CANTERBURY EDUCATION BOARD.

Hokitika Guardian, 22 August 1930, Page 2

CANTERBURY EDUCATION BOARD.

CHAIRMAN ELECTED. CHRISTCHURCH, August 21. Mr W. A. Banks was elected chairman of the Canterbury Education Board at a special meeting yesterday. Tlie retiring chairman, Mr It: Wild, presided. Committees were set up by tie board as (follows:—Appointments, Messrs R. Wild (chairman), S. A. Evison, J. G. Gow, Stanley Smith and W. Johnston ;.buildings, Messrs H. J. Bignell (chairman), G. W. Armitage, J. W. Preen, W. P. Spencer, S. C. Thompson and J. J. Hurley ; manual and technical, Messrs Spencer (chairman), Armitage, Wild, Smith, Preen, and Hurley; Normal School, Messrs Gow ('chairman), Smith, Johnston, Wild, Evison and Thompson ; finance, Messrs Bignell, Hurley, Evison, Preen, Spencer and Thompson.

THE EDUCATION REPORT.

COMMENT BY BOARD CHAIRMAN

“Many of the recommendations show that the Committee has based its conclusions 011 incomplete information,” remarked Mr R. Wild, retiring chairman Of tile Board when tevieWiitg the report of the 1 Select Committee of Education at the annual meeting of the Board. He quoted several passages to prove his conteiitiu that the Committee had been strongly influenced, es* pecially- in its recommendations pertaining to centralisation of control, by the Director of Education (Mr T. B. Strong); •

In view- of the report having been unanimous-, said Mr Wild, it could be taken that the Government proposed to give effect to most of the recommendations in it. This being so the protests of Education Boards would not carry much weight and further action must come from the people. .Mr Strong had said in evidence that lie would abolish Boards as at present constituted, and the proposal was to make the Senior Inspector secretary .of the new one. Surely, the Senior Inspector’s responsibility was greater than that, and his training was for a different class of work altogether. If this were to be .done, then the new Boards would be merely branches of the central office in Wellington. He would like to see the new Boards representative of all the interests of the community. WHERE ECONOMICS SHOULD BE \ ; - MADE. If there was one place in which economies should be effected, it Was in the Department itself, I not in the Boards. Tlie report fihbWed that the cost of rUniliiig the Department - in 1900 Was £2500; ill 1930, exclusive of the salaries of staff inspectors, the Department paid out £40,402, while the Government grant to the Board for administration was only £39,150, though Mr Strong iji his evidence .said it was £61,000. The figures showed where the money was being spent.

EVIDENCE REFUTED. It was patent too, that one of the points on which the Committee had hau incomplete evidence was the appointment of teachers, when it stated that the grading list automatically controlled appointment. During the past three years the Canterbury Board had appointed 680 teachers, and of these 91 had not been the highest graded applicants. Moreover, they had found this had been much to the advantage df the schools concerned. This was a complete refutation of the statement m the report. Then the report alleged that Boards were overpaying their staffThis was a reflection on the Minister, who himself allotted the money to the Boards. Mr Wild thought that their staff should come under a classification scheme as did other Civil servants.

“It is easy to see that the Director managed the Committee when it made the assertion that Boards have to keep a staff to pay its salaries,” added Mi* Wild. “Last year we paid out salaries amounting to £360,657 at a net cost of £282. That disposes of that point.” SCHOOL BUILDINGS. Mr Wild said he would concede that each Board having its own architect was an unnecessary expense, though other members might not agree. In 1928 architects and formen cost tlie country £17,383; by retaining foremen only they would save £11,227. The report advocated school plans being drawn by the Public Works Department, but he was sure they would all oppose that. His own idea was for tlie Department to have an additional architect, who would attend meetings of the Buildings Committees for the various Boards, and prepare plans for new buildings and remodelling of old one to their directions. He was sure the Open Air Schools’ League would not approve the suggestion in the report. They must admit, however, that in the preparation of plans for schools there was a lot of duplication at present. Members: That is the fault of the Department, not of the Boards. GRADING OF TEACHERS. The report also proposed to abolish the grading system. This meant that teachers who were graded now Into 259 different classes would he grouped into six. it was not the grading system they had complained about for so long, but the way it was used. For years the Board had been vainly striving to got discretionary power in using it