Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-07-09
BOARD OF EDUCATION.

The Board Of Education met last evening,
The Board heard Miss Mccormick as TO some
questions of transfers and gave her instruc,
tions in the premises. Superintendent Landes
fled lengthy document, complaining and
protesting against the conduct of individual
weakened his authority and encouraged in
subordination in the schools He complained
that Professor O. M. Adams had neglected to
| correct errors in his annual report, though
| often requested He reported also that he
| had suspended Miss Watson, Vice Principal
of the Sacramento Grammar School, for
maintaining ar attitude toward him which he
considered unbecoming iii subordinate. He
complained also of teacher, unnamed, who
! had refused TO attend to duties required of
| him and had given the Superintendent i'm
pudent replies He withheld the name be-
cause the party had III some measure apollo
| gized.
The Board resolved to take up the COM
plants as to Mr.. Adams and Miss Watson.
Mr.. Adams explained why he had not
made the corrections. He did not have time
until his return from San Francisco, and then
| found that the Superintendent Office was to
| be closed on the 9TH, 9th, 9TH and Sth. He was
ready to correct the errors. The Superin-
tendent said he would be satisfied with that,
and the matter was dropped for the time.
| Miss Watson then made statement. She
had treated the parent of the pupil courte-
ously. She bad an order from the Superintend-
ent TO examine pupils applying FOR admission
and assign them to the proper grade. The pupil
in question was examined and found 60 be
| unfit to enter the grade named on the permit
of Mr.. Landes-the second grade The
/ Ill %..1I II
| the boy in a few months could enter the first
grade. She replied that he certainly could
not. Thursday she received notice that she
was suspended, but the notice was not signed
/ by any person, and was headed ssOffice of
the Superintendent, Sacramento" There
are three educational Superintendent in Sac
ramento and she had no right to assume
from whom it came lshe produced the letter.
and it bearing no signature, she, under adj
vice Of Mr.. Rowell, continued to teach dur
| ing the rest of the session. She admitted, on
| being questioned, that she supposed the order
came from Superintendent Landes. She
| supposed his order of Saturday last, to exam
inc and grade applicants, was continuing
| one.
Mr.. Landes admitted that in the rush OF
business he had inadvertently omitted to
sign the order of suspension.
| A lengthy debate here ensued, which was
full of feeling, as to the rights of the Super
intendent, and it was finally agreed that the
| Superintendent alone has the right to make
orders for the admission of pupils. 1t APP
peared that his permits contain a note say
ing that the teacher may, after trying the
pupil from one to four weeks, suggest his re-
moval to another grade. This, Mr.. Landes
submitted, made the permit flexible and gave
| the scholar fair trial.
Mr.. Rowell, Principal of the school, finally
interposea and said he was responsible for the
act of Miss Watson, and he would not shirk
it, as the permit was addressed to him. He
supposed the order to examine pupils was a
continuous one and not for one day, and
hence the action.
Mr.. Landes replied that it was intended
only for the day on which it was given.
Mr.. Rowell said the Superintendent left
signed permits in blank for him to fill out,
and perfect blanks for him to sign the Super
intendent's name to, "per Rowell.
Mr. Hornblower held that the Superintend-
ent was wrong in delegating bis authority,
! that the teachers were wrong, and in fact all
hands wrong.
Mr. Tracy thought the Superintendent
wrong in not going to the teachers and finding
out why he had not been obeyed, instead Of
| filing complaint on statements made by q
pupil and its parent, the other side not being
heard.
Finally the Board reinstated Miss Watson,
and the matter, after long explanations and
much talk pro and con-, involving the law,
the forms of permits, the duties of teachers,
etc, was dropped.
| The SCHOOL exchange" question was
next taken up. A communication from
Washburne & RedmaD, NJ. r. Beard & Co.,
H. S. Crocker & Co. and S. Morris was re-
ceived, complaining that w. A. & G. S.
| Houehton had put slips of books needed by
pupils in the schools, to be filed cut by
teachers for pupils. and directing them to
| buy Of that firm. They asked that such slips
he rejected, and only slips used issued by the
Board.
w. A. Houghton made a statement to the
| Board, saying that he had issued the slips by
consent of the Board, and with its full per-
mission. The Board agreed that that was
the fact He said also he was the represent
alive of the publishers with whom the Board
| had contracted, and who had filed a bond,
and the Board agreed that that was the fact.
| Mr.. Houghton said he had kept the letter
! and spirit of the contract, ano if not, the
bond could be sued en-. lie had telegraphed
TO the Harper Brothers, and got new and
more favorable concessions as to exchange OF
Biographies. lie explained at length the
difficulty Of making people understand what
old books are to be exchanged for new ones
at introduction rates, and said he was adher-
ing to the contract, which he believed to be
one in the interests OF the people.
| The Board granted the request OF the pc
| titioners, and ordered that all publishers
| slips be kept out of the schools and that the
/ Superintendent print slips giving the con-
tract prices and o list of what old books may
| be exchanged for new ones at Introduction
rates.
! The Board fixed the salary of the Second
| Assistant of the High School at $50, and re-
| solved to elect TO that position at its next
regular meeting. 1t also ordered that the
| Superintendent and Principals transfer II
pupils from the first and 16 from the third
grade at the Capital Grammar School to the
Sacramento Grammar School.
A petition was filed asking that Mrs. i. II.
Wells be given position Of Assistant Princi-
pal or first grade teacher in the Capital
Grammar School. Miss Roberts, late a
teacher in the High School, applied for a
position in the department. Mr.. Adams re-
ported I06 scholars lie the High School-52 in
the junior, 81 in the middle and % in the
senior class. Mr.. johnson of the Capital
| School complained that the Superintendent
had issued a permit to boy for the second
grade when he had failed last term in the
third grade. The Superintendent explained
that he had reasons for giving the boy trial,
which he deemed just.
| Mr.. Tracy said there were several cases o.
pupils who had failed in grades and then APP
Piled for permits to enter the coveted grade.
The Superintendent said pupils might de-
ceive him, but he tried to find out all such
cases, and the truth would always soon be
known and any possible deception punished.
After some business concerning routine
matters, the Board adjourned.
THE ARMY WoRN.-It appears that in
some other portions of the county the army
worms are equally destructive as those near
this city. A. Menke, a prominent hop grower
residing at Patterson Station, was in the city
Yesterday, and from him it was learned that
the army worm has played sad havoc and
stripped every green thing from the fields OF
Messrs. Pritchard, Morton, Studeras. and
others in that vicinity. He was successful in
saving his hop crop from them. however, and
did so by digging entirely round the heids a
deep triangular shaped ditch, with the base at
the bottom. In their movement upon the
ground towards the field The worms fell into
this receptacle, and as they could not get out
again it was 1.-THE last ditch to them, and
they persisted in untold numbers. He de.
scribes the worm as from two inches to half
an inch in length, with slate colored sides and
a black back, and also says that their breed
ing places seem tn be in the low alfalfa fields.
They leave nothing green behind them when