Insurance For A School's Kitty
Sydney Morning Herald
Sunday July 5, 1992
The principal of a rural NSW primary school plans to double as an insurance agent and sell car green slips to raise money for his school, but not everyone is happy with the idea.
Mr Rod Bailey's plan has become the talk of Currabubula, 30 kilometres south of Tamworth, and has split opinion among its 180-odd parents and residents.
The school, which is run by the entrepreneurial Mr Bailey and one other teacher, has 43 pupils, many of whom live on wheat and cattle properties. It has two classrooms - one for Kindergarten and Year 1, the other for Year 2 to Year 6.
For Mr Bailey, the decision to sell local drivers the third-party insurance green slips and donate his commissions to the school has caused more trouble than it is worth.
"I am acting for Mercantile Mutual," he said. "I approached them, they didn't approach me. I thought they were the cheapest and the commission money could go to the school.
"For each green slip we sell, the school gets $10 or $15. We are trying to build up a small reserve of money so that if anything unforeseen happens, we have a kitty.
"We didn't want to upset anyone by doing it ... now, I've spent more time on the phone talking to people, the press, about it than I have selling."
Mr Bailey said a clerical assistant would process the green slips and that no teaching time would be lost through the venture.
But a P and C member, Mr Keith Mutton, believes there is a philosophical principle at stake.
"I am not criticising the school; I support it actively," he said. "I simply have a major disagreement with a system that can spend lots of money on bike raceways and then encourages schools to become commercial to raise money
"That kind of thing will create big imbalances for the smaller disadvantaged schools that don't have wealthy and influential parents to raise money for them.
"How desperate is the education system when those administering it have to sacrifice teaching time for a few extra dollars? What next? Schools as agents for Telecom, travel agencies ... the sky's the limit."
Mrs Ann Sims, president of the Currabubula Primary School P and C association, said Mr Bailey's plan was first outlined in a newsletter and that the majority of families "didn't think twice about it".
However, a short time later some objected formally and the issue was put to the vote.
"This motion (that the school should not get involved in the agency) was defeated three to eight," Mrs Sims said.
"We support and are very proud of our principal; we are defensive of him and the enormous time, energy and effort he has devoted to the school.
"I believe that it is a great shame that we have to grub around for dollars, but that is the reality and you have to be pragmatic ... there is not time any more to fight the moral issues."
The debate has also reached the pages of the local paper, The Northern Daily Leader, with vehement arguments raging in the letters columns.
Mr Frank Fisher, assistant director-general of the Department of Education's North West Region, said that Mr Bailey's plan was "unusual".
However, the issue had been put to a vote and local parents supported it.
© 1992 Sydney Morning Herald
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