The Functions of School Committees.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4660, 28 February 1894, Page 3

The Functions of School Committees.

(To the Editor \V. D. Times,) Sir,-la a recent issue of your excellent journal, criticising the aotiou •' -of the Education Board, the following sentences occur. Wo wcia talking to a Canterbury teacher the other day, who informed it 3 that down there Committees have functions el somo importance. They pay teachers their salaries, and when a vacancy ocours tho Board meroly roporta to them what applicants arc qualified for tho position. From the above statement one would naturally infer that tho Comappointihe teachers. This is The Committee Mr omy select from tho number of Applicants forwarded by the Board, But if tho seleotion does not meet the Views of tho Board, what tbon ? Why, the the action of the commitlwnd proceeds to make its own appointment, an appointment which cannot bo set aside by anything the committeo may do to the contrary. The Education Act is so framed that tho sole tight " to ap> point," "removo," or "dismiss" n teacher rests with the Education Board, and very wisely so, There may be exceptional or isolated but speaking generally the power of tho Board is unquestionable,, The question of "consulting the committee," upon which so much stress has, from timo to time, been laid, is, to tho initiated, one of mete foiiuality. To V the Boards have Ken given the duty I of administering the Act,. You canl not blame the Bitards then for the due exercise of their legitimate functions. The fault, if any, is in the Act iis-lf, and not in the administration of it. Then if thfre are persons who feel aggrieved,as no doubt there are,why not, instead of acting childishly, like the Kilbirnie Committee the other day, agitate for the repeal, or such an amendment (if the Act us may suit their cases? What g.iol can result from a committee loaning in a body and throwing the onus on tli3 Board to elect another in its place ? Such action is nothing tnoro nor less than suicidal to the best interests of education, as it deprives the said committeo of tho privilege of taking any part.in any future discussiou of the r question which may arise. Whatever may be the outcome oi such proceedings, there is no getting away from the fact the Boards ore wholly responsible for the Quo administration of the Act as it is. The relation oi' the teacher to the Board is precisely tho same as that between master and servant. If the servant should not Bait the master, he gives him due notice, so with the Board. The Board pays tho teachers, therefore it is only reasonable that the teachers should bo under the entire control of the Boards. Again, as regards tho payment of salaries, your informant must be in error, or he mnst have studied the question very superficially. Committees do not pay teachers their salaries. They are, in those very few districts where the system prevails, only tho medium or channel through which tho cheques issued by the Education Boards reach the teachers. And a more unsatisfactory system could not well be devised, TJnder this system teachers are often weeks and months without receiving their wellgarned salaries, and in lioany instances teachers liave beon debarred tho pleasure of a holiday by tho non-arrival of their cheques. Thank goodness such a system does not find fuvour in Wellington. In the Wellington District teachers receive their cheques direct from the Board, and with such punctuality as to at all times be ablj to use them to the best advantage. Committees then do not pay the teachers in Canterbury or elsewhere. One might as well just say that in Wellington the Post Offices pay the teachers, because the cheques are transmitted through tbem. Aud it is to dispel such erroneous impressions these lines have been penned by— Yours, ete,, ; Experiesiia, | Mount Utopia, Feb, 26th, 1894,