New-York tribune., 1886-11-15

VOMEN IN THE BOARD OF EDUCATION
Seven members of the Board of Education
will be appointed on Wednesday by Mayor
Grace. The custom has been to reappOnt
those whose terms of Office were about to ex-
pire. In general this is a good rule to follow.
The office of School Commissioner is not a
remunerative one, and its duties demand
good deal of time, which in New-York is
equivalent to considerable money. If wise,
conscientious men can be found who are will
ing to study the question of public instruction
and devote their time to its interests, 1t Is well
as a rule to keep them in Office for several
terms, regardless of their political affiliations.
This year it seems to be the duty Of the
| Mayor, in the closing weeks OF his term, to
| break this well-established rule in order to
infuse new life into the school system of the
city. Messrs. Wetmore, Devoe, Craw ford,
gchwab Perkins, Schmitt and Sprague, the
seven Commissioners who will leave the Board
| unless reappointed. have given no especial
| cause for criticism; some OF them, indeed,
have done excellent work for tho public
schools, but there is evidently chan ge needed
in the composition of the Board. There are
complaints about the methods of the Board
which ought not to exist. Regarding the
| justice of the charges 1t is not necessary to
speak now. The salary system. based on
| average attendance so far as the primary
| teachers are concerned and Of favoritism and
| influence so far as those high in position are
| concerned the apathy of the Commissioners
in:regard to the important,queston of industrial
| education OvercrOwding in some schools J;
| over study in Others-these are some OF the
matters to which public attention has been
| called many times, and which have not re-
| ceived the attention the position of those max
| ing the complaints entities them.
| Mayor Grace has the opportunity Of needing
the cry that has gone up to the Board of Edu-
| cation in van Men and women who have the
best interests Of the city at large at heart, and
| especially that one which relates to the educa-
| ton of nearly 100000 children, have united in
asking the Mayor to appoint two or more
women members of the Board. This is a
reasonable and just request and should not be
disregarded. 1t is said that nine-tenths of the
public school teachers are women 1t ia GER
tanly fair that two of the twenty -one Commis-
siOners who govern them should be women.
As to the question of fitness it must be said Id
all fairness that there are few men even in the
Board of Education who have given the time
that they should to subject that interests
every family, not to speak of every taxpayer,
in the city. 1t is undoubtedly true that there
are few women who have given it the attention
they should, but there are certainly two or
three who arc as we'll informed as the majority
of the men who meet in Grandst., and spend
hours in discussing matters which seem trifilng
to the casual observer and the Mayor is asked
only to appoint two or three women now. He
knows, or he can easily ascertain, the qualifca-
tions of those whose names have come before
him. The mum Der is limited and the Mayor
should have little difficulty in making wise
splectiOn.