New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-10-16
THE SCHOOL QUESTION.
The Old Municipal Wards Abolished BY the
New Charter.

The Old Municipal Wards Abolished BY the
New Charter.
We have received the GLOWING opinion
on the school question from well known
member of the bar in this city.
NEW ORLEANS, October Ia, 1870.
EDITOR REPUBLICAN,:
Seeing long letter in the REPUBLICAN
this morning. from Attorney General Bel
den on the school question" l am re-
minded of promise made to myself OF
making to you few suggestions on the
question, and put the same in writing, that
you may make such use of them as you
Sc: fit
The only difficulty in the way is found in
the last clause of the last sentence of sec
ton 81, and in sections Sc, 81, So and SO of
the school act. Although the school act
No. g. of the extra session of 1870, was
adopted the same day-March IS, l91O-as
the new city charter. act No. Z, it is
evident from the contents OF each, and
fully proved by the journals of the two
houses. that the sections above referred TO
were enacted in view of the provisions of
the old city charter, and that they are Re
pealed by the new charter, act No. !.
In the first place, it was impossible
for the ward boards to have been legally
appointed for the very day the law. act No
6, was approved, all city wards in New Or
leans and Jefferson were abolished by the
approval of act No. !. The Attorney Gen
eral properly says: Wards, as subdivisions
of the city, are defined by law, and can not
be the subject of the slightest discussion"
but improperly. that ''thc representative i'll
both houses of the General Assembly is by
wards in apporticnment. and which are de-
fined by legislative enactment" This is not
correct. The appOrtionment Of representa-
tivcs is by districts not wards, and are by
separate legislation as to boundaries. Wards
were established by law for the election of
aldermen, and they are not identical with
districts. The Tenth Representative Dis
trict of New Orleans is not the tenth ward.
while, therefore, the boundaries and exist
ence of representative districts remains,
the wards Of New Orleans and Jefferson
ceased 10 exist, with existence Of their old
charters-and on the very day the school
law was to take effect There could then
have been no legal selection of ward boards
for there were no wards.
The action in choosing Ward Boards, be-
sides, shows this inconsistency. If the law
creating wards in the city still exists so far
as the schools are concerned land it can not
for moment be pretended that they exist
for any other purpose), they are. as the At
torney General says, defined by legislative
enactment" ''by law. and can not be the
subject of the slightest discussion" What
are they, then! The City of Jefferson, now
part of the Sixth District, had fire wards,
and that portion of the parish of Jefferson
between the cities Of Jefferson and Carroll
ton. had two Il think Police jury Wards.
Have the City School Board made appoint
ments for these seven wards composing the
Sixth District, by the law as it was on the
sixteenth March, 1870! There is but one
Ward = Board for the whole Sixth District,
composed before the charter of seven dis
tinct wards. If the Sixth District, COM
prising seven wards under the law the At
torney General invokes is but one school
ward, why are the other divisions of the
city, as now made by its charter, sub
divided into more than one school ward
for each district.
My opinion would be that all wards being
abolished in the parish and city of New Or
leans at a date subsequent, in the process Of
legislation. though simultaneous in the APP
proval of the acts, that the provision for the
Ward Boards must he considered repealed
by the provisions of the new city charter
abOlishing wards, or, at the worst. that the
school wards must be coterminous with the
six districts and there be only six school
wards. The remaining provisions of the
law, that relative to public schools in the
city of New Orleans, are applicable to
either suppostion and sufficient to main
tain an efficient school organization IN this
city. LEN.