Connecticut western news., 1879-12-31

Dec. I7, 1878, showed that our School Dis .rlet committee and teacher, H. M. Adams
 nao !ormeo combination in violation of on puoNc Tree school system, and it now appear
 that our school visitors are somewbat i,
 league with them and that our free school svs
 tenn IS entirely disregarded Now is there no
 remedy for such cases?
 The Secretary of the State Board of Et1uca.
 ton (blrdsey Grant Northrop) says, ia his re-
 port or January, 1879, to the Board of Edu
 cauon, :" 1t has been my aim to keep myseI,
 Well informed as to the present condition and
 worSifg or our school system in all parts oi s'e otaVe ana mus as far as possible meet To.
 cal exigences. A change of school officers
 some neglect or violation of school laws oT
 the adjustment of troublesome district dificnl.
 ties, often require visit from a representa-. | tive Of the State Board of Education. l nave often said that the agent or secretarv
 would have to go to the remotest town in the state where there IS need of such effort to en. force the law and reclaim a single child from ignorance and its consequent evils" Now that IS Ilght, and 1t encouraged me to seek counsel and help for our district against viola. on of school laws. stated our case to tbe state Educational Department by letter. but recelveo no assistance, not even so much as advice Then wrote to Mr. M. B. Toby the aSung school visitor, and received no reply. Inen l called on A. T. Roraback, Esq. A member ot our school visiting board, and stat. eo so nm the Tact ot my daughter's being de nieu instruction in school. MT. Roraback re- piled We only examined MT. Adams fthe teaeher) in the common district school branch es and that is all that we require of him.n I sad Mr. Adams has refused instruction to my daughter, in Philosophy and Latin.n Mr. h repheo We did not give MT. Adams ceruncate for teaching those studies and have nothing to say about it." Now then. if saems by this that the school visiting committee havetnothing to say about what is going on i'm our public schools. I want this committee to tell us where public school teachers get their authority and instruction for the manaeemen. ol thelr schools. The law says The School visitors s1aa prescribe rules for management, studies, classification and discipline of the public schools" Things are little mixed here l do not quite understand 1t. The school visiting committee has nothing to say about what IS done in this high school, so they say. so Mfr Adams, the teacher, acts his own pleasure. He goes into the intermediate scnooi ana sends scholars up into his school and then demands of them 25 cents A week tultion whether he teaches them anything but common school studies or not, and the school visitors have allowed him to do that, The district committee also allow him to do tbat and they give their order to him not to teach Latin or Philosophy to any scholar who does not pay him 20 cents week tuition. This is also little mixed. The teacher demands 25 cents week of every scholar in his school The district committee demand it only of those who study Latin and Philosophy. Now nndnPctonA h1,, l.
 tell me how MT. Adams or the district con mittee came possessed of any authority in this matter. Their claim always has been that the district voted that each scholar attending that school and living in this town shall pay 70 cents week tuition and that that vote was the law. Now then, this district has ney- CT undertaken to collect one cent ou the strength of that vote, but MT. Adams. the teacher has usurped authority, made bills in his own name for about year and half past and has collected them. Now if the district had right to pass such a vote (which I claim they had not) they did not and could not in any way authorize MT. Adams (the teacher) to step into and take the place of the district Tn this matter, neither has the district com mlttee any more authority in this matter than any other man in the district. They have no authority whatever for doing what they have done and are now doing. can view this mat ter ln no other light than method of swind- ing the children of this district. The law says we shdA have free schools, and no person of the district shall be denied admission to and instruction in said schools. The teacher and district committee openly violate this law and the school visitors sanction the violation. The law says "The school visitors shall visit such schools at least twice during each term " They have visited this school and have known all about 1t. They know that scholars there receiving nothing but their rights are forced 10 pay 20 cents week to the teacher They know that my daughter is denied instruction in Latin and Philosophy and that she is com pelfed to sit theredn her seat while her class- mates go up to recitation, which isto her very unpleasant Now what we want is simply | this: That every scholar in this district shall ] have their rights, that this school be estab- l llshed on more honorable and sure basis that | way shall be devised which will secure to | the teacher his pay without any violation of | law or rights. Birdsey Grant Northrop, Sec retary of the Board of Education, says, tPar. snts and guardians not sending children to school according to law, may be fined $5 % for every week of such neglect" This being 90, how much ought a teacher to be fined who refuses to give instruction to a child after ,hey are sent to school2 How much ought district committee be fined who commands eacher not to give instructiona How much nay school visitors be fined who sanction hese thingsf How much ought a teacher md district committee be fined who wickedly ake 20 cents a week from scholars? Give us little wholesome law on these points.
 P. 0. CUMMINGS.