The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-02-11
The Change at the High School.

The Board of Education appears 10
have made an excellent selection in
placing Mr.. w, Patterson Atkinson at the
head Of the English Department of the
High Schoo Mr.. Atkinson is a graduate
of Princeton. He has an experience OF
many years in Just the sort of work that
the High School demands. He is a resi-
dent of Jersey City, and by period OF
service of two terms in Hasbrouck IN
stitute, one of the leading academies of
the State, he has demonstrated, on the
home field, his fitness for the position to
which he has been appointed. The hopes
to the faculty of the School will greatly
strengthen the teaching corps appears to
be fully warranted by Mr.. Atkinson's
record
We are glad to see that the Board has
started the new appointee at something
like a reasonable salary. Mistaken par
simony has been having a devastating
effect upon the High school,. Itshas led
to the resignation of one eminently COM
petent teacher after another, and unless
there is reform all along the line, we have
not reached the end yet. Some time ago
the Evening Journal agitated this SUBJ
5ect with great force and truthfulness.
All that it then said applies with added
force today because the series of resig-
nations has been extended, and others are
actually in contemplation in the near
future.
1t is worth the while of anyone, who
has the good of the High School at heart,
to glance over the list of losses which the
School has sustained for the simple reason
that the salaries paid are low beyond all
reason, and no prospect of advancement
is held out. Beginning with September,
1897, there have been eight designations
of High School teachers, one however
being Withdrawn because the Board grant
ID a raise of salary. The names of the
teachers who nave left are as f~ollows:-
Miss Marie L. Bevier. teacher of Botany
ana t1fRner A~dl1eE1dllcS. NcHt "
Girls High School, New York.
Charles II. Haskell, Principal; Went to
Grammar School No. 2, Brooklyn.
Miss Kathryn a. spier. teacher r., Of
High School. New York. Is now head
of the Annex Department.
Miss Mary A. Nichols, teacher of Botany,
Zoology and Physical Geography. Went
to Mixed High School. New York.
Miss Margaret Cahill, teacher of History
and English, Went 10 Girls High
Miss Clara A. Hart. teacher Of Higher
Mathematics. Went to Teachers Col
lege, Mornirgside Heights This college
is a department of Columbia University.
Miss Lucy Wight, head of Department
of English and History. Has just gone
to Manual Training School. Brooklyn.
Mr.. Atkinson is her successor.
In addition to these, Professor c. c..
Wilson, who is at the head of the Science
Department in the High School, was APP
pointed to the Boys High School. New
York. The Board of Education, however,
Increased his salary, and retained his
valuable services.
The fact is we are paying the salaries
Of typewriters to women of learning.
ability and professional experience. Other
lAkArc u oACiAAS
commensurate with their merits. and, of
course, we cannot keep them. We have
In mind one case in which a teacher has
not only graduated from the High School
itself but also from Barnard College.
This particular person has spent years in
mastering a speciality, and still devotes a
large part of each vacation to post
graduate courses of study. Jersey City
Is paying for this sort of talent, today,
about eighteen dollars a week, with no
guarantee for the future. The very low
est New York and Brooklyn pay is be-
tween twenty-five and thirty dollars, with
assured regular and fairly rapid promo
ton to about forty dollars per week.
Our conduct is irrational. 1t is i'm
possible TO run a successful school with
/ faculty that never holds together for a
, term, without s~a6ssions and replace
ments. We *Eildinz1a nsw High