The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-06-18
TEACHERS ACT
 ON CONTRACTS Unanimous at Last Regular Meeting to Return Them With Some Proviso
 Attached.
VOTE OF THANKS
 TO MISS REYNOLDS
League Characterizes Her Report on Salary h. creases an Admir-
 able One.

The meeting of the Teachers league held yesterday afternoon was the last regular session for the present school year. The most important business con- sidered, of course, was the action to be taken on the contracts which each teacher must sign and return to the board of education within two weeks. if she intends to accept her appoint ment for next year. The league took definite action on the matter by a unanimous vote, but what the action was would not be given out by the league authorities. It was later learn- ed through reliable outside informa- tion however, that it had been voted that when the teachers send back their contracts some form of provisc will ba annexed to them. The contracts will be sent back in a few days.
 A unanimous vote of thanks was ex~ tended by the league to Miss Alice E. Reynolds, supervisor of primary schools, in acknowledgement of her ad- mirable report to the superintendent of schools on the subject of higher salaries for teachers.
 A vote was also passed that in tha fall the teachers should issue an off, cial publication on educational subjects of interest to teachers and also to cltl- zens of New Haven.
 It was decided that President Hack- ett should name committee of fouF teachers to cooperate with him in ore. senting the teachers side of the matter to the board of finance at the special hearing to be held at 7:3O on Thursday evening. A rising vote of thanks was extended to Mir. Haclkett for his labors in behalf of the teachers.
 The report of Miss Reynolds. fun. which the league extended her it's thanks. follows;
 Three specific changes seem urgent if the primary schools are to hold their own and improve.
 (a) A higher initial salary for begin- ners, so that the finer students in the normal schools will not be attracted to the outlying villages or to other states. The best are none too good for us.
 While we always secure many of the best we generally lose one or two ufl- usual girls because $500 is no tempta- tion to person who has been offered $700 in Montclair or who can receive $400 in her home town.
 (b) An equal rate in all primary rooms in order to foster content in grades II and TIT. and so reduce the amount of change and instability caus- ed by the constant move toward grades I and w. We no longer mass our ap- p1entices in some one grade which Is regarded as a post-training course, but we scatter them throughout the gram mar schools. This means that grades II and III are no longer taught by nov- ices nor by persons not deserving pros motion, We expect to find in these places women as resourceful, as skill- ed and as capable as elsewhere. While our addresses emphasize this fact. our salary list asserts with certainty that seccnd grade teachers are worth $l00 less than first grade teachers.
 tc) A general increase throughout tho grades in order to attract and hold SUI perior teachers. An editorial in one of our local newspapers recently stated that young women of finest caliber are bound to be drawn away from teach- ing, since many commercial occupations are offering far better salaries.
 The magazines throughout the coun- try reiterate that with the decided in- crease in the cost of living the wages of day laborers have advanced, but that salaried persons in the professions are being left behind This means that the vacations demanding the largest amount of preparation, the finest back ground. and the greatest continual out put In order to keep abreast of the times, are being most effectually dis 
 The marvelsis that we have been ablo to keep our excellent teachers so long as We havei but if I read the signs of the times correctly, the current is set ting toward New York and New Jer- sey. and as matter of self-preserva- tion New Haven must soon consider the matter of teachers salaries.