Swim Costs More Than Two of the Rs
Posted on: Friday, 9 May 2008, 15:00 CDT
By WOODD, Richard
A STRATFORD school claims it's costing more to teach its pupils to swim than to read and write.
Sally Rai, Stratford Primary board chairwoman, says new council pool charges will cost the 400-pupil school $12,787 next year, compared to this year's budgeted costs of literacy at $4700 and maths at $3000.
The swimming programme would have to be reviewed because of the cost. "We consider swimming an important component of our curriculum, but we do not consider it more important than literacy or numeracy," she said in a submission to the Stratford District Council annual plan.
Last year the council replaced its $50 per hour school charge to $1 per swim per pupil.
This amounted to a 400% increase.
For 2008-09 the council has signalled its intent to increase that fee per swim to $1.20.
As 50% of her pupils were from low- income families, paying it from school fees would be a real struggle, Mrs Rai said.
Stratford Primary and St Joseph's, the only schools using the pool regularly (three times a week) accused the council of penalising their children.
St Joseph's principal Rae Sullivan- Brown, said it coped with the last fee increase by reducing pool time and might have to do the same again.
"Not swimming at all is not an option. We are really imploring the council not to increase the costs to your local schools, " she said.
The annual plan says the school charge of $1.20 will be a substantial discount, equating to 50% of the public child price.
The swimming centre costs $423,200 to run, after deducting user charges of $70,000. This comes directly from general rates.
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(c) 2008 Daily News; New Plymouth, New Zealand. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: Daily News; New Plymouth, New Zealand
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