" BACKSTAIRS " INFLUENCE. . ■ V'. ; -o '

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 582, 10 August 1909, Page 5

"BACKSTAIRS "INFLUENCE.

AND SCHOOL APPOINTMENTS.' •'' . 1 SOME PETONE OPINIONS. , , /ppi'taiii recent school . appointments in"' the 1 ctone district having been instanced as affording; an illustration of the facilities fox "backstairs' influenco, available under th< present system, a Dominion reporter made. T , some inquiries among' thoseinterested in '' local' education affairs, oh, the. general question of school appbintmonts. r; . i. ; The Rev. A.. Thomson, a. member of the Petone School Committee, aiid' chairman .of. the Petone Tecliiiical Board, said that he had' -. not come in contact with a great deal, of . : canvassing. Most of it, ho remarked, occurred at the Education Board, The only, I piece of Vstring-pulliug" he knew of was in' , connection with; a recent appointment : at. tho Petone "West School. Tho ooard sent in' a list of four names, and might, if it chose, ' send, in three or. two, but, ho held, it could J r not legally send in oni name, as that could not be said to form a "list"' as by tho. Act.. The board tins virtually had the power to make itsown choice. The principle upon which the Petone Committee had always acted was to solcct a local man, other things'being "For two of the 1 best ■ teachers we have," Mr. Thomson proceeded,, "wo had to fight- the board,, and the re- • suits, justified the action of ,tho committal in both- instances., I was told by a member of the board that his place was simply flooded by people'seeking his influ-' mice. If the board want to stop that kind * of thingj all-theyhave to do is to pasia. resolution to; theeffect. that • personal canvass will disqualify applicants tor positions. This would, be in',.the best'interests of the teachers and tho "board. ' are abso- : lutely ill. a state "of among" the teachers, and never beforo has there been such a feoling of discontent. Hero is 1 an instance of ..the way in which the board , acts: It professes to'desire to give all the teachers a chance of preferment, but at the meeting beforo last it appointed a, certain teacher first; assistant at the Pctonb West 1 School. ' Then tho board took it upon itself to appoint him immediately afterwards ix>. the .saijio .' position in" the Main School, and'only sent . one name to the' committee." T

Mr. J." 6. Castle, chairman of fho Potofia West School Committee, and a member'of the Technical 'Board, said"l am decidedly opposed to influence being brought to bear. ' on school .'-appointments, but I believe in choosing; a local man if his qualifications i-ra up to Eho Standard.; Or course, he should, not. receive: undue preference. : Canvassing. is rampiuit, but it should; bo held 'to . be'a' disqualification of applicants by boardiT and: ; committees.., It is so general in educational' appointments that .everybody who, seeks to improve his position'has to etart on, it-at.j once in order to got in', first.' I think tho i education .! boards .should make all appoint- . ments, as they have their inspectors to make a judioious selection of raitaole men, vrliilo. ■ the committees are not generally composed' l of exports in such totters, . and however,! > much they-may'desiro to-.do :right, they may do an' injustice;lt : seems«inevitable that this .canvassing, will; go on, but if -the ' boards were given full'control, some member of tho latter would be approached, and th<r applicant would not, have to do the .double work- of • interviewing, the ; committee; afterwards. Perhaps a scheme of classification would.mend. matters."

Mr. J. W. List, for five years a member of the Potono School Committee, stated that he was not aware of influence being greatly usod on liis committee, but he did not hold the board guiltless in this direction. As a remedy, he suggested disqualification, as the penalty for 'button-holing" members of. either boardsor comiuittoes. '\; , ' ' ' ' •.

I : Mr. D. M'Kenzie, chairman of the Petone: School Committee, said: " I liavo been waited ■ i upon by a great number of teachers, asking { imo to support their applications,, but, of « course, it would be impossible (-in' order to bo ; fair to- every individual) to. give one parti- \ cular applicant my personal support. There- " fore, I refuse every time. It would bo a j blessing, if this trouble could bo put ,v stop! to. It would' give satisfaction alike to the" toaehing. profession, committees and board.' At present, ,when tho inspectors send in' a•, list, the hoard alters it, and there is no, satisfaction'given to anyone." A teacher's viewpoint was not without m-.' terest.- "The board," one of them said, ' " does not act' upon tho advice of its inspectors in the matter of appointments,"/ but is very amenable to . '.'wire-pull-' ing.' I thing tho committees are much le«8. biameablo for this defect;'they do not have ', tho same scope as tho other body, and, moreover, the board is usually constituted • by piiblic ,men. ' I do liot Agree with personal canvassing, but I see no objection to a committee having a look at,an applicant.' There-., should be no canvassing after tie names havo r bocd sent in to the committee. As a system " of malcing appointments, I would rather nee an appointment board, to consist of the inspectors and a member of tho Educatiom Board, set up; hut; of course, the committees' think they are tlio: parties-most interested."