Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1867-11-22
The Board of Education.
SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT.

Supposing, from some Indications, that
The Board Of Education were disposed to pass
over IN silence the statements affecting them
made by Secretary Adams in his last Annual
Report, or to meet them only before a com
mlttee Of the Legislature, we took the lber-
~ to say, that in our opinion they could not
by such a course retain the confde nee Of the
| peop,e Of the STATE. to the extent necessary
TO the best usefulness Of the Board. The
BoarfI. as We are glad to see, prove 70 be Of
the same opinion. Their reply, IN the shape
Of a SUIT Elementary Report, has been sub
mitted to the Legislature and We find it in
the Freeman. 1t Is dignifed in Its tone,
written in good temper. and appears to meet
squarely the points at issue SO far as they are
taken up.
The Board -ay at the outset, that Mr.. Ad-
ans has mistaken his relations to the Board.
The law which makes 1t his duty to act "by
and with tie advice Of the Board has
been C ns-rued by him to mean that it was
Z the duty Of the Board to az; by and with the
advice IF the Secretary. They add that if
/ bis Rcpor, had been made 10 the Board, as
required Nv law. the nee, s-i5y Tor this sup
Elementary roy IT would have heen obyiated,
as they {, nd thsu have incorporated It in
the original report. But they say " the re-
poit oi the late Secretary has never yet been
Iresc n,cd TO tie Board, even since it was
Frin ted " they proceed TO meet some Of Mr.
sd ms more important charges wiki fat
de- iials.
To the charge that tie Board acted with
undue haste in the important matter Of the
selection If the list Of schoolbo,ks. they say
that the Board had had tie books before
them for rhiee full months, and had given
them =. C, In, considerare. and protractet
ezaui 's;ion as Individuals, We suppose,
and no, e. a B ard-and that IN she final
d'ci-'on. The Board were unanimous in every
particular except one
7, the inumati,n that the majority Of the
Board hac made previous arrangement, by
which tn leading books had been decided
rplu bef )re the hearing at Waterbury. they
r.ils thf there was 10 such arrangement,
nor any attempt TO make such an arrange
aeni'-
20 The assertion tina, the gentlemen re-
pred co have agreed beforehand upon a lisJ,
voted uniformly together throughout. the
B'srs reply tina; they did not uniformly
vote together; and that when they did it
was not in pursuance of any previous agree
nent
To the statement mat the opinions Of
lsac ing teachers of the State in reference to
'he school books were disregarded, the
Bo sri say that the opinions Of the teachers
w Yeas diverse as those Of the Beard. and
Il at they took the responsibility Of decid-
ing, as the law made 1t their duty to do,
where the teachers disagreed.
To the charge of di=courtesy towards the
teachers in excluding them from the delibcr-
ations ofthe Eoard they say sit may be diff.
cult to believe that it was through his (the
Secretary's) influence, that the meetings of
the Board were private rather than public. Ii
is nevertheless true that in compliance with
his urgent recommendation, and ID opposi-
tou 70 the expressed wishes OF part of the
Board, 1t YVES voted that in the examina-
tion Of textbooks the sessions of the Board 1
will be conducted IN private This vote /
was passed on Monday, as appears of record
in the handwriting of the late Secretary, (
and when he, at noon OF Thursday, inform
cd the teachers that the Board would con-
duet their delibere tions in private, he H.
formed them not of new decision diseour-
tecus to them, and against which his soul