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49
In order to comply with the requirements of the Education Board, two
Members of your Worshipful Committee, acting upon my advice, signed a
formal order directing the closing of the school for twenty-one days, of which
the following is a copy: —
" To the Managers of St. Botolph's Infant School,
" Bishopsgate Street Within, E.C.
"We, the undersigned, being Members of the Sanitary Authority for
"the City of London, acting upon the advice of Dr. William Collingridge,
"Medical Officer of Health for the said City, do hereby order and require
"the closure of the Public Elementary School, known as the St. Botolph
"Infant School, situated in Bishopsgate Street Within, in the City of
"London, for the period of twenty-one days from the date hereof, with a
"view to preventing the spread of Measles, and the danger to health
"likely to arise therefrom.
"Given under our hands this 18th day of June, 1903, at the Offices
"of the Public Health Department, Guildhall, E.C.
"(Signed) R. W. EDWARDS, C.C.,
"Chairman, Sanitary Committee.
" H. DIXON KIMBER, C.C."
EPIDEMIC GRANT TO ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.
The Board of Education announced that after March 31st, 1903, they would
discontinue the special epidemic grant which had hitherto been allowed to
schools in compensation for loss of income in any particular year owing to
the grant being payable on the diminished attendance while the expenditure
on staff and maintenance remain unreduced. The Board gave as a reason for
this action that the amounts paid on this head to individual schools had as a
rule been inconsiderable, and also that administration difficulties had arisen
in this connection. Your Medical Officer of Health reported to the Sanitary
Committee on May 26th, 1903, that there was an important principle involved
in this question, and that the change of policy was a bad one, inasmuch as the
Government grant is awarded on a basis of number of attendances, and as the
teachers are pecuniarily interested in the award it will now be in their interest
to discountenance closure of schools or exclusion of children on account of
infectious disease.
The Committee endorsed this view, and recommended that representation
be made to the Education Board with a view to obtaining their reconsideration
of the alteration.
This course, unfortunately, met with no success. The present "code,"
however, is provisional only pending the establishment of the new Education
Authority, which it is to be hoped will be sufficiently well organised to
deal with such a minor matter of administration.