PAEROA HIGH SCHOOL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5301, 18 July 1928, Page 2

PAEROA HIGH SCHOOL.

MEETING OF COMMITTEE.

ROUTINE BUSINESS.

The monthly meeting of the' Paeroa District High School committee washeld on Saturday night, the pha’rma.n (MT J. C. H. McDonald) presiding over Messrs. W- T. Power, W. C. Alexander, C. Holes, W. N. Chamberlain, C. T. Mettam, W. Perston, R. W. Lowry, W. L. Lawrence (secretory), and G> H. Taylor (headmaster). TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL.

A letter was received from the Minister of Education through Mr A. M. Samuel, M.P., r.etfeiTing to the deputation which waited on the Minister at Paeroa on March 20' last. Referring to the proposal that a, technical high school should, be established 1 at Paeroa the Minister, advised that he had received reports from officers, of his department, in which it appeared that there were .several towns, in a s'imilar position to Paeroa, and two at least, had aXprior claim in the opinion of the • department, which was supported by the recommendation of the Council of Education. At the present time there was, little hope of establishing any more technical high schools: in those c 7 ;:.tres, the in no cases leaching a-ything like the number required for the efficient conduct of a, school offering varied, courses of instruction. I,n the' opinion of the •Minister the district high schools could do all that was necessary until the numbers of pupils attending were much greater tha,ni at the present time. It was resolved to receive thei letter and to white, to Mr Samuel expressing thanks and appreciation for the assistance he had g’ven. DAMAGED SKYLIGHT. The committee’s action in havin.y repairs effected to a skylight which had been damaged during, a recent easterly gale wa,s endorsed by the; the board and authority given for the expenditure. 1 REQUEST FOR INFORMATION. A letter was received from the Te Aroha District High School committee asking for information as to the steps taken to secure a dental clinic at Pa.er.oa. The secretary reported that he had supplied Te Aroha with plans and specifications, with all informat’on that would be of help. The Stratford committee .wrote, on .the recommendation of the directortgeneral of the division of. dental hygiene, asking for particular* as; to how the. , local committee ‘ arranged finance to maintain its deintal clinic. In moving that the framing of a suitable' reply be left in the hands of the secretary, the chairmairsaid that it was gratifying to know that Paeroa apparently led the way in the matter of establishment and maintejnancel of a clinic. The committee had how been called upon to sjupply information to Waihi, Thames, and Te Arolia, a. s well the latest request, from Stratford. SUBSTITUTE ASSISTANT. The' Education Board wrote advising the appointment, of Mr C. L. Stewart as substitute assistant in p’a- e of Mr Worthington, removed. In reply to the chairman the headmaster said that he thought the committee should enter a protest against, the system of sending substitute teachers, instead of making permanent appointments;. The present system was entirely wrong, and anything but in the best, interests of the pupils or the teachers. Such teachers had no guarantee of a. permanency, and quite- often thacli to .stand, out of positions for lengthy peiriodsi. As a consequence the Inspectors did not have an opportunity of judging their capabilities, and grading marks were lost.

It was resolved, to write) to the board, entering a protest on the lines of the discussion,

EXTRA ASSISTANT.

The headmaster drew attention to the fact that , there was still a teacher short on the staff. The board had laid down that where a school was graded SC, such as Paeroa, the head teacher, should take a cla.ss. It had been pointed out to tihe advisory in spector that at a school where ■a, high school' department was attached. the practice, was; not workable in ' the best interests of the school. He said'that he was managing as best he could, but obviously, while he was engtiged with a, class, supervision of the school must neces/ sarilv suffer.

The secret,ary reminded the meeting that iin March last the board had advised that 'after obtaining a report from the senior inspector, it could not see its way to accede to tlie request for an extra assistant. The headmaster pointed out that for two years, the board liad established a precedent by supplying an extra assistant, the position being the same to-day, and tlie committee was only asking for what had been g,ranted previously. It was resolved to write direct to the chairman of the'board explaining tlie position. MAINTENANCE WORK. On behalf of the visiting; committee. Mr Chamberlain drew attention to the need for draining the disused septic tank and filling it in. The matter was left in the hands of the chairman and secretary with power to act. CONVEYANCE OF PUPILS. A letter was received from the board acknowledging receipt of a tender, at. 15s per return trip, for thq conveyance of children from tlie Net'herton-Awaiti-Puke districts to Paeroa school. The board advised that it had given, the matter the fullest consideration, but regretted tha.t it was. unable to authorise the ..acceptance of the tender. The Government scale of allowance for conveyance to schools where the distance of the children’s homes was less than five miles, was, at the rate of 6d per return trip. The board had agreed to contribute towards, the cost of conveyance, and was prepared to •a.uth'onise the payment of an allowance not exceeding 9d per pupil, per

school per day* After some discussion the matter was deferred until the August meeting, and the secretary was instructed to interview the local tenderer and Mr J. W. Silcock, who had brought the matter forward during the time he was: a member of the committee. FINANCE. Accounts to £2B 10s were passed' for payment, leaving .a credit balance' of £4 5s 8d in the school fund account. The matter of obtaining payments from the Karangahake and Hikutaia school commitees; towards the maintenance of tlie dental clinic was left in the hands of the chairman and secretary, with power to act.