Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1860-07-03


tie Board of Education. The practice
OF the Board, when it is proposed TO
change text book is to refer the matter
TO committee of teachers and supefln-
tendent who examine the new book COM
pare il with the old one and report back
| 10 the Board. This report is examined
! by the Beard Of Education, the differ
ences are looked into and if the utility
of the change IL apparent, 1t is made by
! order Of the Board. The committee know
/ of no better plan TO suggest than this
/ They believe the power Is where ii should
/ be and they have no reason to think that
| it has ever been iniudiciciously or i'm
! properly exercised.
! The next charge is that books are pur-
chashed by the board of Education aud
sold in the schools ut an advance and
that fayoritism, in this way, is not only
1 possible but is actually shown in practice.
There seems to be az. impression with
some persons, that a regular speculation
is carried on IN the sale Of books, by the
superintendent or some one else connect
ed with the schools. The committee Is
satisfied that this is altogether incorrect
and that great injustice has been done to
the man agement Of the schools ia this
matter. The general rule upon this sub
ject is to require parents to buy books
and they are left TO their own choice as
to where they are purchased-the schools
do not buy books, but leave that matter
to the parents and booksellers. This is
the general rule The exceptions to it
are trst-that INDECENT pupils who are
unable TO purchase, are suppliedat the
public expense. When class is about
To begin study, they are directed to
procure the necessary bGoks-it Is seen
by the teacher that some of the pupils
fail to supply themselves and upon in
curry he hnds that they are unable to do
SO. The teacher then sends an order to
the Superintendent for the number re-
CURED an he gives an order on Il book
stOre-the books are pnrchas ed, charged
to the Board Of Education and are dis
tributcd by the teacher among the indig-
ent pupils for whom they were intended.
1t Frequently happens that some of the
pupils thus Supplied, afterwards get the
money and pay for the books, which
money is handed by the teacher to the
superintendent and by him paid ever to
the Board of Education. In this way the
Board of Education sometimes get credit
III their accounts with the Superinten-
dent, for items Of Sc 50 $40 &c. The
reason why au account of stock or a reg
ular account current of these IN tiers Is
not kept, must be apparent from the bare
statement of the facts, the nature of the
transaction makir g it necessary to rely
upon the honesty of the teachers to ac-
count for these small sums thus received
Another exception to the general rule
against the purchase of books by the
school, is that in a few cases in making
changes in text books, the publishers
have proposed to take the old books in
exchange and furnish the new ones at
very small charge. Thus when the
Warren's Geogra phies were intrt duced,
the publishers agreed to furnish all the
pupils who had the old Biographies
charging in exchange Is cents for the
Smaller and 80 cents for the larger. The
retail prices of these books are 45cts and
81. The Board of Education in order to
save as much expense as possible in
making the change accepted the offer and
purchased quantity of the Biographies.
1t is not true, so far as the committee
have been able to learn, that any of the
Biographies thus purchased have been
sold 10 pupils at one dollar each or that
they have been sold at all except by way
of exchange for the old books as intended
when the purchase was made. A SINH
lar arrangement was made upon the in
PRODUCTION of Cotton & Fitch's Geogra-
phies 1t has been thought best for the
Board of Education to furnish ink, cray
ons, &C., to the school at the public ex-
pense. 4 lot of 'noiseless slates' was also
purchased and now constitute part of
the school furniture. The above shows
the character of speculation on the part
of the Board, the Superintendent, or
teachers so far as the committee could
ascertain.
The only suggestion the committee
have to offer under this head is that when
teachers send orders for books for indi-
gent pupils, they be required to give
the names of the pupils for whom the
books are intended and that these orders
be filed with the accounts of the book
sellers when they are presented to the
Board of Education.
The next charge is IN relation to the
financial tranactions and themanner of
keeping the accounts by the Board of
Education. The committee have exam
ined this subject and believe that there is
no department of the city government, in
which the finances are more carefully
guarded and the accounts kept with more
system and regularity than by the Board
OF Education. Every account against
the school department, except such as
are fixed by law, such as the salaries of
teachers, &C., goes through the following
process: 1t is first presented TO the Board
of Education at their regular monthly
meetings. If it is not known to be cor
rect by the members, it is referred to a
committee who examine into the facts
connected whit, and iffound to be correct
it is allowed and entered on the minutes of
the Board. The accounts and the books
containing the minutes are then handed
to the Recorder, who makes out a check
upon the City Treasurer. 4 memoran-
dunn of the check is kept in the check
book of the Recorder and when the check
is handed to the party entitled to it, his
receipts taken for the amount upon re-
caipt book kept for that purpose. The
check is then cOuntersigned by the Pres
ident of he Board of Education and pre-
sented for payment to the City Treasurer.
1t is afterwards returned and kept on
file with the Recorder, together with the |
receipt and the original account. The COM
mi.tee cannot see what additional guard |
could be thrown aroundth S plan, Howev-
er, the finances of a corporation may be |
guarded, it comes at last to this, that |
you must trust mainly to the integrity |
and discretion of auditing committees in
the allowance OF accounts. The COM
mIttee is we'll satisfied that the Board of
Education have performed this response
bic duty with the utmost good faith and
discretion and that the interests OF the
corporation have at all times been
guarded by them.
The next complaint is that the Super
intendent has too much power, to wit in
fixing the salaries of teachers, suspend
ing them, making changes in books &c
The Superintendent has no power to fix
salaries or make changes in books, but
these matters are entirelv under the com |