Los Angeles daily herald., 1874-02-26
9us Aneeles Alerald.
Letter from Compton.
COMPTON. Feb. 23l. Is


EDITOR HERALD:--I noticed COM
munication in your columns few DAYS
since, written from this place, giving
avery correct account of our weather,
mud, weddings, and in fact all the
news; but among other things, your
correspondent gave an account of
public meeting held at our school
house on the 18th inst, which, without
any intention on his part, is liable to
mislead those who were not present.
The meeting was not called to take
into consideration the propriety of in
creasing or decreasing the salary of
any public official; but was called by
one ofthe hooltrustees of this school
district, who declared his intention at
the time Of calling the meeting, to do
great many terrible things ut the
said meeting, but when the meeting
took place, he "arose to explain" and
resigned his position as school trustee.
That was all.
Such terrible fuss, with such ridi-
culous result, has never been known
since "the mountain was in labor and
brought forth mousse After the
business Of the meeting was thus dis
posed of, Mr.. J. e. McCOmas stated
that he had received from Hon. a.
Higbie a letter, requesting him to In
form himself Of the wishes Of the peO-
pie regarding an increase of the salary
Of the County Superintendent, and
communicate the same to him. The
teacher of the public school warmly
advocated the proposed increase of
salary, and endeavored to show the
absolute necessity of giving a salary
that would enable the Superintendent
TO devote his whole time to the super
vision of the public schools of the
county. He stated that in many dis
tricts there wasreally no supervision,
and the management of the schools
WAS left entirely to inexperienced or
incompetent teachers. The school trus-
tees seldom gave themselves any con-
Germ about the schools, so long as there
were no complaints, and when they did
take some little interest in the per-
formance of their duties, how few there
were who knew whether the teacher
was pursuing the most approved
methods of imparing instruction. His
argument was in favor of giving an
adequate salary to enable the County
Superintendent to devote his whole
time to the duties of his office and
visiting the schools of the county, but
majority of those present were OPP
posed to any increase of salary for any
purpose whatever. I fear have made
this article toe long already, but /
wish to add q few lines more. Under
the present system the County Super
intendent receives salary OF $500 per
annum; of course no one expects him
to devote his whole time to the inter-
ests of the schools, for that amount
1t would scarcely pay his travelling
expenses, and he must necessarily
pursue some other occupation. Mr..
McFadden, our present very popular
and efficient County Superintendent,
teaches school for which he receives
$1,000 per annum, making his income
from both sources $1,000.
Mr.. Peck, the Superintendent elect,
will probably teach school, unless
the salary OF his office is increased,
and will probably make as much as
Mr.. McFadden. ...
Now, sir, think the whole question
lies in nutshell. Is it not better,
and cheaper to pay the County Super
intendent a salary of $500, and OBJ
lige him to devote his whole time to
the duties Of his office, than to pay
him half that amount, and consequent
ly have no supervision of the schools
in the remote county districts.
Do you think there is one intelligent
parent In Los Angeles City, who would
wish to go back to the system of non
supervision Of the public schools that
prevailed there few years since. DO
not all recognize the fact that the
present high character and efficiency
of your public schools is due to the
direct personal influence and super
vision of DIR. Lucky more than to any
other one cause. Do not all see that
while he is Superintendent, an idle or
incompetent teacher can find no place
in your public schools :?
Now, it is just such supervision
that is needed by the county schools.
II is just what we demand as a right,
so that our schools may approach in
efficiency, in some degree, your ably
conducted city schools.
Yours respectfully, n. \. Il.