Ohakune role dropping

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 241, 26 April 1988, Page 3

Ohakune role dropping

A "dramatic" drop in the role of Ohakune Primary School may cause a reduction in the size of the teaching staff. Acting Principal Mrs Ellen Gould says the role has fallen by 41 pupils - that is, 14 per cent - since last April. It is now down to 242. Mrs Gould is uncertain whether the Wanganui Education Board will replace a senior fulltime teaching position. But one permanent teaching job will go at the end of this year. Even though she calls the drop in role "dramatic," Mrs Gould says it is working in favour of both teachers and pupils at present. The eight standard classrooms have an average ratio of only 25 pupils to one teacher. The junior school's ratio is even better, because of special staffing provision. Mrs Gould says the falling role coincides with a movement of families out of Ohakune.

The problem had its origin in the early 1980s with the restructuring of the Railways Department. At the same time many families were shifting into the area to work on the electrification of the Main Trunk railway. When work finished three years ago, a lack of jobs began an exodus of families from the community. Last year, families of forestry workers left as a result of job changes when the New Zealand Forest Service was divided among Timberlands and the Department of Conservation. She says the main problem is that Ohakune is becoming "unaffordable" to families with young children, because of the high cost of land and housing. Families were moving to Raetihi, where land and housing are "affordable." "The District Council has got to address this issue," says Mrs Gould.

By

Lynley

Ward