Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-08-25
SCHOOL CENSUS
ANNUAL SCHOOL ENUMERATION
TO BEGIN WITHIN TEN
DAYS.
State Superintendent John F. Riggs
Asks for Annual School ieports-
Discusses Library Law, Compulsory
Attendance and Teachers wages.

The taking of the school census OF
the Ottumwa independent school dis
trlct will begin within the next ten
days. Secretary J. A. Wagner of the
school board, aided by two possibly
three enumerators, will make a can
vass of the district and list all chill
dren of school age.
State Superintendent John F. Riggs
has sent out number of blank forms
and circular letter to the various
county superintendent for distribution
to the various school secretaries in tho
school districts of the counties Of the
state. They were received yesterday at
the Office of Superintendent Emma Nye
and have already been mailed to their
destinations.
The blanks are the ones from which
when returned properly filled out the
state reports will be formed. The forms
call for the statistics on wages, the
number of children of school age, the
cost per pupil of the schools, the num-
Der Of books in the library and the fin
arcial report for each district.
The Annual Meeting.
In his circular letter the state sup
erintendent calls special attention to
the annual meeting Of the school
boards Of each district which is to be
held on the third Monday in Septem-
Der and details the various matters of
business which properly come before
the board at this meeting.
Attention is called to the require
ments of the library law which has
been decided by the courts to be man
datory. The law requires the expendi-
ture of not less than five cents per pu-
pill for new books.
Compulsory Attendance.
On compulsory attendance and the
teachers wages and tenure the circu-
lar continues:
"An important change in the COM
pulsory attendance law was made by
the Thirtieth General assembly. The
law now requires that all children in
| Iowa who have reached the seventh
and not passed the fourteenth birth
day are required to attend school, (pub-
/ lie or private) for sixteen (16) consec-
utive weeks. Attendance must begin
! as soon after the first of September
as the school may open, but the board
of directors may postpone the date OF
entry for any child to date not later
than the first Monday in December.
The duty of school directors in en-
forcing this law and the penalties tc
which they are liable in failing or re
fusing to enforce the same, are sci
forth in section 6 page 10S of the
school laws of 1902.
Teachers Wages and Tenure.
1.-THE common practice of paying 8
varying wage through the year, thai
is, paying less per month during the
fall and spring than during the winter
is not to be commended.
1T is the general practice in tow1
and city districts to employ teacher!
for the entire school year, beginning
with the fall and ending with the
spring term, and to pay the same sal
airy for each of the nine months. 4
number of the school townships IL
Iowa have recently adopted this plal
and we commend it to the favor of thu
others. Tried and competent teacher
should be given contract for the en-
tire year-not for term at time ant
wages should be paid commensurate,
with the services rendered. Reports
: indicate that. within the past year
many boards have advanced the wage
of their teachers, but this has been b.
no means general. The eighteenth re
port just issued by the commissions
of the labor bureau of the Unitet
States shows that the average cost o
living in this country has Increases
1876 per cent since 1896. 1t may be in
teresting for you to compare tn
wages you now pay your teachers will
the wages paid eight and ten year
ago. The advance in wages should a
!, least keep pace with the increase il
the cost of living.
with the earnest hope that tn
year upon which your schools are en-
tering may witness the best possibl
progress for the children of Iowa."
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