Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-02-02
Teacher IN PROTEST
Declares New Pay Regulations
Work Great Injustice.
RESORT TO LOAN SHARKS
Forced to Borrow Money, She Says,
Because of Holding Back
of Salaries.
To the Editor OF The Star:

To the Editor OF The Star:
As a teacher personally disiaterested
because of usual good health. beg space
in your columns to voice protest against
the injustice and inhumanity of deprlv-
ing sick teachers of their entire salaries.
many of whom are i'll in hospitals or
sanitariums as a result of too great devo-
| tion to their work. These teachers nave
been deprived of salaries that they had
right to expect for the month of De-
cember under regulation of the board
| OF education in force for thirty years.
TEACHERS have been accused of farm
ing out" their positions. This so-calied
farming OUT of positions arises from
teachers employing substitutes during
! illness, which is the custom throughout
the United States. except in progressive
| cities such as Boston. Chicago, Now
| York and Philadelphia where there is a
permanent corps of substitutes paid di-
rectly by the board of trustees, and where
the teacher. after a certain number of
| days of leave with pay. is locked GER
tain sum for each days absence, when
usually lapses into the retirement 1uhu.
| Washington, under the old regulation re-
| Gently reversed by the controller was
practically the only city without days
leave with pay.
System in New York.
The teacher III New York has. after the
first four days. ninety-one days SICK
leave with pay. Board of education
report. 1885, section A. paragraph - In
Boston, after five days leave for various
reasons the teacher has three weeks
with a reduction of Loo of the salary
doll no RI fcnf
leave at his discretion for year. and in
extreme cases beyond the year. Contrast
this with Washington Before the con-
trollers ruling there was no sick leave
with LAY. and a total loss of salary after
reduction of 1-JO0 daily for thirty days
of absence. Since the controllers ruling
teacher loses full pay for every alb
sence, even though caused by illness,
death in family or quarantine
here seems to be in some
quarters that teachers are immune from
) illness. and even death for in New York
teacher was suspended for absence
caused by her death. AS matter OF
fact at the time of the controllers ruling
teachers had been ill in December from
diphtheria, contracted from school chill
dren. grip caused by hall duty In
dIaughty halls, nervous prostration due
10 overwork, and a thousand other ills
that flesh is heir to- These sick teach
ers, already out of pocket by reason of
Illness We're unexpectedly deprived of
| tnoH SdidTleS Que tnem from the
Of December to the list of January.
Had Paid Substitutes.
They had already been paid an INSTALL
ment OF their salaries before Christmas
| under contract according to the old resu-
laticn. These teachers, acting under con-
tract. had paid their substitutes. SO that
they were not only out of pocket their
entire salaries but what they had paid
the substitutes as we'll Again. since.
according to the belated ruling. teachers
had been paid too much before Christmas
| these same sick people who did not re-
| ceive in January what they. expected
! were asked to pay back some of the
money received before Christmas. In add
dition to all this they were not paid
their pittance until after the middle OF
the month. the calculations involved be-
ing so intricate; for example, teache"
i'll Friday and the following Monday was
construed i'll Saturday and Sunday, al
though if she had been We'll these days
the boards rules would have prevented
work: and again. if she were absent the
day before and the day after the holi-
DAYS, the controller compelled her to he
III during the entire holidays. although
by the doctors certificate she might have
proved herself we'll and able to work. but
was prevented again by the boards rul-
ing.
AS a result of all this. teachers some
Of whom are strangers in the city, press
ed by landlords butchers and bakers,
had recourse to loan sharks. What would
you expect as a sinking fund on an aver
age salary of S711.31 from 1901 to 1910
and an average salary of $3.50 for twenty
years previous?
Must Wait for Salaries
AS a further result of the same decision
all teachers are to wait for their January
salary until about the 18th of February,
as the presence of the teacher must be
certified through the last day of the
month. Unde: the old regulation, how
ever. teachers without substitutes, al
though through no fault of their own,
oil fbar W