Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1872-12-25
Board ofEaaeaIIOn InIeslIgallon.

II fiueatiou aud the SeeFoiary ihereai'
have made iheir report. Of HAiea the FOL-
losing is ihe substance:
AZ tho meeting the Committee Werc 81
present, AMI Governor Stewart Hon. McT-
nit CLARK. Hon. Bsuj. u. Steel, President
NJ. n. BucLham. Prot. GeoFge \. Weber.
aal Hon. ID. N. Camp, al the members
Of the Board except Mr.. Bisshan. Who
vas Dot present, but was present At a sub
sequeut meeting ofthc Committee. Johu
II. French, the Secretary Of the Board,
was also present No one appeared At the
mseling with any charges or complaints
against the Board OF its Secretary, but the
Committee felt it their duty to ii.icrrosate
the members OF the Board and the SscIe-
tary as 10 their proceedingn in the dis
charge Of their duties. aud did thoroughly
and intimately, as We think aud a three
hours examination failed 10 bring out a
single fact calling for cepsure, or such as
would even subject them to criticism. But
on the other baud it appeared that the
Board had discharged their duties with
fdslity. aud rs We think in every instance
wisely aad we'll.
A, the close Of the examination on the
Goth, ii appeared to portion Of your COM
mittee that no more time should be con-
sumel in the investigation, inasmuch as
thus far the Board aud its Secretary had
been fully sustained. aud especially as af-
ter notice no one had appeared to accuse
them. But as it had become known to
the Committee that sumo few teachers IN
the State differed in their opinion from the
Board to some extent in the recent adop-
ton of text books. also, that it had been
rumercd that some Of those teachers did
not approve Of the manner Of conducting
Teachers Institutes by the Secretary OF
the Board, it was on the whole thought
best to summon those teachers aud some
others to appear before the Committee on
the evening Of the 25th inst. This done,
the second meeting was held, and the
teachers so summoned were present.
1t appeared at the first meeting of the
Committee that at the Ggst meeting Of the
Board of Education, held at Middlcbury,
June Is, 1872, (all the members Of the
Board being present the Board made h
selection Of text books and authorized them
for use in the District Schools Of this State
for five years from Nov. I, 1873 In this
the Board made change in
portion Of the text books hitherto and now
III use; among which was change in Read
ers and in Arithmeiics The teachers
who appeared before us on the 25th inst.
all ,eemcd to concur that a change OF
Readers is necessary, but portion were
Of the opinion that the Analytical Series
we're preferable to the New American Sc
ries which was selected by the Board
Tho Arithmetics selected by the Board
were Trenches Series, and one or two OF
tie said teachers insisted before the Com.
mittce that no change in Arithmclics is
necessary. Mr. Dana of Rutland. while
he did not compare the merits Of French's
Arithmetic with Greenleaf's. the now in
use, claimed that IN teaching Arithmetic
principles are to be taught, and that one
Arithmetic, if a good one, is as good us
another, aud therefore no change is
needed
That part ofthe investigation which oc.
cured on the evening Of the 25th elected
simp this; That a few of the prominent
Teachers in the State differed in their iudg-
ment in regaid to the change made by the
Board of Education in small part of the
text books selected by the Board on the
18th Of June last; but from the facts
which appeared before the committee We
must End that such selections were made
by the Board after spending much time in
a careful examination of a large variety
of text books from different AUTHORSHIP
ter taking the opinion of the prominent
Teachers Of the State. and we believe
were made solely with view to promote
the best interests of education in the
State.
In making the selections of text books
it appeared that the board had taken the
mort scrupulons care to protect the State
from unnecessary oxrsnse, and had careful
ly considered every detail affecting the
question of the cost of School Books, and
had secured the State from loss and imro.
sition, by making the best possible con.
tracts with the publishers Of books, by
which they will furnish the Schools of the
State at the lowest terms obtainable, and
will te exchanged for old books upon the
most favorable terms, provided the parties
Interested will take the pains to avail
themselves OF the contract.
1t also appeared that the new list Of
text books is upon the whole cheaper than
those now in use. The Board has also
arranged for creditable additions to the
books to make them specially adapt
ed to Vermont Schools, and this without
additional expence to the State.
From the information we have, your
committee approve of the selection Of text
books made by he Board.
1t did appear before the Committee that
there had been someSdissatisfactior with
the appointment Of Dr. French as Secre-
tary of the Board, and it also appeared
that rumors had been ahoat to some extent
whice went TO charge him with neglect OF
duty at Teachers Institutes, as discount
eous to Teachers aud others, aud as max
ing money by bargains with book publish
ers, and ioisting his own series of Arith,
metics upon the Board. But the Com