The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-01-30
No MONEY
FOR LOONEY
Board Turns Down
Request for
Pay.
May Be Change in Plan
of Paying School
Teachers.
Board of Education Now Pays So
That Teachers Will Have
Money in Vacation.

Prof. James Pryor Looney, the Poet
Laureate of Hawaii, and the Board of
Education are at outs over a little mat
ter of salary which the professor claims
J he is entitled to for his services at
Lahainaluna school. incidentally the
broader question was raised at yester-
days meeting of the school board as 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 a regular annual salary. They are
paid not monthly for the ten months
they are employed, but in twelve
monthly installments. including also
two months vacation time,
Professor Looney, it appears, was
employed by the Board of Education
as assistant at the Lahainaluna Semi
nary on Maui, at a salary Of 5000 ger
y
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 Deem
Der. As Looney received but SIS per
month, he claims that he is entitled 20 a
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 friend Mr.. Case, that he was
per month for the time he worked.
Supt. Atkinson said he had written
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 thing. He explained to the board
that he had attempted to change the
method of payment, so 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, I
and the auditor therefore could not pay
salaries on a 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 eff
feet that each teacher is to receive ten
month she had worked during the year.
and if 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 so 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 is entitled in vacation.
Mr.. Atkinson referred to the law as a
'grandmotherly Jaw" which was to dis
tribute the money over the entire year.
so that the teachers wouldn't spend
everything al once, and then have moth
ing to live on during vacation time
Secretary Rodgers suggested that the
board was a sort of guardian for
thriftless people,
Mrs Hall said that while she was not
opposed to Mr.. Atkinson's suggestion.
yet she questioned whether it would be
wise to change from the old grand
system.
Mr.. Atkinson agreed that the ruIei
was of benefit in some ways as it pre-
vented frequent changes. especially
lust prior to the close of the term. as
the teachers did not wish to forfeit
their vacation money At the same
lime a teacher that wanted to resign
didn't bother about the money