Statutory Committees Part 1

Frank's memoirs

 

School Committees            

 

Between 1966 and 2010 I was a member of eight different statutory committees. By this I mean committees which are set up by Act of Parliament or which are set up by an arm of government which is itself controlled by an Act or Acts. 

The first committee of this kind was a school committee.  In 1966 a new school was opened in Mairangi Bay, a few metres from where we were living in Matipo Road, so Judy and Terry moved there. As part of the setting-up procedure, a school committee was elected and I was successful in becoming a member. 

School committees in those days did not have anything like the powers of Boards of Trustees. Most of the modern powers were exercised by the Education Board. But we did manage the funds for general everyday maintenance of the school grounds.  We were not allowed to discuss anything so important as the curriculum, or the way the teachers worked or the way the Headmaster did his job. I was strictly put in my place when I once inadvertently stepped over the line. Mr Clegg, the Headmaster, told me off quite sharply. 

From the beginning of 1971, Judy was old enough to go to Intermediate School. We were living in Takapuna by then, and a new Intermediate was due to open that year. I again stood for the committee and was elected. One of the other members was Roy Dixon, the famous yachtsman, who was elected Treasurer. Terry played soccer with his son, Chris, who also later made a name for himself as a sailor. 

The first question we had to decide was whether to have a school uniform. Half of the members wanted a uniform, and the other half were just as eager to do without one. We eventually reached a compromise, where we would have a general style, with four alternative materials, which the families could choose from. 

Unfortunately for democracy, the manufacturers were not co-operative and the ultimate result was that all the uniforms were made of one of the materials, so there was no choice at all. That was my first lesson in the realities of politics!