Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1874-02-28
CITY School Board.

|
Olson, S. T. Beach, J. s Beach, BurL', II p
kins, Kemper W heat, Wilmington. anu Whit
tlcsey, with the Superintend. ut Of Schoc $.
The minutes of the last regular meeting and
of the called meeting held Oh the 9th Instant,
we're read and approved.
Unfinished business being first in order the
report of the Special coumlttce on the Super
intcndeut's resolution looking to a gradual ln-
trease and grading Of the sd aries OF teachers,
was taken up, aud Mr. WHEAT, chairman OF
that committee, defended the report. There
we're, he said, slXLccn teachers III the employ
ment Of the Board. aud 10 Increase tie salary
| OF each $25 year, would add $500 lor the trst
year, $500 for the second, aud 80 On: until the
maximum was reached, entaiiiug ultimately an
| additional expense OF Two nr three thousand
dollars lie was aware that all the teach
ers were not OF first grade, but he hoped
they would ali become 81, and then his cal.
mate would be correct. He doubted, loo, the
power of the Board to offer rewards 10 teach
crs; be, as private Individual, mght lLcItas;;
the salary of an employee for the reason OF Il
long aud faithful service, but 1t was different
| hing when public funds We're TO be employed.
:;csides he believed it bad been arranged,
>nDe years ago, to tax real estate ccrtaln
.luunt for school purposes aud that amount
G. aid not, properly, be exceeded. He doubted,
to- whether an increased $25 year would IN
iuce teacher to remain ii he was offered 5 w
mure elsewhere for the next year; the ladies,
: at least, would marry =; and advance OF pay
would not retain them IN that case hen
teachers were 10 be elected last year, the Gu
perintepdent had said that the examination
was no test Of teacher qualifications though
he had thought it was; now 1t Was placed
\ toru r6 a tnrI Il
6 salaries Then, again, the trustees cauuot
: bind their SUCCESSORS; onethlrd OF the Board
has to he reelected each year, and no arrange
meut the present. Board may make can be- per
manent. 1t would b. far better to contlDue TO
ix salaries from year to year.
The Superintendent said that he was well
aware of the fnaucial difficulties which bcSct
the question, and he had framed his resolution
expressly to meet them. Had the committee
. simply said that it was incyped!eut to increase
: salaries now on account OF those ulthcu..ie les, he
should have couteuteI hlusef with having
done his duty III trying to secure m"re suit,
able compensation lOr the best teachers. and
have acuuiesced in its decision, but a. they
had evidently not understood his proposition
in the light he had Intended ii, and had placed
, him in false position before the Board aud
the community, he felt that II was Necessary TO
set himself right. In the first place, lie could
not see why it would be improper for The Board
to Increase salaries on the basis OF long service
He differed with Mr. Wheat as to the reason
the salaries of clerks, IL were raised from
year to year, it was not slmr y the llbeiallty OF
! their employers, but the regard OF those en-
blowers for their own interests which prompted
them 10 pay more to experienced than to raw
hands Did the Board think, Tor example,
that the services OF young man, equally well
educat ed With Mr.. j. S. Beach aud himself,
but who had never taught, would be worth as
much as theirs? He had taught tweuty->cseu
years, and be would be sorry 10 think that he
, Was no better teacher 20" tuau "heu ue oe-
gan.
Mr.. Wheat here suggested that the proposed
, plan would exclude experienced teachers unicss
they had gained their experience III the service
of the Board.
The Superintendent replied that such would
not be the case; under special circumstances
, the general rule could be departed from, espe.
:, ciay it its spirit was maintained. H. then
laid before the Board the schedule OF teachers
salaries in Baltimore, Newark, y. D.. Lowell,
Mass, and Terre Haute, lud., taken at rat
dom, he said, from among those III his Office,
all of which would show the custom Ut arrang-
ing salaries acc1rdlng to length OF strT;ce,i 10 Dc
almost universal lie, also, presented u list OF
| lnlTly-lWO CilicS, lSluR III hh!Sh iiS
had been able to ascertain the salaries paid,
showing that Alexandria paid far less for teach
ers of the same grade than any other MIR.
Wheat had entirely mistaken his meaning
when he had understood him to say that ex-
amiuations were Of no value; what he aud
others had said was, that ten per cent or 50,
more or less. was of little consequence, as the
iriyment Of different exanluers might make
that difference; but to pay teacher vino had
made eighty per cent only as much as Que who
had made tut twenty, as Was now done IN one
Of our Schools, was grossly unjust, a. We'll as
unreasonable As to the Board b.ing bound
forever by its action in liking salaries, he did
not entertain such az idea, but the establish
ment of genera! principle was necessary to
protect the trustees themselves from the I'M
pertuuities Of those who, without good reason,
might desire TO have their salaries Increased
because those of others were. The committee
had made serious error 10 its calculations.
According to his resolution an increase of $500
10 the pay OF principals would not, IN any event,
be made for eleven years. As to the Vice
PRINCIPALS, there were but two, and they re-
ceived now, one $6OO, the other $500. The
maximum being $500, it would take fifteen
years to reach it, and when 1t was reached the
additional expense would be but S45u, not
$500 as the committee had stated. As 10 the
assistants only TWO of them would draw higher
pay unless they improved, some of them very
greatly: and it would take nine or ten years 10
make the increase Of $3.50 which the commlt
tee had figured out, even if nobody should die
or resgu and, already, one Principal aud two
or three assistants, had resigned; most OF thtm
as MIR. Wheat suggested, to get married.
When one resigned, her successor would at
first get less than the present salary; 50 little,
if any, more money would BE- needed unlcs> the
qualifications of teachers improved, which he
hoped they would do.
Dir. Wheat replied that he was friend to
the teachers. and would be glad to give them
more if he could, and to discriminate also, but
he wanted the Board to keep all the power 1t
could 10 its own hands, aud tx the salaries
from year to year.
| Al InnIins said that one con III ion