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EDITORIAL
A
Lifetime Of Service.
Friday last week must have been a
day of great joy for Ina loving,
for not only was she honoured, at a ceremony at the
T.O.R. Memorial School, when
one of the nation' highest
awards, the Order of Merit Gold
was bestowed upon her by the Governor General Dr, James Beethoven Carlisle, but it was announced that Mrs. Nathalie Hurst (nee
Francis), former student of the T.O.R., will become the
new headmistress of the school from today.
We
know that
Miss Loving
was delighted to
receive the medal, and was touched by the number of past pupils,
friends, and well wishers, that
turned up to witness the
ceremony. But we are sure that
what gave her the greatest joy was
the fact that Nathalie Hurst will
be taking over the job of
headmistress of the school.
In
our/judgement there could not
have been a better choice
or a finer candidate, for the
position of Headmistress of the
T.O.R. Memorial
School than Nathalie
Hurst, and Miss Loving can enjoy her retirement safe in the knowledge that the
school is in excellent hands.
It
is generally agreed that for the past 95 years the T.O.R. (Miss Robinson's
School) has been one of the nation's
premier educational institutions.
It has provided education
to all
with an absence of
barriers, and
at moderate cost. Few know of
the sacrifices that
Miss Loving, and before her Miss Nellie Robinson, and all the
teachers past and present, have made to keep the doors of the
school open. We shall give you an
idea.
The
total revenue of the school is about $165,000. Out of that the school
must pay property taxes, insurance, cost of repairs to the school, pay
teachers salaries, buy chalk, toilet paper,
cleaning material, school supplies etc., etc. The total enrolment
is just over 150 pupils, and the total government grant after 95 years of service to the community
is a mere $5000.
The
highest
paid teacher
at the school, with
over thirty years experience,
earns a mere $1100 per month. Truly a labour of love, and not of reward.
School fees are a modest $300 per term, if the school can collect it. In
short the school is in a very
critical financial condition, and
needs the help of the community.
We
are pleased to report that Miss Loving sought the
help of past
pupil, and
eminent lawyer,
Sydney Christian, to put
the school on a solid
foundation. Mr. Christian has devised a plan to place the ownership of
the school in the hands of a friendly
society, and that friendly society will
lease the school premises from
Miss Loving for a period of five years, with an option
to renew the lease 'for a
further period of five years. The school will
then have a breathing space of
ten years to put itself
right.
Mr.
Christian also persuaded the Government to second Mrs. Nathalie Hurst to
the school as headmistress,
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and to second a further two trained teachers to
the school from today - the start
of a new term. Further Mr.
Christian got Government to agree to provide training to those persons
presently teaching at the
school so that
they can upgrade their skills.
Government is now committed to the
school in a much greater way than they
were in
the past
and Education Minister Bernard
Percival should
be complimented for his
help and the speed with which
he acted.
All
this just
scratches the surface. The school has an
overdraft at the bank that needs to be repaid, it needs desks,
chairs etc. What the school needs is a benefactor, perhaps
several benefactors, who will delve
into their
pockets to help
the school.
We can
think of no more worthy
cause.
Of
course the fees will have to
increased from its present $300 per term, but that cannot
be done overnight. The
new term is already
upon us, but we
advise parents
to brace themselves
for at least a fifty percent increase
in fees
next term,
One final
matter that
needs to b« addressed, Miss Loving
has given her
life to
the school, other
teachers have too. What is their
future when they retire? Miss Loving
is not a wealthy
person. She shunned making money for service
to the community. it is time
for the community to serve
her. It is the duty of the Government
to provide Miss Loving with
a pension. Let
us all, with
one voice, tell
the Government that we want
them to provide for Miss Loving for the rest of her life.
She has earned it.
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OBSERVER EDITORIAL – SEPTEMBER
1993
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