The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1909-05-25
The MATTER IS DECIDED.
State Superintendent Baxter Makes
the Question Plain.


state superintendent Baxter Makes
the Question Plain.
In view of the fact that the letter of
State Superintendent Baxter to Coun-
ty Superintendent Hulsart is taken as
a decision that the meetings of school
boards may be secret, a taxpayer Of
the town (not member Of the state
board Of education) wrote to Mr.. Bax-
ter as follows:
Morristown, May 10th, 1909
My dear Mr.. Baxter:
| am informed that you have sent TO
our county superintendent Of schools a
letter stating in effect that our board
OF education has a perfect right to
hold open or secret sessions in the
transaction Of their business as they
prefer. / write to say that this opin-
ion is in direct conflict with that of
many of our taxpayers, of whom am
one, and also of one Of our ablest and
most experienced lawyers who has
been consulted in the matter. We
hold that secret sessions for the ex-
penditure of the money Of the tax
payers is unlawful and against sound
public policy-that the BOARD has no
more right to do such business in sec
ret than has the Legislature, or the
board of freeholders, or the common
council. We hold that the people
have right to know what they pay in
salaries and to whom, whether the
furnishing of supplies is put out by
contract to the lowest bidder or hand
ed over as perquisites to favorites, and
whether any drawbacks " are paid,
how much and to whom, etc.
/ have so much confidence in your
fairness and sound Judgment. that l
believe if you give to this matter a
serious second thought you will revise
the opinion expressed in the letter re
ferred to. But if you still hold to the
opinion, I would be glad to know up
on what law or consideration Of the
public interests you base it.
In reply he received the following:
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
Trenton, N. j.. May 21su, 1909
| have yours of the 20th inst. and am
pleased to find your views in accorc
with my own and my letter to Super
intendent Hulsart. The full text O.
my decision is as follows:
1.-THE meetings of a board of.educa
tion may in accordance with its dis
cretion, be either public or private
Whenever the board shall deem it ad
yisanle to hold an executive session nj
one outside of its membership is war
ranted in claiming admission.
| Only the executive session is a pri
yate meeting and the inference seem!
to me entirely clear that it is to be re
garded as-the exceptional rather thar
the usual meeting.
The public is vitally interested il
each of the items of business you men
tion and each should be tranacted al
public meetings. 1t would, however
be a grave error of Judgment to dis
cuss in open session some of the de
tails of school administration, particu
larly those into which the persona
element enters.
| have known educational sentiment
to be corrupted and communities to b,
disrupted by such errors of judgment
You would not, | am sure, have you
board of education consider at a pub
lie meeting the respective merits o
the several candidates for your cit.
superintendency or some of the per
plexities connected with school disci
pline. A few of the meetings of ;
board of education are necessarily pri
vate and IL is quite as often necessar!
to emphasize this as the more patenI
fact that the majority of said meet
ings should be public
| III III is the discretion OF a board o
education to make all of its meeting'
private, then such discretion is moi
wisely exercised and if public senti
ment in any municipality shall de
mand that they all be public, ther
public sentiment is equally at fault.
Enclosed find verbatim copy of my
letter to superintendent Hulsart. ]
am sorry that anyone has misunder
stood it.
Very sincerely yours,
@. j. BAXTER
There is no room for misunderstood
ing now, and the so-called decision:
were simply misunderstanding o.