Name:     Rebecca Koberstein	Profession:     School Principal
Relationship:	Country:     New Zealand
Wairarapa Times-Age, Thursday, February 13, 2003. Masterton, New Zealand. School funding doesn't please all 05 September 2005 By REUBEN SCHWARZ A government plan to spend $11 million on state-of-the-art computer networks for 300 small schools has met with a mixed reaction from principals, some of whose schools will be ineligible because they have already put together more basic networks. Eketahuna School first installed its network seven years ago and has been adding to it since. So far it has spent $60,000 to outfit its school with a wireless and a wired network as well as Apple computers and eight laptops for its 130 students. Principal Rebecca Koberstein says waiting for the ministry to fund the network wasn't an option. "The children were going to be disadvantaged if we did," she says. "We hadn't had an indication from the ministry they were going to fund that sort of project and we didn't want to leave our students out from the educational opportunities." The ministry will pay 80 per cent of the cost for schools with less than 77 students, leaving each school with a bill of between $4000-$6500. For schools with between 77 and 187 students, the ministry will pay 75 per cent of the cost. LDC Elections 2005 Local Distribution Committee elections for the Community Organisation Grants Scheme (COGS) are held every three years and are conducted by postal ballot. Registered community groups can vote for candidates within their LDC area. A maximum of seven elected members serve on each committee (except the Chatham Islands and the Great Barrier Island LDCs, which have a maximum of five members). The following people were elected to the Local Distribution Committees in 2005: Tamatea/ Tamaki-nui a rua Jocelyn Morrin. Patricia Byrne, Elizabeth Fraser-Davies, Eva Wright, Maureen Smith, Alex Czerwonka, Rebecca Koberstein