School Committee.

Huntly Press and District Gazette, Volume 3, Issue 6, 13 March 1914, Page 3

School Committee.

The usual monthly meeting of the Huntly School Committee was heldon Thursday night, when there ware present Messrs J. Ellint (chairman), T. Black, J. Fletcher, A. 11. Oca ry, R, G reenwell, G. T. Horvvoo: 1 , W. Jolley, and the secretary, Mr. E. A. Jones. The winules of the preceding meeting were road and confirmed. The Board of Education notified the committee that Miss Gertrude Palmer had been appointed assistant as from March cjst, on which elate Mrs Jones, “®the relieving teacher would be withdrawn. Circulars relating to the desirability of changing the school hours, and to the grants of free class and library books, were received. Mr J. Roberts, in a strongly worded letter, drew attention to the treatment accorded to his i little boy, fiye years of age, "who, after sustaining a broken leg, had to be carried home on the back of his brother, the distance being over a mile, and the road decidedly steep. He asked that full enquiry be made by the committee. The chairman stated that he fully appreciated Mr Roberts’ attitude, and understood the feeling by which he was actuated wlieu he wrote the letter now before the committee. Had the teachers, with a full knowledge cf the serious nature of the injury sustained, allowed the boy fb be taken home in the manner described, he might have used language as strong as that of Mr Roberts. The committee should remember that they were now in possession of knowledge which the teachers did not possess, and the prescience of knowledge after the event should not be allowed to obscure the question at issue. On hearing from Mr Jones, the secretary, that Mr Roberts had written to the committee he visited the school, and learned from Mr Kay what had transpired. It appeared that after the little ones had been dismissed for the day, the little hoy with pupils of a similar age hacjMfciined in the school that while playing or waiting in the shelter shed Roberts had either been pushed or had fallen from one of the seats placed there. Hearing the sound of crying, Mr Kay asked one ot the pupil teachers to see whit was wrong. The pupil teacher made enquiries, and finding the boy unable to walk she carried him into Mrs Sones’ room. He was placed on the table and the injured limb, which appeared to be swollen, was examined; but, as the little fellow seemed to be pacified and ceased crying when lie obtained possession of a toy lying on the table, the teacher naturally concluded that the'injury was not severe, and consisted only of a muscular sprain. Mr Kay, who also saw the boy, ■ and who believed that the assistant had correctly diagnosed the injury, became absorbed in bis class work, and hearing nothing further, naturally concluded that all was well. The shock he and liis assistants received on reading in the morning paper that tiie leg had been fractured, can be better imagined than described, and the apparent inhumanity was, and is, a c'auso of much, regret and deep sorrow. Mrs Sines thought it advisable to send the little fellow home under the care brother and another lad in 4 r after learning from the boy that he lived near the school. Had Mr Kay or any of his staff correctly diagnosed the nature of the injury, tiio sympathy that exists between teachers and pupils would have ensured a different mode of treatment. Teachers, though expected to have a knowledge of everything, were not surgical diagnosticians, and omissions arising from lack of high scientific skill should not be imputed as faults, nor should any deduction as to lack of sympathy or humanity be drawn from, an incident which was erroneously considered to lie one- of those trifling events which occur daily in every school. The chairman expressed his sympathy with Mr and Mrs Roberts and with the little fellow, a sympathy that extended to Mr Kay and his teachers who, he thought, bad been unjustly deemed culpable by those who were not in possession of a full knowled ge of the circumstances. Mr Kay was so profoundly sorry that sympathy towards him was not misdirected. These, the chairman said, were tiie facts of the case as far as he had been able to gather them. Mr Fletcher moved that the secretary be asked to convey to Mr and Mrs Roberts the sympathy of the committee, and embody in his letter the explanation referred to above. To the initiated it was difficult to decide as to the nature of an injury of the kind, and, though he deplored the manner in which the boy was taken home, he was of opinion that no blame could be attached to the teachers concerned. After Mr Jolley had seconded the motion, Mi Green '.veil spike in similar terms, and from hit own experiences as ono having a FirtAid certificate showed how easy it was to err. He spmpathised with the parents, and from what lie knew of Mr Kay and his staff he was sure thai had the nature of the injury been understood nothing would have been left un lone to m ike safe and easy the transport of the ia 1 to his home. Mr Black having expressed aimila# views, Me srs Jon s ant Geary, while imputing no blnm* to auyon • thought : > P“ aimak betaken to prevent. any future occurrence of the bind, though liow that could be dune, was a problem difficult of solution.

The motion, which was then put, was carried unanimously. Mr Jones moved that the head-teacher be asked to cooperate withthe committee in instituting classes dealing with First Aid, such classes to be conducted by one of the local docI ; and, in the event of these being instituted, that the Ambulance Society be asked to allow tiie class the use of their materials. Seconded by Mr Greenweli, tlio motion was carried. The head-master’s monthly report showed that the roll number for last month, was 346, and the average attendance, 30-1.20. Several small accounts were passed for payment.