The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1865-10-13

Proposed Amendments 10 the
School Law OF Vermont.

to be amended IN sections ana III,
by which the Board Of Education are
to recommend School
Books to be used in the district
schools in this state, viz Grammars,
Biographies, Arithmetics, Readers,
Spoilers, together with the Geog-
raphy and History Of Vermont,
but without giving to the Board
Of Education, or to the Town Superin-
tendents, any power to enforce said
which is to a great
extent disregarded
1t is respectfully submitted that the
remedy of the evils Of a great diversity
of textbooks in our public schools
and the consequent inconvenient divis-
ion and subdivision Of classes, ought
to be left to the discretion of the Town
Superintendent, as legitimately com
ing directly under their Jurisdiction
and control
The present provision of law on the
subject is not enforced 10y any penal
ties attached to its violation, and in
dustrious agents still labor to intro
duce new sets of textbooks, and in
the town of ST Adams, for instance,
the variety of school books and the
confusion and embarrassment thence
arising are as great as ever, there be
ing no less than five different spoilers
III single school; and the same evil
prevails in other schools, and in re-
spect to other books 1t is respect
fully submitted that the present law
on this subject is an unnecessary in
fringement upon n manifest municipal
right and privilege, and ought to be
repealed, and the power and duty of
directing what textbooks shall be
used in our district schools, should
belong to the Town Superintendent,
as in Massachusetts, New Hampshire.
Maine and other States. But beside
the tendency of the law to reduce the
Town Superintendent to CIPHER, /
have to say further:
,. In the second place, that there
seems to me to be deplorable defect
in our School Law in respect to the
compensation of the Town Superin-
tendent.
BY Section Q of tho school law, his
compensation is estimated by the
number of districts he has visited dur
ing the year, instead of the number o!
schools, as it manifestly should be
For an example Of the unequal and
inadequate compensation afforded to
the Town Superintendent under the
present law, | will state that in ST Al
bans, there are but thirteen districts
maintaining schools, yet there are
twenty-five schools, the Village OF
Grade district maintaining ten schools
the other twelve districts one each
I re Central district contains nearly
half o. the schools in town, and con
siderablv more than half OF the schol-
airs, or children OF school age. In the
Grade district tn, we are much great
er range and variets OF studies, IN
Guiding the Natural Sciences, tie
Higher Mathematics, the b'eek, Lat
in, and French Languages The prop
er superintendent of the ten school
in this district requires more time than
the due supervision Of all the other
schools in town.
But 10y law the Town Superintendent
receives only cone dollar for each day
necessarily spent in the discharge Of
his legal duties" and it is expressly
| provided that he "shall not receive
compensation while visiting schools
for number of days, greater than
twice the number of districts in the
town for which he acts as supern-
tendent.' Being thus restricted, he
is allowed but two dollars per ai,nun
for visiting and supervising all the ten
schools in the Grade district, while paiC
twenty-four dollars per annum for do
ing his duty to the other twelve schools
There is thus great inequality in re
quiring the Superintendent TO spend
as he must if he does his duty, some
two weeks every year in visiting ten
large schools in the Village district foi
the paltry sum of $500, notwithstand
, ing more than half of the labor o
school supervision must be bestowed
upon them, and then paying bin
S2I00 for visiting the remaining
twelve schools, the most of them small
, and backward, with only two shor
terms of school in year, whereas th,
Grade schools are kept up for tire,
terms, or all the year round, with ON
. ly suitable vacations.
Is it not an oversight that the Law
provides that the Town Superintendent
shall be paid for bis labor accordin.
to the number of districts, instead o
the number of schools, which he ha
visited? 1t is respectfully recon
} mended that in estimating and deter
5 mining the compensation of the Tow
, Superintendent, it ought to be base,
[ on the number of visits he shall max
5 to schools during the year instead G
+ the number of districts; and this
. recommended on the ground both G
. justice TO an officer so scantily and in
| adequately remunerated for his sci
! vices as the Town Superintendent, an
of good, sound policy with referenc
to securing a thorough, faithful, an
] efficient supervision of our schools.
q If it be good policy to require tina
half 80 tl.a col,,T. a.. d.. lnr.xa toxup