The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1868-01-13
The Public schools and .sR.c.,

i AN&tt0FS 4Ettetttqencef
There are one or two points in the
communication, of nW.. O." which II
may be proper to notice. 1t seems III y
the worthy School Commissioner. wbo
'oy the way, was conveniently absent
from the two meetings at which the az.
pedtency of the readoption of Art, Sfh
Eot the General Rules was CIiscuEsnrl'
comedies that the bylaw is, in itseIf
put slightly Questionable, his only OBJ.
Il lection resting against the last clause.
which requires that parents who bayn
L allowed their children to be absent from
| school five days during any Fconsecn-
tive four weeks, for any. other canse
| than slcknessI shall, satisfy the Super-
lntendent that the absence was necessa-
4 ~. speioEe, said children can return to
Il scnooL., NOW the writer does not In.
tend, at this time. to enter upon the
discussion, pro, or CON- of the neces-
sity OF such a rule. Educators and
school authorities all over the country
nave passed upon this matter, and this
Is suhctent. The object of this com
nqnlcation is to point ont palpabIe
ms t1tnMls5representation in the article of
Ms C.ty which is probably the result
OF careless reading, and not of design.
In referring to the absentee Rules
adopted by the school authorities of
olhef cities, and which appeared In the
1NTRLhIaENCRR of Friday, ttW. C.s,
makes = use OF the following remarkable
assertion: I'm not one of the pLuces
named, ereal Boston, Is 1t conpste5lt ToS.
ne tSttpeTinte' to suspend fhe Ti06t OF
otte4tadAce, but is the province OF fhf,
sub-commtttee,H Now it would seam
that even a casual reading should have
been suihctent to prevent SO egfegious
q mistake. In eight of the thirteen
cities named, Cleveland, st. Louis, De.
troit, Springfield, Chicago; Toledo, San
Qusky and Wheeling, is it made the
special province ofthe Superintendent
10 re-admtt or not, according to the cir.
cpmstances of the case.
Let 1t be understood that the presant |
superintendent of the Wheeling schools |
would gladly consent that the local
commissioners or the Board of Eduoa-
ton shall exercise the authority in this |
important matter, which the Board |
nave thought proper to delegate to him. |
1t Is certainly no pleasant or desirable
a matter TO hold conrt.' daily over nn.
ruly urchins who have, with or with |
out the consent of their parents. nn.l
necessarily absented themselves from |
scnQol. But are the local commission |
efs disposed to take upon themselves |
TINS trouble and responsibility9 It is |
presumed not. Andso far as relates to
the trou ble to which parents would be
snPlseted, Is It not probable that it
would take vastly more of their time To |
nnnt up three men, whose business NAV
pe mere, there or nowhere, than to walk /
10 the Office of tho Superintendent du-
ring Office hours2 And suppose the
BOARD attempt to act upon each case.
Inc meetings of that body occur once a |
month, and it might not nnfrequently |.
happen that pupil might be suspended |
rom school during nearly or quite a
Inu month awaiting the action of the
Board in his case. Furthermore Il
would often happen that the entire time
OF meeting would be occupied In the
hearing of such cases. But more has,
peen said than was intended when this
article was begun. 1t is by no means
probable, Messrs. Editors, that you will
pe vexed with anything further trom-I
this pen on this subject.