The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-10-22
TRY A new PLAN.
Teachers Association Recon-.
mends Nonpartisan Boards.
Would Have City Schools Run on
Commission Plan.
MEETINGS ARE OVER.
Close Last Night With Lectures
at Auditorium.
MEETINGS ARE OVER
Total Attendance Fell Below
Four Thousand Mark.

| Although in attendance the forty
eighth annual meeting of the Kansas
State Teachers association did not
come up to the mark, 300-of a
year ago, it was adjudged a success.
Never before was there such an array
| of eminent speakers on the program,
and the purely Kansas session Friday
morning, when only Kansas topics
were discussed by local men, was an
innovation which is considered worthy
| of repetition.
| The actual registration fell short of
! $500, but it is the opinion of those
who are in a position to know, that
there were a number of teachers who
| failed to go near the registration booth
| in the state house.
| Under the direction of Principal E.
F. Stanley, the local entertainment
committee worked with precision and
| dispatch, and there was no hitch in
the work of adequately providing for
the accommodation of the guests of
| the city.
BY noon Friday the teachers had
| begun to pack their suit cases in
readiness to leave for their respective
places of residence, and by midnight
disseminators left in the city.
| In the afternoon KansaE avenue
swarmed with those who were on
shopping bent, and the merchants re-
| port that trade was brisk, to say the
least, at that time of day.
The meeting closed last night at the
auditorium with strong addresses by
Professors P. P. Claxton of the Uni
versity of Tennessee, and DR.. Henry A.
| Goddard, of the New Jersey training
school, the former speaking on t'Edu-
cation for the Larger Life and the
latter on 1.-THE Newest Problem in
Education"
In the afternoon thirteen round ia
| bIes were held in various halls and
| churches. One of the most important
of these gatherings was the superin-
| tendents' meeting at the high school
auditorium.
Miss Mildred Hazelrigg of Topeka,
was chosen as chairman of the music
round table for the ensuing year, and
I DIR. E. C. Wilm heads the pedagogy
department.
/ eRecomme ndations made by both
the resolution and the legislative COM
mittees that the commission plan of
government be applied to the govern
/ ing of schools in cities of the first and
second classes were most important.
The report of the legislative COM
mittee in this respect reads as follows:
1.-THE Commission would recommend
| the placing of the Boards of Educa-
| ton of all first and second class cities
| on a common basis reads the report
| tfA1so because a large Board of eight
| ten or twelve members is cum bersome
and unwie1dy, the Commission would
urge that the number of members
| constituting a Board of Education be
| limited to six, or, preferably to five.
''In cities of Illinois, Missouri, North
Dakota and Ohio the Boards are sc
| constituted and the plan has proved
very successful. 1t is also urged that
| the term of a member shall be at least
three years and that not more than
| two members shall be elected each
year. And because the schools of g
city should be free from political in
| fluence so far as is possible, it is rec
! commended that the members should
| be elected by a non-partisan ballot
and the members should be chosen
| from the city at large without regard
| to ward lines or location"
The following subjects for legislation
are recommended in the report:
1. State and county aid for the sup
| port of schools.
| Nonpartisan election of boards OF
| education in cities.
8. Certification of teachers.
4. Fixing Qualifications for county