Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1889-02-01
THE NEW SCHOOL LAW.
The Duty which Rests ON the People
Get Good County Supervisors.

llsueu laws OF tue late seSSlOh VI Jul
Legislature, it seems to me they are
fully up to the average good sense OF
legislative enactments. The new
school law regard as great improve
ment; il retains all the good features
of the old law, it retains the old, long
tried and popular district system. it
Furnishes none OF the inhabitants Of an
old school district by reason of its hav-
ing less number of scholars than for. |
Ineriy.
Its system of county supervisors
regard as especially valuable. In fact,
think the new school is all right pro
vided the new State superintendent, |
and the county supervisors, yet to he
chosen, prove, on trial, to be the right
men for the places they are chosen to
fill. The State superintendent of ed
ucation should not only be a man of
enlarged and liberal education-he
should be also a man in love with his
work, man enthusiastic il his call
ing, and one capable of imparting the
right kind of enthusiasm to others,
especially to the county supervisors
and prudential committees, and to the
teachers in all the different school
grades in this State. lie should be a
man more in love with his work than
with his salary, a man who will strive
hard to make his office success-a
success that will manifest itself in
constantly increasing growth of inter
est in the schools of the State, by the
people at large, and a manifest i'm
provement in the schools, and in the
enthusiasm of the teachers and in their
| increasing love for their work.
Such a man was John S. Adams, a
graduate of Vermont, and for several
years our State superintendent of ed
ucation Tor rather the secretary of
the Vermont board of education" as
he was thus denominated-but hold
ing the same relation to the educa-
tional interest and schools of the State
as the State superintendent bears;) he
was man of thorough education, of
great eloquence and energy in his high
and important Office. lie made his
Office "a success, he impaired to every
teacher something of his own zeal and
energy. While lie held the office of
State perintcndent Of schools, we
had no poor schools in the State; he
was constantly on duty, he visited
every portion OF the State, and when
ever he was in town over night he de
liyered one or two public addresses,
His reputation for eloquence and re.
fined good common sense, drew the
largest crowds that any hall could
contain, and every man and woman
on leaving, after listening to his elo-
quence, went home in the full belief
and conviction that our common dis
trict schools were the very palladium
of our national safety-the corner
stone of republican freedom. Under
the administration of Mr.. Adams as
State superintendent of education,
Vermont assumed high rank as an
educational State. He seemed to i'm
part to prudential committees and
to both teachers and scholars the
same kind of ambition and desire to
excel, that the brave Sheridan impart-
ed to both Off GERS and men, as he led
them to success on many battle fields
of the war.
A responsible duty rests upon the
people in the selection Of the right
men for school supervisors for the sew
eral counties in the State. A county
supervisor should be man of liberal
education, man who will feel that
the Office is one of great trust and
responsibility; that upon the faithful
performance of its daties, will hinge,
in d great measure, the success, or
otherwise, of the schools OF his county.
1t is greatly to be hoped that no mis-
take may be made in the selection of
the right men for county supervisors
in the different counties in the State.
With the right man for State super
intendent and the right man for
county supervisor, here can be, /
think, no doubt, that the working of
the law will be entirely satisfactory.
To this end the different school dis
tricts of the State, should, at their
next annual school meetings, which
will occur on the last Tuesday in June,
instead of the last Tuesday in March,
as heretofore, elect for the prudential
committee man or men suitable for
the place-a man who feels an interest
in the education of the children in the
district, who will faithfully discharge
his duties as set forth in sections 81, So,
IS, and SO of the school law.
In order to make any school law the
success that the best interest of the
children attending the school require
that it should be, it is All almost in
dispensible requisition, that the voters,
both men and women, should take an
interest not only in the election of dis
trict officers at the annual meetings,
but should also feel and take an inter
est in the successful workings of the
schools themselves--a duty heretofore,
in many localities, sadly, almost
criminally neglected; frequent visits
to the school room. during school
: hours by the parents of the children