The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-05-09
THE RATTAN RULES
Principal WyCkoff's SEN
Sationa1 Crusade
Against BaYonne
TruancY.
LAW FOR THE PARENTS.
Fines and Reform School Threat.
ened-Better Attendance and
Better Discipline.

The enforcement OF the truant act il
the city Of Bayonne, by the Directors o
the Board of Education and the princi
pals Of the various schools, more particu
larly Principal Wyckoff Of the Fiftl
Ward School, is reaping q rich harvest
even though the proceeding thus fal
has been attended with numerous un
pleasantnesses.
Principal Wyckoff in his determination
to enforce the statuatory law to the let
ter, has laid himself open to the fire o
many a loving but irasci
BILE mamma. AS resul
charges of serious nature have been
piled up against him until now he IL
probably the most conspicuous personage
Bayonne boasts of. Charges of ill-treat
ment, neglect and unnecessary "hounc-
ings" and 'f1oggings" have figured con
out of the Principals crusade Mr.. Wye
koff, like the famous John Wannamaker
receives these charges with silent con-
tempt and remarks, "Well, If I have
done all these things, what of it? l in.
tend to be boss In my own school aud
have discipline: 1 do fog incorrigible
children. / will continue to do so If 1t Ii
necessary to maintain order. aud now
what are you aoing to do aboutP"
Bayonne never experienced such q
shaking up in school matters, aud the
probability is that before til q curtain falls
on this drama some exceedingly interest
ing and spicy disclosures will be made.
HISTORY OF THE FIGHT.
One year ago Principal Wyckoff con-
ceived the idea of increasing the attend
ance at school In Bayonne. but for some
inexDlicable reason he failed to call the
attention of the School Board to
the law which requires that
parents shall send their children
to school unless good cause is shown. The
school at least twenty weeks In the school
year and eight weeks consecutively.
When the Bayonne schools began the
present session. Principal Wyckoff was
gratiied to find that he and his teachers
would have about six hundred scholars to
instruct. Within two weeks. however,
the attendance began to fall off until
finally it dwindled down to about one
third the original number. In passing to
and from school Mr.. Wyckoff aud his
assistants discovered dozens OF boys and
girls lettering about the streets and about
their homes, whose names appeared on
the roll.
FAIR WARNING GIVEN.
g ompted solely by spirit to aid these
children, determined to secure the en-.
forcement of the truant law" says Mr..
Wyckoff. "Parents whose children re-
mained from school were notified of the
project on foot and directed to Instruct
their children to attend school without
further delay. In some cases this war
rant was sufficient. but in numberless
others it was not Needed"
One case in which parent was noti-
fled that her son was not regular in his
attendance, is said to have caused the
charge of cruelty and flogging. The case
was that onesof Mrs. Garrity Her son
had been dubbed an incorrigble by both
Principal and mother. Finally Mrs.
boy unless he attended school, and did as
directed.
Mr.. Wyckoff considered the matter
thoroughly and one cheerful afternoon
young Garrity was directed to remain in
his seat after the other pupils had been
dismissed. Mrs. Garrity was sent for,
and, and. accompanied by the principal.
who had concealed under his coat nice
rattan. she entered a cloakroom with Mr..
Wyckoff. Young Garrity was led into
the room and in The presence of his
mother received a fioRging that has re-
suited in his becoming an obedient and
thoughtful scholar. The miraculous re-
suit of this prescription struck Mr..
Wyckof forcibly, and as a result many of
the scholars have been made to dance u
sailors hornpipe to the time of the prin-
cipars rattan.
TROUBLED BLISS.
Matters were progressing smoothly
enough In the Fifth ward School until
Mr.. Wyckof caused the police officers to
summon alleged truants and their parents
before Justice Besher to explain why
their children did not attend school.
Seventy-nine scholars accompanied by
their parents were arraigned before the
Justice. A thousand and one excuses
were offered by the parents, and although
the attendance at school improved, Mr..
Wyckoff's propensities for Gaming
children and causing them to become
truants through fear, began to be the sub
ject of much comment.
One of Principal Wyckoff's victims"
a girl. said to reporter of The JERSEY
CITY NEWS yesterday. "Why. Mr..
Wyckoff calls you up and whips you good
and hard with very little cause to war;
rant it,. He gave it to me once, and al
thoughsit didn't hurt me very much
was made fun of by everyone in the
school. If get whipped want to know
what 1t is for. an won't go to school so
long as he is permitted to whip me-"
The child's mother chimed in at this
iuncture and said, "He must be an old
brute. l never heard of man be-
ing given so much liberty. There are
school beside whipping children. He
can't whip my child nor anyone else, and
If l decide to send her back there 10
school and he whips her, will get him
arrested for assault and battery"
Again. boy, who said his name was
George Miller. interrupted. He had also
come in for share of the principals dis
cipline. He said;-"rhers is pretty
hard crowd down at Wyckoff's school,
and IL he catches any of the boys smok-
ing cigarettes, / honestly think he dogs
everyone found with cigarettes or the
odor of one on him on suspicion. He
thinks he does not hurt when he begins
cracking you on the legs; but he is not as
old and as weak as he tries to make him
self believe he is."
The above is fair sample of the ex-
pressions of the school children and their
parents. Principal Wyckof may at any
moment be arrested for assault and bat
terry, and it the start is once made the
Professor will be kept busy in court for
several weeks to come.
SCHOOL DIRECTORS APPROVE.
The Directors of the Board OF Educa-
tion approve, in a measure. OF Mr..
Wvckoff's actions, and maintain that In
asmuch as he has pretty hard crowd to
deal with he has to exercise such meth
DDS or permit himself to become useless
and disregarded by the scholars.
Justice Besher was out OF town yester-
day. but from well posted expounder of