The Big Sandy news. [volume] (Louisa, Ky.) 1885-1929, 1894-10-12
County Judge.
RrcH CREEK, Oct. S.

| promised In previous letter to
give some Of the unjust and unwise
rulings on points Of law by II. C.
. Mcclure while Supt. OF Schools. ]
know OF no better way of giving his
manner of deciding points of law
than to give his words used upon a
certain occasion. A friend asked
Have you the right to do that, r.
c." He replied, "I'll assume the
right"
"HE ASSUMED THE RIGHT" "a
revoke all certificates held by tho
teachers Of this county when he
was elected Supt., without law
without cause, and without 6 prece.
dent. Nearly all of the teachers
we're young men and young wom-
en- Of high moral character and
| good education, without a blot upon
their records as teachers. He had
| no legal right and as a lawyer to-
day he will not say that he had a
| legal right he would be ashamed
to confess such ignorance.
His only right was an assumed
one.
The Superintendent has no right
to revoke a certificate unless the
person be incompetent, immor-
al, does a wrongful act, or omits a
duty. None of these charges were
made against many of the teachers.
What was his motive? He wanted
to reduce the grades Of certain
teachers and did do it by giving
them lower grade certificates. 1t
was an usurpation of power and the
just and unjust were punished
alike.
ale assumed the right to COM
pei the teachers one certain year
tlSS7) to attend the State Teachers
Institute three weeks and when
his attention was called to the fact
that there was no law for c0mpell-
ing teachers to attend a State Teach
er's Institute, hereplied that each
teacher must attend or quit teach
ing, and said positively that he
would revoke certificates OF all who
did not attend full three weeks.
Having learned by experience
that the Supt. had assumed" won
derful discretionary authority"
we submitted again to the imita-
tive rulings of King George III.
However, we find this law to have
been in effect at that time;
Art. 10, Sec. 2, Common School
Law: "Every teacher of a COM
mon school must attend the full
session of such Institute (meaning
Co. teachers instituted and shall
continue from year to year to do so
as long as the Institute shall be
kept up, upon penalty for nom
attendance, if satisfactory excuse
has not been made to the Co, Supt.,
OF FORGETTING his certificate. The
session shall not be less than four
days, during which time there shall
be vacation of the common schools
Of tho county to give opportunity
to the teachers to attend; and no
reduction of the teachers wages
shall be made during said vacation,
provided he was in attendance the
full time OF the session Of the In
stitute.n
Now, the schools were in vaca-
tion three weeks, the teachers at
tended full time, and were entitled
TO full wages, but Mr. Mcclure only
gave receipts for five days, when it
should have been fifteen to comply
with the law. Ifhe attempts to de-
NY this we can prove its truthful
ness by about eighty teachers.
ale assumed the right to call
special electionsto elect trustees,
to settle contests, a right not given
him by the Common School Law
and he thereby avoided a duty re-
quired Of him in sections Y, "a and
5S Common School Law.
"He assumed the right" to with
hold certain teachers certificate
under the pretense that he had fail
ed. Another party who had seen
this teachers grade knew that he
had not failed and informed him of
the fact. Three weeks after the ex-
animation, in the presence of one
examiner, this teacher and one 9TH
er person, Mr.. Mcclure issued to
said teacher a certificate. We chal-
lenge him to deny it. Why did he
not issue the certificate before an
other person had contracted for his
school?
He assumed the right to lower
the grades Of certain teachers from
first class to second, from second to
third class certificates, and to raise
the grades of others who had failed
to make the necessary grade, to
third class; some from third to see
ond and others from second TO first
class to suit some peculiar
fancy; and after those grades had
been copied into the Supts. Record
Book, au affidavit OF the above
was once given to the public, and no
denial or explanation has ever
been made. Afterward some one
assumed the right" to remove the
leaves which contained those grades
from the above named Supts. Rec
ord Book. Look in the back part of
the Record Book kept by r.. c. Nc
Glure while Supt. OF Schools and
you will see the stubs Of the leaves
which contained those grades.
IL n man will exceed his authOri-
ty while Supt. OF Schools can you
expect anything better of him
as County Judge? J.No.
ITO BE CONTINUED.)