Gloucester County Democrat., 1909-03-25
TEACHERS TENURE OF OFFICE
BILL.

To the Editor of the Democrat:
For impertinent interference with
local elf-government the bill to COM
pei District Boards of Education to
retain teachers in their positions is
about the limit.
1t appears to be based upon the as
sumption that local Board of Edu-
cation is lot of imbeciles who are
not fit to be trusted with the power
to decide whether or not teacher
is giving good service in the school
where she is employed.
1t assumes that the majority of the
members of school boards, who are
usually among the best and most in
teIligent citizens in the community,
are so lacking in Judgment and COM
mon sense that they habitually vote
against reelection of teachers through
childish prejudice and pure cussed-
ness.
1t is entirely one-sided, for while
it would compel the board to retain
a teacher regardless of whether her
service was satisfactory or not, it
would not, and should not, prevent the
teacher from throwing up her posi-
tion whenever she saw fit to leave.
1t would be the greatest setback
that our public school system could
well receive, for by making death or
resignation the only means by which
vacancy would ever occur in any of
the higher positions, it would cause
the energetic and ambitious teachers
to become discouraged and leave,
while the lazy ones would remain in
the snug anchorage provided by the
Radcliff bil
It would have a tendency to keep
salaries down, for a board would nat
urally hesitate to raise a deserving
teachers salary when it knew that
the salary could not be reduced again
no matter how the district might be-
come cramped financially, or how
slack and Indifferent to her work the
teacher might become in the future.
! In its original form the bill pro-
vided for a probationary service of
three years, after which a Board of
Education should have no power to
drop a teacher at the end of her term
by failing to re-elect her, and should
have no power to lower her salary.
It seems, however, that after per-
1iod nf profound cogitation, Statesman
Radcliff, of Passaic, the father of the
bill made the discovery that it would
be possible for a board to not re-elect
teacher after two years service and
thus avoid having her saddled upon
them for life. In order, therefore, to
stop up this loophole the bill was
withdrawn last week to be amended
by striking out the probationary per-
iod, after which, according to the news
! paper reports, it is to be brought UP
4 e. : t,;s h
Just what shape the bill will finally
take is problematical but however it
may be amended it is contrary to the
spirit of Democratic government, and
in open violation of the constitution
which prohibits the legislature from
passing any law impairing the obli-
cation of contracts.
No doubt there are instances where
good teachers have been turned down
land compelled to seek new positions
at the end of their terms when there
existed no proper reason for the
parience in school matters knows that
one of the creates difficulties a board
has to meet is to keep good teachers
.especidlly in the lower grades.
The capable and efficient teachers
4 ttf0 COutluudIly CluuuIiiS dpM al u clfaN
can have their choice of positions
without legislative interference. On
1.-The other hand, no board should be
compelled to waste school money ON
! teachers whose success is so poor that
! they require legislative interference
Ito keep their positions.
LORENZO NELSON
Ferrell, N. a., March 23,190e-
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