The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1899-08-31
A TALK WITH THE SCHOOL BOARD.

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preciate that the Office of director il
one fraught with disagreeable dute
as well as grave responsibility ant
that where so diversified INTEREST,"
and opinions are, it is very hard t.
reconcile them all so that no com
plants be heard. In fact. we takt
it, that broad minded gentlemen
transacting public business Of this
kind expect. and invite criticism
For the past three or four years the
school board has found il necessary
to rent three rooms additional &c
those of our public school building
in order to accommodate the various
grades, and not word of protest
was offered by our people. At g
recent meeting Of the board one OF
the members introduced a resolution
to rent three additional, rooms as
formerly, which was voted down.
One of the directors commended that
the law forbade the renting of school
rooms, although it is the same laws,
without any change in this particu-
lar that this board has been acting
under for years.
When Judge j. B. CAN'T, now
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
of the State, was on the bench in
this district, a similar case to this
was brought from East Boone town.
ship, when Judge CAN'T decided
that it was not only the privilege but
the duty of the school board to rent
rooms for the school children when
the district was not suitably sup
Piled The facts of this decision
were communicated to members of
the school board. To back this up
we learn that the secretary of the
board has a letter from the State
Superintendent that the board has
the right to rent the rooms.
Now comes the hair splitting
One member of the board contended
that these decisions referred to
emergencies That this board sub
mitted proposition to the people
of the district to build a school
house, which they saw fit to reject,
therefore no emergency exists.
Gentlemen! Gentlemen. don't you
know that this is not correct con-
clusion to draw from those premises,
in the absence OF a statutory clause
to that effect. Suppose you mad
asked for half million dollars for
building purposes, which you had a
right to do, then do you maintain
that the emergency for additional
room would have ceased to exist?
AS remedy the board has under
sdvisement the plan of holding only
half day sessions in the first six or
seven grades. That plan would give
the children of those grades only
four aud one-half months of school
ing instead of nine months, as voted
by the tax payers of this district. 1t
would take those children two years
TO complete one years course.
It would be decreasing the service
Of the teachers while giving them
full paw. The children of those
grades are as justly entitled to the
blessing of educational advantages
AS those of the higher grades. It
would place our new superintendent
at a great disadvantage. In fact
good and sufficient reasons could be
why this should not be
done. We are told by a member
that the board had been warned not
TO rent rooms. which warning, no
1OuOts SaAAAcu Will IL al lu pIlSu
threat of injunction proceedings. We
venture the assertion that no man
with children in the schools gave
such warnings and we venture the
prediction that no reputable, intelli-
gent citizen of the town will dare to
take such action in the face of our
people and the world.
Now, gentlemen, you were elected
to served the people of this district.
TO advance the interest of the schools
and not to retard them, If the peo-
pie of this district do not choose to
vote ten thousand dollars in bonds
i