The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1905-08-05
COUNTY SCHOOL
SUPERINTENDENT
WELL KNOWN CITIZEN TAKEs m.
SUE WITH IsLANDER

| = Asos MAso oW0o00y'O C0rt1>
hcats q Not the Legal Equivalsne
Of First Grade and That she Il
Therefore Ineligible.
EDlToR San JUAN IsLAnDrR:-Iu
your issue Of last week you made pub
lie the question Of the ineligibility d
the Democratic candidate for the a.
fice Of county superintendent In this
county. As she holds only IN ele-
mentary certificate from . state nor
NAL school Of this state, but not . full
diploma from that institution, this
has been . matter Of much discussion
ever since the election last fall, others
holding the Same elementary certifi-
cate expressing surprise that she
was considered eligible to the office.
In your article you arrayed certain
evidence in defense of the Democratic
candidate, which you state should b
regarded as conclusive. l cannot see
any degree Of conclusiveness in it
The sections, Of the school law you
quoted show 50 plainly that the ele-
mentary certificate Is not included,
because it is clearly meant to be ex-
cluded, that I would quote from them
again.
SECTION 3l-No person shall be eligible
who shall not hold state certificate or
life diploma or first grade common
school certificate. -
SECTION 0-Unless such person shall
have fled . copy Of ono Of tho certificates
required by this act, etc. = =
If the Democratic candidate COM
piled with these sections by filing an
elementary certificate ] fail to see it.
The defense of last week admitted
that she did not, unless it can be
shown that her certificate was the
recognized equivalent of first grade.
The law elsewhere recognizes the
full normal diploma as the equivalent
of one Of these certificates, but no
where is it intimated that the elemen-
tary is equivalent to any one Of the
certificates specified in this act.
Furthermore, the school law, -veri-
fed by Superintendent Bryan's own
official report, shows that the first
grade certificate is not authorized to
be granted without examination upon
anything less than the highest papers
issued by state normal school or any
other accredited institution. This de-
bars the elementary certificate, which
is the lowest certificate issued, from
having first grade certificate issued
upon it.
Therefore as it is not mentioned
with the first grade in the sections
and a first grade cannot be issued
upon it, how can the elementary GER
tifcate be considered the equivalent
of the first grade and be read into
the sections you quoted
A marked distinction is further
made by the law, between the ele-
mentary and first grade certificates,
in providing for an extension OF the
five year time to the first grade hold
er bv renewal, but the elementary
certificate is issued unconditionally
for five years. In this renewal fea-
ture it classes the first grade with q
full normal diploma and state certi-
ficate.
The plea that the certificate was
granted by . state school for five
years, is Of itself sufficient evidence
that it is regarded as the full equiva-
lent of q first grade certificate, Is
plainly unconvincing. All certificates
issued by the state above the second
grade, are for five years. Certainly
no one would claim that because o.
this common feature, the elementary
certificate, the full normal diploma,
the first grade certificate and the
state certificate are equivalent to
each other.
In connection with the letter which
YOU printed from State Superintend-
emit BRYAN, it should be observed that
according to the law, on page 10 o.
his own official report OF last year, G
quoted above, he IS unautnor1zed %
grant . first grade certificate M or any y
other upon this elementary certificate
s n,esfion. Itmust be admitted that
the state superintendent himself
could insist upon his official report
heinc oivcn precedence Ov0r per-
sonel letter q this kind
4. G. RUDOw
Ir..A an.snd August 8. 1895.