St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-12-07
FIRE ESCAPES NEEDED
ON SCHOOLS, SAYS BUILDING nv
SPEcTCR MORRIS.
a SCHOOL BOARD MEETING.

Gilbert Thinks Sick Teachers
should BE Paid Full Salaries
for a Limited Time-Keeom-
mends Change of a Rule -
Teachers Will Meet the Super
visors One Saturday a Month.
The December meeting of the board
of school inspectors, held yesterday aft
ernoOn, transacted the usual large
grind of business, which is of especial
interest to the taxpayers and the parents
of the school children. Those present
| were Inspectors Dawson, Dickson. Nc
Gill, Vanish and President Willrich.
Building Inspector Morris had before
! the meeting communication setting
forth the necessity for providing large
| number of the public schools with prop
er means of egress in case of fire.
"At present" says the letter. '.tllere
| is not school in the city with proper
| fire escape. Seven of the scliuolS-Jef-
| ferSon, Franklin. Madison. manual
| training, Humboldt, Hendricks, and the
high school have small balconies
and straight ladders. These should be
replaced with iron stairs and balconies
reaching across the windows where
| possible The other buildings, with
the exception of the Dean, district No.
! 10, Quincy and Mattock schools, all one
| story buildings should have an outside
| iron stairway leading from the second
story to the ground. My attention has
been repeatedly called to this matter
by citizens having children in these
! schools, anu / would earnestly request
that you bring the matter before the
| board at your earliest convenience"
| Mr.. Morris concluded by Offering to
| confer with the board on the subject.
/ The communication was referred to
| the real estate committee.
A petition was before the board,
signed by thousand or more citizens,
| to submit to vote of the people the
matter of the adoption of free text
books. 1t was referred to the commit
tee on schools.
Superintendent Gilbert submitted the
| following report.
In accordance with instructions re-
| ceived at the regular meeting of this
board, Nov. l. L have the honor to make
| the following report upon the payment
| OF absent teachers:
Among the rules adopted by the board
| for the government OF the schools for
the current year was one requiring that
teachers absent from school for any
| period should forfeit all paw during
| such absence. This rule, however. does
not appear in the printed rules of the
| board, but has governed the actions of
| Its officers IN making up the pay rolls
| thus Tar this year. In my Judgment
| tlis rule is unduIy harsh. and works
! hardship 10 the teachers and injury to
the schools. Cases of illness to the
| teacher or IN the teachers family. SO
| serious as to cause prOtracted absence
from school are in themselves sui
GENTLY trying and add greatly to the nee
essary living expenses. and it seems but
right that teachers, many OF whom have
! made themselves i'll by conscientious at
! tention to duty. should be tfeated<with
such llbsrallty as is consistent with
] proprlety. Furthe rmore, under a rule
| so stringent, teachers who are ill enough
to be at home, finding that they are I'M
| able to suffer the loss of salary, will
come to school and perfnnctorily per-
! form such of their duties as they can.
when it would be better both for the
! school and for themselves if they were
not there. 1t is true that few teachers
| VIII occasionally take advantage of a
! liberal rule, but they are few. Most of
our teachers are conscientious. in the ey-
1reme and wait to the limit of endur-
ance. 1t IS certainly unfair that the
! great body OF honest men and women
| should suffer for the delinquencies of
the few. 1t would be much better to
treat such delinquents with great sever
| lty when caught, even to the extent of
dlSmlsslnR them from service. than to
| punish the whole body. / wish it were
| possible 10 allow all teachers honestly
detained for sickness, full pay for a
| reasonable time. This Is not possible
| this year. inasmueh as frequently pay
substitutes must be employed. and
there is no fund from which TO draw
the pay of sach substitutes, so they
| must be paid from the teachers salaries.
Hence. recommend the adoption of
the following rule, which, with one
modification. is the one that governed
the board in this respect last year:
Teachers who are absent from school
shall present written excuse stating
| the reason for such absence to the
| principal of the school, who shall for
| ward it with his approval or disapproyal
| to the superintendent of.schoOlS. In
| case OF absence for not more than twen-
| ty days due TO SickneSS, and of not more
| than tve days III case of death in the
| family. the teacher shall receive full
pay, less the amount due substitutes,
All teachers absent more than twenty
days for any cause shall be dropped
l.from the roll. unless continued by ac-
ton of the board
La obedience to instructions. / also
make the following report upon teach
ers' meetings:
During the first part of this year each
teacher was required TO attend meet
| ing once each week and to meet each
| supervisor once each month. These
meetings were called by the superin-
tendenE of schools, as authorized by the
/ rules. They were deemed necessary
i Tor the proper instruction of teachers
in the details of the work. Some of the
teachers have found these meetings
burdensome, andeas they were held after
school hours, now that the darkness
| comes so early, deem it advisable,
during the winter months at least, to
discontinue them, and, after consulta-
ton with the supervisors, have devised
the following plan:
A meeting OF ali the teachers will be
held on
ONE SATURDAY MORNING
in each month, at which, after brief
conference with the superintendent.
they will be divided into classes accord
ing to gradess meeting in separate
rooms, where they will receive from the
supervisors such instruction as is
needed.
l recommend that inorder to insure
the amount of instruction needed, the
superintendent be authorized to have
printed and to issue from time to time
such instructions as he may deem essen
tiai. Ii such authority be given, am
confident that we shall be able to pre-
serve the efficiency of the schools. and
TO save the teachers the drain upon
strenth and purse made necessary by
more frequent meetings.
In obedience to the instructions re-
ceived at the last special meeting of
the board. beg leave to report:
Since the decision of the hoard TO dis