, ready to be erected to provide a muchneeded school at Ohope the moment a suitable site can be agreed upon. Two sites have been considered by the Auckland Education Board which agreed that one, a small picnic ground offered for lease from the Ohope Domain Board, would be suitable- for its purpose. Yet, in spite of a petition carrying an impressive number of signatures, sent to the Minister of Lands dated October 26, Ministerial approval of the proposed lease is still withheld. Why? Ohope is well served for picnic grounds, and the area in question is directly opposite the extensive area known as the Caledonian sports ' ground and adjacent land which may soon be vested in the Ohope Domain Board. The picnic ground is rarely used as such and is likely to become less used with the opening up of the main Domain opposite. -' There is no, comparable site for temporary schopl purposes on the whole beach allowing, as* it would, the use of the main Domain as a playing ground and avoiding the use of the beach. The acquisition of privately owned land, involving as it _ probably would the invocation of the Public Works Act, would be a lengthy process and would seriously delay the establishment of the school.* Nor can any privately owned land in the present settled portion of the beach offer the same facilities for playing areas. The present proposals are temporary only, as the Education Board has in view the. acquisition of land for use as a permanent school site when the development of Ohope makes this practicable. That picnic ground is not and never. has been popular enough to be regarded as an important public utility. Certainly no one could regard it as being of more service and greater importance to the community than a school which would handle 80 or more children and, by so doing, prevent further congestion at the already over-crowded Whakatane school. Moreover, the Domain Board is anxious to co-oper-ate. Though the Education Board’s architect turned it down on account of its messy state after the biggest flood this district has, experienced for 30 years, there are still sound reasons to believe that the Caledonian sports ground could provide a practicable alternative if the picnic, ground site turned out to be unobtainable. . As far back as 1936, parents were agitating for a school and, though a petition of that year to the Education Board was turned down on account of the policy of consclida*tion of schools then extant, the present side school was finally established, in buildings kindly made available by the Presbyterian Church.

However, it has long been realised that from all points of view the existing arrangement is far from satisfactory, and that the obvious answer to the problem is a properly housed and constituted school catering for children at least,to intermediate standard. The Education Board has accepted that view, and is prepared to act. But, if a site cannot be found to erect the buildings, then there is a very real danger that Ohope -will find itself without a school altogether, The alternative is to take all the children to Whakatane by bus, a plan which has rpany drawbacks and ho obvious advantages.

Knowing all this, or most of it, Ohope parents are still too apathetic to be prepared to do anything about it themselves. That is the only conclusion one can draw from the fact that only ten turned out to a meeting called on Saturday night by Mr F. G. Cutler, the Ohope member of the School Committee, to discuss the problem and possible action to solve it.

Still, those ,who did attend were, reluctant to believe that ’ things were as they appeared to be. They decided it might possibly be that the meeting had not been sufficiently publicised, that parents had not fully understood its importance. So they decided to call another meeting, which is to take place at the Church Hall tomorrow night and which it is hoped will be much better attended. The idea is to form a Parents’ Association which will be able to throw the full weight of the parents of Ohope school children behind any action that is deemejd necessary to get early and satisfactory action from the authorities. There is good reason to believe that firm, concerted pressure exerted in the

right quarters now will be able to bring about the establishment of a school next year. Attendance at tomorrow night’s meeting will indicate whether the parents want that or whether they are too apathetic to care whether their children get the best possible educational facilities or not. It cannot be made too clear that any action taken must be strong action by a strong and determined body of people resolved on getting results. If this chance is allowed to slip by, it might mean that the question of a school for Ohope will be shelved indefinitely, even permanently.