The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-07-19
SUPT. 1AYL0R'S REPORT
Lackawanna C0unty's School System
Is Steadily Improving.
nE cONMENDs THE FARR BILL
Believes That Ia Mining Towns compul
sOry Attendance Is Neesssary-sehoOl
Terms Arc Being Lsugthcned aud
Salaries Of Teachers lnorsssius.

County Superintendent Of Schools ].
c. Taylor. as required by law. has sent
his annual report to the state depart
ment. 1t contains very interesting In
formation, and II written in terse. Wig
orous style The rules OF the depart
ment limit the yearly report OF county
superlrtendents to 500 words. It IL a.
follows:
DIR. N. c. Schaeffer. Superintendent OF
Public Instruction. Harrisburg. Pa.
| Dear Slr-I have the honor to submit
the following report for the year ending
June 3, 1895. While we have made no
startling changes In our work. we be-
| lieve THAT our schools are steadily I'M
proving. The school terms are grow
| Ing longer and salaries are rising IN
many districts.
There Is a growing demand for better
| teachers In several cases trained
| teachers have beeen chosen. rather than
Others having strong local influence but
poorer qualifications. Never before
| have there been 30 many students from
| this county attending academies. col
leges and normal schools but l am
sorry to say that many positions are
| still secured by the use OF so-called 'po-
| liticar influence without regard to quail
| fficatiOns. Until all our directors rise
above personal considerations and
choose the best teachers that apply. We
cannot have such schools as our chill
| dren need.
New school buildings.
In Lackawanna township at Moosic,
fine six-room house, costing about
! IS, 900, has been built: In Jermyn. a hand
some four.room high schoolhouse. with
Smead. Wills 4 Co.'S system. has been
| erected at a cost of about $1,000; In Old
Forge, a model two-room house. Smead
system. at $4,000: In Fell substantial
| two-room house for s. 500. and In Scott.
a one-room building for 1000. All these
buildings have large. lofty. well-lighted
rooms, modern furniture and slate
| blackboards. Outhouses are In n much
| better condition than they were two
wears ago, but there are some school
boar that I'm this respect are neglect
| full Of their duty.
l have visited every school IN the
county this year, and many second
time. Eighty-one directors accompan-
led me at different times. In too many
| cases II was probably the only visit
made by the directors during the year.
EVERYWHERE the need of closer super
vision Is apparent. Where supervising
principals are employed. better and
more uniform work Is done. Inquiries
sent to all teachers In the county about
children out Of school show that at
tendance Is better in farming districts
than In mining towns.
Many country teachers reported mo
children under 16 yeais out OF school;
but from mining towns long lists Of
children under that age out of school
were sent to me. A compulsory attend
ance law, properly enforced. will be
great blessing in many mining towns.
Night Schools Opened.
To remedy this non-attendance evil,
public night schools have beeen opened
in all our mining towns, and continue
from two to four months each year.
But even the night schools are to some
extent an evil, for they induce some
parents to send their children to work
two or three years sooner than they
otherwise would. Where competent
much good work Is done; in other cases
the money is wasted.
Our annual institute was held in
Scranton the week beginning Oct. 20.
The Scranton teachers held a separate
institute which reduced our enrolment
to 29O. Instructors were DR.. N. &C.
Schaeffer, DR.. f. E. White. DR.. 8. H.
Albro. DR.. E. o. Lyte, Professor c. H.
Albert, Professor f. M. LoOmis. Profess
sor j. NJ. Eppstein. and Miss Leila E.
Partridge and Miss Gertrude NJ. Ed
mund. No stronger corps ever appeared
before the teachers OF this county. Eve
ming entertainments were: A lecture.
Character Building" by DR.. John 3.
Denote. and a concert by Amphian
Ladies' Quartette. Many who heard
DIR. DeMotte said 1t was the best lecture
they ever heard.
Meeting Of Directors.
The second annual meeting Of the
Directors association was held on Tues
day Of the institute week. They were
addressed by DR.. Schaeffer, DIR. White
and Representative John r. Farr. Top
les discussed by the directors were:
Compulsory Education" How Should
the State Appropriation be Used?" and
Educational Influences of School Out
houses and School Grounds" Discus
sion was free. and many took part. The
new officers Of the association are:
President. Thomas Hunter; vice presi-
dents. John l.. Stone and T. J. Jen-
nings; secretary. B. J. Cummings; treas
urer, Horace Seaenans; executive COM
mittee. T. J. Jennings. Henry Myers, l..
g. Colvin, NJ. ]. Horan and Thomas
DOnnelly. On motion of F. L. Wormser
1t was decided that steps should be
taken toward forming State Directors
aaoocia finn and tho fnllnuiuu mara nm