Norwich bulletin., 1909-09-23
SCHOOL VISITOR PAINE.
Regrets System of Low Salaries Which Results in Trained Teachers Going Elsewhere,

In his report as acting visitor of 1 the schools in the town of Killingly, James M. Paine deals this year with a
 matter that interests all citizens of the
 town-the difficulty of securing ana retaining competent teachers that has confronted the committed
 Of this matter MT. Paine says: "The teachers who have resigned have for the most part been called to other po sitions paying larger salaries than arg paid here. The total salaries received by the six teachers who resigned was S2,S7S, and the amount to be paid to the same teachers in their new posi- tions is s4,3o0. This does not fully state the situation, however. as the difficulty is increased by conditions affecting the natural source of supply. Trained teachers who are residents of the town or graduates of our own nor nal schools, are largely engaged by superintendents who can offer salaries high enough to more than offset the 1 increased cost of living away from home. For instance. eight teachers who are either residents or during the past eight years have been employed in it's schools. will have positions in New Jersey the coming year, in addi- tion to a considerable number who
 have heretofore gone to that state. Due to Normal Schools. Tn this connection it may be said that the normal schools of Connecticut
 maintained by the state at large ex- pense for the purpose of improving the standard of it's schools, are. actually
 proving to be a means of depriVing
 the state of much of it's best teaching talent thus tend<ng to compel the less wealthy towns. at least, to content | themselves with the less efficient or | untrained.
 Benefit New Jersey.
 This is by no means a discredit to the schools as such: 1t is a high tribute to their reputation for training excellent teachers, but it may at least he questioned whether it is profitable for the state of Connecticut to spend tens if not hundreds of thousands of
 dollars annually in training it's young women to be teachers, while these schools place at the disposal of New Jersey superintendents their facilities for judging the comparative value of
 graduates in such way as to cause many, perhaps even a majority of the best to take positions outside the statel No objection. of course, could be made to any teacher securing better posi- tion through ordinary channels, and such competition must be squarely
 met, but it is apparent that many of these positions are obtained solely on the T6cOnTQenQdtlOH OI lIle HOIHldl schools without the candidates having been approached directly by the em- ployed.
 Local officials are thus placed at a serious disadvantage, since those who know most. next to themselves, about the efficiency of their teaching force, are the very agents through whom its most valuable members are likely to be removed"
 "The result is that many of the most competent teachers left to us are not those trained in the normal schools. They are young women with natural talent for the work, who have gained
 ability through experience and home
 study, with occasional courses at sum : mer schools; teachers who doubtless would be even more valuable if normal graduates, but whose services in that case would be lost to the town and probably to the state. The situation above outlined will explain why but one of the vacancies occurring this year was filled by the appointment of | a graduate of Connecticut normal school. Their best are almost sure to | be lost after one year, and we are not justified in employing their poor