Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1908-12-22
THE SCHOOL BOARD
MAKES NEW RULES
Requires Superin-
tendents to Visit
Schools
NEW SALARY BASIS JAN. /
Board Will Also Ask for Sew.
eral Amendments to Laws
Relating to Education.

At the recent meeting of the terri
torial board of education held in this
city the board adopted new rule for
county superintendents to go into ef-
feet after January |, requiring them
to visit the schools in their counties.
Under the old school laws the county
superintendents did little more than
attend to the clerical work Of their
offices. They were not required to
visit schools, to consult with directors
in the management of the schools or
to confer with the teachers in regard
to their work, and under such condi-
tiOns as then obtained, the territorial
board of education had no power to
require any better or more effective
services from them.
At the last meeting of the legisla-
tive assembly, in 1907, some of the
members suggested that If the super
intendents had no other duties than
merely to attend to the clerical work,
the Office might as well be abolished,
and the clerical work turned over to
the probate court. However, the as
sembly amended the law in such a
manner as to get real supervision of
the public school by the county SUI
perintendent.
Duties Are Prescribed.
That law set out what the duties
of the county superintendent should
be, and also provided that the Terri
torial Board OF Education might in it's
discretion make additional rules and
regulations which the county superin-
tendents should obey. The law also
provided change in the method of
fixing the salaries Of the superintend-
ents. Under@tha old law their salaries
were based oil the classification of the
counties with no regard whatever to
the amount Of work that would devolve
upon the office, inasmuch as the classi-
iication OF counties is determined by
the amount of money paid into
the territorial treasury. Thus a coun-
ty rich in property might be poor in
the number of it's school children and
schools, and on the contrary a poor
county might have large school pop
ulation. Under this provision. a SUI
perintendent might, have from so to
so schools under his charge and to
require him to visit them even yearly
on a salary of perhaps five or six
hundred dollars would have been a
burden upon him.
New Salary Basis.
The law passed at the last session,
however, bases the amount Of a super
intendent's salary upon the number Of
school rooms in his county. This pro-
vision goes into effect January 1st and
in view of this more equitable plan
the territorial board at it's meet
ing passed an order which requires
each superintendent to make at least
one visit annually during the school
session to each school having a term
of 4 months or less, and to make two
visits annually to each school having
term OF more than months and to
report to the board all such matters as
are called for by the blanks provided
him for that purpose.
The law passed in 1907 gave the
territorial board power to make such
regulations for the Office of county SUI
perintendents as it saw fit, and that
part of the law went into immediate
effect. Under it's provisions the board
has prescribed many regulations which
are being lived up to by the very eff
cient corps of county superintendent.
The board however, has hitherto not
required that the schools be visited
because under the salary regulations
such an order would have been a hard.
ship upon superintendent.
viii Ask Amendments.
The Territorial Board of Educa-
tion will make several recommenda-
tions for amendments to the territor-
ial school law at the next session OF
the legislative assembly Many of
these have not yet been formulated
but are being put into shape by attor-
neys for the board. Two recommends
tions however, have been definitely de-
cided upon One of these is to pro-
vide for a new manner Of establishing
school sites in the various districts.
A Disputes and much dissatisfaction has
arisen from this matter heretofore. I'm
der the present law the district school
v directors have full power to determine
the site upon which school shall be
established free from the interference
3 of the county superintendent or any
body else It is proposed to ask that
the law be amended to require that
\. the directors locate schools only upon
y petition Of, and upon the recommends
tfon Of majority Of the electors re-
siding In the school district, thus max