The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1903-01-30
NO MONEY
FOR L00N{Y
Board Turns Down
Request for
Pay.

Prof. James Pryor Looney. the Poet
Laureate of Hawaii. and the Board OF
Education are at outs over little mat
ter OF salary which the professor claims
he Is entitled to for his services At
Lahainaluna school. Incidentally the
broader question was raised at yester-
days meeting OF the school board a. to
whether the school teachers In the Ter
ritory should be paid a salary twelve
months or ten months Of the year.
At present all teachers are employed
upon q regular annual salary. They arc
paid not monthly for the ten months
they are employed. but In twelve
monthly installments. including also
two months vacation time.
Professor Looney. II appears. was
employed by the Board Of Education
az assistant at the Lahainaluna SEMI
nary on Maui. at q salary Of $500 par
year. Under the present system OF the
School Board salaries are paid In
twelve monthly installments. running
also through the vacation months.
Therefore It seems that Looney received
his wages at the rate Of SIS per month
1t happened also that he was employed
for but four months in the last year.
the School Board having dispensed with
his services at the end Of last Decsm-
Der. As Looney received but SIS per
month. he claims that he IL entitled 20 q
percentage OF the vacation pay. or the
additional fifteen dollars per month. he
would have received had he been get
ting paid for the actual time at work.
The matter came up yesterday morn
ing on the petition OF Professor Looney.
through a friend Mr.. Case. that he was
entitled to be paid at the rate OF $50
per month for the time he worked.
Supt Atkinson said he had wri,,en
in reply to the communication that no
additional compensation could be al
lowed. as both the law and the rules
of the Board OF Education prohibited
such a thing. He explained to the board
that he had attempted to change tho
method OF payment. 80 that each teach
er would receive pay for the actual
time employed. without reference to the
vacation months. but had found that
the law prevented this, and the auditor
had refused to allow any such change
to be made. The statutes provide that
the school appropriation can be drawn
upon only in twelve equal installments.
and the auditor therefore could not pay
salaries on ten months basis. There
is also a provision In the published
rules OF the board, which is directly
against any change. This is to the ef-
feet that each teacher Is to receive ten
month she had worked during the year.
and II she had been employed for the
entire period, would OF course receive
full pay during the two months Of va
cation. There Is a provision also BY
which a teacher must have been en-
ployed at least two terms to be entitled
to any vacation pay. which knocked
Prof. Looney's contention out ON two
grounds. Mr.. Atkinson said he favored
a change In the law 80 that the teach
ers might be paid In ten monthly In
stallments. which he said was the Gus
tom in vogue in many OF the large
cities In the United States. though
some OF the school boards adhered to
the Hawaiian system.
This plan however made considerable
trouble and added labor because It re-
quired a large amount OF bookkeeping
to figure out the pro rata to which
each teacher IL entitled In vacation.
Mr. Atkinson referred to the law as a
"grandmotherly law" which was to dis
tribute the money over the entire year,
10 that the teachers wouldn't spend
everything at once. and then have moth
Ing to live on during vacation time.
Secretary Rodgers suggested that the
board was sort Of guardian for
thriftless people"
Mrs. Hall said that while she was not
opposed 10 Mr.. Atkinson's suggestion.
yet she questioned whether II would be
Wise 10 change from tho old grand
m0therly system,
Mr., Atkinson agreed that the rulo
was ~ benefit In some ways as II pre-
vented frequent changes, especially
iugi urlor IN m. eIoaa az m. farm ~