Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-16
HOUSE Committee ADVISED
Supt. Stuart and Board President Elk
pected Trouble.
EACH EXPLAINS THE CUSTOM
Practice in the District Began Thirty
Years Ago-Had No Authority
in Law.

schools in regard to the holding out OF
ally of the 200 teachers who hired sub
etitutes last month. and a general ex-
PLANTATION in several cases where teacher:
followed the custom OF supplying substi.
tutes, We're made several weeks in ad.
vance of the controllers decision by Supt
A. I. Stuart and James f. Oyster, pres
ident OF the board Of education. That
Supt. Stuart foresaw the present condi
ton and prophesied with remarkable &C.
curacy the controllers decision that the
board was carrying on a practice un.
warranted by law will be seen when the
hearings before the House appropriations
committee are published
Statements Before Committee.
Mr.. Stuart told that committee that
there is no authority in law for the ap,
pointment of : substitute teachers, al.
though the board Of education had beer
doing 1t, and previous school boards had
done it for thirty years at least.
The decision Of the controller Of the
Treasury, which stated that very fact,
to the great surprise OF 1900 school
teachers and the consequent mixing UP
or the pay rolls. was not announced fo
several weeks after Mr. Stuart's state
lHduc DeHIHO Closed OOOFS OF the aD
preparations committee.
Mr.. Stuart introduced the subject in
this way:
Il want to make one or two sugges-
tions that will take but a minute. Sew
eral years ago there was added to the
Senate Dill a prOyiso permitting the
board of education to employ substi-
tute teachers at such rates OF pay and
from such eligible lists as may be pre-
scribed by the board OF education, and
also to appoint temporary teachers
Stricken Out on Point of Order.
This was embodied in the Senate bill
and went out on point Of order. 1t wa:
prepared by the auditor Of the Dis
trict, the fact being that there is no
authority in law for the appointment Of
substitute teachers
Mr.. Stuart had with him a para
graph to be inserted in the statutes
which would legalize the appointing OF
substitutes and temporary teachers.
'There is nothing hidden about It.,
continued Mr.. Stuart. 1T is simply that
the controller Of the Treasury, II this
matter came up to him, would rule as
he did in the case Of sick leave for Dis
trict employees: that there is no author
ity for teacher to pay substitute
that is, she would have to give the sub
stitute her entire pay. For thirty or forty
years the board of education has been
acting on a rule that gives the substi-
tute teacher hall the teachers pay for
limited time"
Knew Of No Abuses.
Representative Gardner asked Supt.
Stuart II there had been any correction
Of abuses in the substitute business. Mr..
Stuart replied he knew Of no abuses.
MT 20 Dto oLod PonroSanf a tive
Gardner, that some of the teachers have
gone to, Europe and left substitutes
teaching"
without pay said Mr.. Stuart.
rs 1t not q fact that they have gone
to the Pacific coast and taken time out Of
the term and received helf pay? Is it no
a fact that they have been gone repeat
eddy. perhaps a week at a time. and yet
have been on half pay?"
/ Representative Gardner said it had
been reported SO to him. Ho also asked
about the case Of a teacher who had
been practicing medicine and had been
employing a substitute teacher at the
time.
That matter" explained Mr.. Stuart
came before the board of education.
and q report was made as to what peO-
pie were doing outside. 1t transpired
that one of the colOred teachers was
est thing that came to professional
work.
Teachers Engage in Coaching.
MANY teachers do coaching after Of
flee hours. / do not mean coaching
their own pupils. They have to do it
in order to get sufficient money to live.
The only provisions for leave of abb
sence are without pay. excepting that
when a teacher is sick, in which case
she pays substitute half her pay, and
that terminates In thirty days.
IF you will let me I will explain the
case to which you referred first, and
which I now recall. teacher in one
Of our high schools wanted to go to
Oxford to study English at the foun-
tainhead of English. She asked for
leave Of absence for the rest OF the
year without pay for that purpose
down in health somewhat. she also
asked for the additional privilege of
putting in substitute for the first
thirty days of her absence. The board
the auditor. and she lost her whole
pay. The grounds on which the board
allowed that were that it was not an
unusual thinK in other school systems
to put some kind of a premium upon q
teachers improving her efficiency
Capt. Oyster Explains.
Capt. Oyster. president of the board
of education, explained the case OF the
teacher who went to the Pacific coast.
"a man went out there as trained
nurse. He expected to furnish a sub
stitute, and his pay was not allowed
him. In the Mckinley School man
went to take a position under the gov
eminent. and that was discovered and
no money paid to him. There is q
case now before the board of princi-
pal of Normal School No. .. She went
to Europe without our permission and
without our knowledge. and did not
return until September 30, and her pay
has been withheld"
TWO MEN KILLED BY FALL.