Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-29
REPORT GRILLS
SCHOOL; LETS
GREELEY Off
DlSGRAcEFUL SYSTEM AT
WHITTIER SCORED
SUPERINTENDENT GETS COAT OF
WHlTEWAsH
Charities Board Admits knowledge of
Shameful Practices, but Suggests
No Remedy--Takes Slap
at Desmond
,oontlnned from Pare onel

llliS case 70 QASN3AAEs diSAA AH-~N - S-A-
and idle rumor from established truth
has been a defect of judgment which
has produced serious and regrettable
results; he has allowed himself to be
imposed upon by his informants; what
he has done has been of serious injury
to the school and to its officers, and
he is officially and personally censur-
able for making, and making public,
charges of immortality which he had
no evidence to sustain.
HE is further censurable for his
efforts to procure testimony by threats
and intimidation, and also by promises
of reward.
concerning the general administra-
ton of the school your committee fur
Their reports as follows:
1.-The act creating The Whittier
State School" declares that the board
of trustees shall be a body corporate
and politics to receive,
hold and use moneys or other property
held in trust for the use, and by the
authority, of the state of California,
and TO control, manage and direct the
several trusts committed to them re-
speetiveiy.' (sec. 81.
critieise Trustees
This board of trustees has not al
ways acted as a corporate body, ow-
ing to marked incompatibility of tenn
per and q lack of understanding of du-
ties and authority to act only as a
board and not as individuals.
1.-The act further declares that the
board shall make all needful rules
and regulations concerning it's meet
ings and the modes of transacting its
business (Sec. y. We find a lack of
care in preserving full and complete
records of all matters pertaining to
the business of these meetings. Too
great care cannot be exercised in pre-
serving the details of all such transac-
tions.
"The act further prescribes that the
trustees shall control, manage and di-
rect the several trusts committed to
them respectively, including the or
ganization. government and discipline
of all officers, employees and other in
mates of said institution (Sec. 81. We
find that the organization of the
school is by no means as complete and
systematic as it should be; the thor
ough organization of good business
management is wanting there.
Failure Of Officers
1.-THE board is required to appoint
the several officers of the institution
and to prescribe their duties. (Sec. 81,
Such appointments have not, in all
cases, been sufficiently considered.
and there has been a. marked failure
TO prescribe the duties of officers.
1.-The board of trustees has recently
been compelled to dismiss officers who
were morally unfit for duty in the
school, because their records had not
been sufficiently Investigated prior to
their appointments.
The law states that the board shall
see that strict discipline is main
tanned In the school (Sec. y.
"A great mass of evidence was in
troduced to show that the discipline
of the staff, as we'll as that of the
school, is confused and loose.
There is a lack of system and
definiteness of responsibility and
esprit de corps.
"There has been no such thing as
frequent and regular meetings of the
superintendent with his staff of Of
ficers and teachers, and as a conse-
quence there is a decided lack of team
work
ITO the prime object Of the school,
the upbuilding and reformation of the
pupils, the officers are not sufficiently
devoted Their work is too routine
and lifeless. They need more of the
living appreciation of the value of hu-
man beings.
Need Parole System
"The duty of paroling and dismiss
ing pupils is by law vested in the
board of trustees. (See. 16 d.. We
find that the methods here employed
are not such as obtain generally in
the best institutions of this character
There is no established and imper-
sonal system of earning a parole
based upon the pupils record of work
and conduct in all the departments OF
the institution.
''The school work, which is a very
important feature of institutions OF
this character, has not received the
attention that it demands. There
seems to be a lack of school super
vision, and weekly and monthly school
records and reports do not exist.
q Boys Need Training
"In connection with the school work
there should be a we'll equipped man.
ual training department. This is one
of the most important features of a
school of this character and is sadly
lacking in this one.
1--WE do not believe that proper at
tention is being given to the physical
renovation of the pupils, to gymnas-
tics and the general building up OF
weak and defective bodies.
improvements should be made in
the hospital service. A separate build
ing for a hospital should be erected
and a good nurse should at all times
be in charge. We do not approve OF
permitting people other than the reg
ularly appointed physician, or other
regular physicians in consultation, to
prescribe for pupils.
1.-THE military training and discipline
at.A cyOnd FThapa G a of
company drills and setting up exer-
cises. There is failure on the part
of the major and captains to work to-
gether in harmony, captains having
even refused to obey the orders of the
major. The failure to prescribe the
duties of officers was conspicuous in
this department.
Should Be Exemplary
There was considerable evidence of
a degree of such moral delinquency as
is never wholly absent among the pu-
pills of such a school. We believe that
the moral forces of regeneration and
preservation are not used to their full
extent, and even in minor matters we
believe that officers should be ex-
emplary in character, and should
themselves abstain from all those in
duigences which are forbidden to their
I'VE take pleasure in witnessing to
the unselfish devotion of the members
of the board of trustees to their du-
ties: their willingness TO spend largely
Of their time in the interests of the in
stitution, and their complete freedom
from making political or personal APP
pointment or in any other way using