Waterbury Democrat., 1902-01-21
SECRETARY H|NE PRESENT.
Addressed the Members of the
 Board of Education.


 tricts Took Part in Meeting-super'
 intendent Tinker Outlined His Plans
 to Them for Visiting Their Schools.
 The members of the board of educa- tion could very consistently sing, or II they are not able to sing, they could attempt the familiar ditty We Won,t go home till morning." about midnight last night for what was intended as ! conference between the board, the committees of the suburban districts and Mir Hine, secretary of the state beard of education, came near turning into story telling gathering. Prompt ly at S:15 the board got down to busi- ness to decide the contract for supplies for the year This matter was dis posed of by voting that the clerk tabu- late the bids and again on Wednesday evening the board will meet and award the contracts. Then the conference was to begin, but as Mayor KilduH was out of town and expected home every minute, it was 9:30 before Vice l Chairman Kent resumed his chair and announced the purpose of the gather 1 ing. Superintendent Tinker called ] roll of the committees and all were ] found present excepting from the East ! Mountain district. Mir Hine then stated the object he was present for, as he understood it. He said that l there appeared to be some difficulty here as there had been elsewhere when l l change in the form of local govern ment had been made. He compliments l ed the officials of the school depart ment upon their having taken hold Of ! the situation so readily and With ap- l parently good results. MT Hine said that the first thing to be done to pro- cure good effects from any school sys- tenn was good building, where the I pupils can be comfortably taught. Then procure an efficient teacher. On this point some explanation was neces- sary. as the hiring of teachers in rural districts is the bane and occasionally the bliss of the committeeman's life. ] Here is where he is the great I Am. With him solely this matter rests, and he generally does as he likes because that was what he spent his few dollars for to be elected. MT Hine said that the committeeman may select the teacher but she must be qualified teacher, and only the board of educa- tion can say what. that qualification shall be. In other words, the commit teeman may recommend and the board shall appoint. The qualification neces- sary shall De adopted by the board as rule which shall direct the selection of all teachers so that there shall be no favoritism. It is necessary that the candidate shall be d graduate of the High school, of the normal school or whatever institution of education the board may determine. The teach CT being selected and the schoolhouse having been built or procured the next thing is the pupil or pupils. To pro- cure these an official is necessary, q truant officer. The board may appoint an officer for each district and he shall perform certain duties. Here the state secretary defined the word truant, r, showing that always the so-called tru- ant is not q truant. and that his delin- quency is attributable to the negli- gence of his parents. There may be , details i'll carrying out the above con- ditions. but such is the outline.
 Now you have the building, the :, teacher and the pupils What next ' Why, of course, the appliances with : which to teach, the books and the sup
 plies. It is the duty of the board un
 der the new order of things to see thai
 these are supplied. Now school dis
 trict is fitted out and ought to be ready
 for business, and Mir Hine saw no req
 son why there should be friction be
 tween each district or any district ant
 the board. The board is the ruler now
 The board directs and what it says
 shall go
 Harping on this matter of friction
 MT 1.-The said that it was a pleasure
 To nm and others on the outside to set
 that at last calm had come out o1
 chaos. And then he went on to relat.
 few incidents of suburban rule tha
 bordered on riot on very small matters
 put he thought there would have beer
 serious trouble. And again MT Hin,
 complimented NIr Tinker on the loca
 system Of education. He said AIr Tin
 ker was the best judge locally of wha
 ought to benefit the schools. He wa
 competent superintendent and h. ?, knew he had the welfare of the sys
 tenn i'll mind i'll his every act. Thi
 concluded the address of the state sec
 retary and he was open for questions ). To Commissioner Chapman's .ques ). tions, he stated that the board shal
 appoint teachers ill the suburban dis
 tricts, that is, shall decide whether q
 not the applicant is qualified, and ca
 also discharge q teacher by reyokin ' her certificate. The duties of the trr
 ant officer now extends to the subui
 ban districts, they forming q part o
 the city system of education, or tn | board can appoint an officer for eac q district. This power of appointmen s comes, from the school visitors, wh e have the power to compel attendance. f. There are only three excuses recos l. nized by the law for failure to atten b school. They are mental or physicf l. ability, lack of proper clothing, and al d tendanee at a private school recognize d by the local school authorities. $ teacher has no right or power to a,
 cept an excuse from pupil. She ca ' merely place on her record the excus ' rendered by the pupil and her respol = sibility ends there. Only the law ca ~ excuse a pupil.
 As to the power of closing q schoo ,s Mir Hine said that rested not with tI T superintendent or committeeman. bl
 1 with tha hoard a0d 4hot n,,lxr h,, ,,,