Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-12-31

No more salaries will be paid to pup-
lie school teachers when they are absent
from their classrooms, whether from ILL
ness. accident, unforeseen emergencies or
from any cause whatsoever.
This is the gist of q decision 10y the
Controller Of the Treasury sent TO the
District Commissioners today, and which
upsets the entire program of the board OF
education regarding tne absence Of teach
ers and the pay of substitutes.
The decision affects l,S00 salaries in the
District public school system, and il %
far reaching and SO sudden that imme-
date application will be made to Con-
gress to have legalized a practice that
has been ngoing on Illegally, according to
the Controller. for thirty years or more.
The Custom of Years.
For years the custom of the board OF
has been to place a substitute
teacher in a classroom when the regular
teacher is absent The regular teacher
mas received her regular salary for the
absent period. minus daily sum which is
paid to the substitute. The pay rolls OF
the schools have always certified that the
regular teacher was present and had per
formed her duties. The result, OF course
has been that the teacher being absent re-
ceived some money, although not her full
income. The substitutes have never been
placed on the regular pay roll 1t is rec-
ognized that substitutes are a necessity
the controller conceding that schools can-
not be run without them. The one thing
he makes plain Is that il the schools wan,
to continue their present system of sub
stltutes and substitute pay the board OF
education will have to go right up 10
Congress. OF ask the Commissioners [,
do so. and have this unwarranted thirty
or forty year old custom made legal from
now on.
Rule Of the Board.
Rule AZ, covering absences of teachers
Is found in the recent edition of the
board Of education's handbook. 1t is
several pages in length and covers ever
kind Of absence, from that OF
caretakers and charwomen UP to the
In the case of teachers
it arranges pay for the substitutes, la
such manner that the regular teacher
gets some money and the substitute gets
some, too. 1t gives a complete schedule
OF pay for substitutes who work for thir-
ty days, and for those who work sixty
days. 1t arrangeS that at the end Of
sixty days the regular teacher shall be
dropped automatically from the pay roll
until she returns to work SO that for
sixty days, however, the teacher can
draw pay for her services, turn part of
it over to her substitute and use the bal
ance to live on, pay doctors bills, etc.
No criticism is offered by any account
ing officer on this arrangement Ii is
merely a question of legality to be set
tied. and which has been settled by the
decision.
Controllers Opinion Sought.
The matter came to a crisis when the
board of education, finding itself in "A
quandary over the substitutes for two
Katherine Reed and Florence
Jenkins. had to make a rule to employ
certain substitutes. The matter was SD
involved and technical that the board
kept the two teachers on the roll at full
pay and still put two temporary teach
ers in their places, the sixty-day limis
having been reached. Temporary teach-
ers" is a class separate and distinct from
substitute" Alonzo Tweedale. auditor
for the District OF Columbia, could not
pass the matter and asked the controller
to decide, at the same time asking him
the following significant question, which
Is the more important one and which al
fects the entire substitute situation:
"Whether the accounting and dlsburs-
ing officers of the District Of Columbia
are authorized to approve for payment
and to pay salaries to teachers Tor any
school day during Whlch tne saio teach-
ers are absent under the provisions or
-ule 43 O fthe board Of education?
The Controllers Reply.
In his reply the controller passes over
he case Of the two teachers mentioned
With a brief paragraph. saying that the
situation is illegal. The decision says
further:
Il have been unable to find any direct
aw which specifically gives to the school
,oard authority to employ or pay subsu-
ute or temporary teachers who teach in
he public schools in place of or instead
II absent teachers. Neither have l been
lble to find any law or any authority
whatsoever authorizing the school board
O nav teachers for days wherein they
re absent and fail to teach. whatever
nav be the cause of such absences.
"Public schools from their very nature
re going concerns. and l have no doubt
hat AZ is the intent of Congress that
he public schools of Washington shall
perate in all theix departments. rooms
nd classes each oeool day i'm school
ear, that pupils - these schools shall
OF be deprived OF instruction for q sim