Omaha daily bee., 1896-08-18
no SAVING IN THE SCHOOLS
Board Of Education Decides 70 Bun Things
Wide Open,
SEVERAL SMALL ECONOMIES TURNED DOWN
New Teachers Employed in spite Of
the Protests of the Minority
ana Snlnrics Held Mt
OId Figures

AhN 1AAufAfs hflh NJ
OId Figures.
When the board OF education convened IL
regular meeting last night Prof j. C. Hiscy.
The newly elected superintendent uf the pub
lie schools was present and was introduced
20 the members OF the board. Tx Superin-
tendent Sawyer was also present and uc-
cupied his old place ON the left Of the preHi-
dent Both listened with interest TO The
reading Of the minutes Of the meeting in
june when the election Of superintendent
was effected. Prof Il X Hayden. the new
principal Of the HiEh school was also pres
eut
Ir. Snyder Of the teachers committee
recommended that the request of Prof.
Price. assistant principal Of the high school
for years absence on account Of i'll health
be granted and the board cunuurrgd in the
recommendation
Lr. Snyder also recommended that the
date OF opening the schools be fixed for Sep
temher and thai the year comprise nine
and unp-hGH months Thomas objected 10
The recommendation for The reason thai IL
uiu NOT specify the number Of holidays and
That II provided for q longer term than the
preceding year.
High school affairs were then taken mn
snyder said the interest of the school le-
| muuded the employment Of an extra teacher
There and recommended that there should
De twelve teachers employed there instead
ui eleven, the number last year. Spruit IA
yureu the extra teacher but Thomas said
ne had been looking up the mat
Ter ana had found Tint
the attendance for the last three wears
shows that the number of pupils was aIways
less Tor The first half OF the school year
ana thought tnat the eXtrn teacbPr if
needed, should not be employed until the
beginning OF the second semester SNYDER
sald that FrOis. Hisey and HAYDEN had
considered the matter and found Ii neces-
sary TO have the extra teacher at the he
ginning Of the ycHr to permit the proper
organization OF the classes. Prof Hayden
read statement Of the present conditions
from data be had gathered from the books
be found II necessary TO provide for the
teaching OF from sevsury-two to seventy
five classes daily. Thomas said he did not
otsne TO cripple the schools by cutting
down the number of teachers bur he
LhouEht the new administration should he
abie 10 take care Of the lesser number
OF pupils nj the beginning of
me year with the same number of
teachers that the old administration
CID with the greater number attending dur
lnE the last half Of the year lie did not
want 10 see the number of teachers in
creased faster than the number of pupils
AT the present time there are about $50
:
an average of only twenty-five to each
teacher which was certainly not too many
Tor good teacher. The four members how
ever, could nOt be shaken in their flith that
another teacher was needed and voted for
the recommendation. Thomas and Fonda
voted against the extra expense.
Snyder announced the employment Of the
following additional teachers: L. T. Gilbert,
formerly OF this city, Ohm jacobson Of Chi
CaEn and Miss :. L. Mulbuland. Thomas
and Fonda s were the only negative votes
Miss ELhlyn Barclay taken from the
substitute list and advanced 10 the rank Of
u teacher, and Miss Amy Robertson
elected to her place on The substitute list
Miss Vandercook, Miss Treynur and Mrs
Churchill were named as q list to select
extra teachers from when needed.
Chairman Thomas Of the finance committee
reported that the account of the custodian
of the school books had been checked over
and found TO be correct. There was bal
ance pf books on hand amounting TO 81
733 2G, and the custodian had turned IN VI
OG2 in cash He also submitted Custodian
Brackets resignation. a committee was
appointed to wait upon d. W. Bushnell and
contract with him for the ensuing year to
act as custodian
Thomas inquired into the condition Of the
contracts for text books rs the contracts mao
expired Dr Snyder stated that the commit
tee had taken no steps and thought the old
contracts should be continued for the present,
although he was opposed 10 keeping mum
Der Of the books for another five years
Nj Thomas put himself on record on the
book question by reading his views on the
subject as follows:
As ] understand il the board entered into
a contract with q number OF text book pun
fishers five wears HEo. They were under
bonds to this board 10 furnish text books
when ordered by the board in accordance
with the provisions Of their contract Their
contracts having expired their bonds OF no
furth her protection "tO US, what insurance
have we thNt those publishers Will moi
charge us double prices for the books We
order for the beginning Of the school year
Ii occurs 10 me that the proper course 10
haVe taken in the matter would have been
10 have advertised fu- bids according 10
law UntN today ] had expected that We
could open bids al TINS meeting for all
kinds Of text books, These bids could have
been received without any intention on GUY
part Of making any change In text hooks
In this way we might have received lower
bids Tor books now in use For my part
] do not care TO see the district left 10 the
mercy of book trusts, as ] do not think they
would he kind enough 10 furnish books at
contract price after their contracts had eN-
piTed
Mr. Snyder declared again that he was
willing 10 let the matter continue Gs al pres
eut
Thomas as chairman Of the finance com
mittee. reported in favor OF fixing the sal
airy of superintendent al 81 700 and principal
Of the High school al 81 400. When the mat
ter was nut 10 a vote il was decided 10 let
the Balaries remain al 81 900 and 81 500 rs
nj present. Thomas ana Fonda alone voted
in favor of the reduction.