The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-10-11
TOWN PAYS S3,65O FOR
 TEACHERS WHO DO LITTLE
Mrs. Winton Gets a Chilly Reception at Her First Appearance in
 the School Committee
STAMFORD
Special to The Farmer.)

1 Special to The Farmer)
 f Stratford, Oct. 1.-The newly elected
 town school committee met for the
 first time last night and organized for | business. For the first time in the | history of the town woman appeared l person of Mrs. R. c. Winton, who was
 elected last Monday. President W.
 B. Coggswell, Secretary F. E. Blake
 man, George A. Fairchild and Mrs.
 Winton were the only members pres
 ent. John C. Wflcoxson had not been mo tified of the meeting, but appeared
 after the election of officers in re re-
 MT Kelsey The first business was | the annual election of officers. MT. | Fairchild moved that the secretary | cast one ballot for the present officers, which was done; and they were de
 clared reelected. Arden l.. Judd, who
 Is absent from the town, was elected i vice president: Dr. Goggeswe1 and
 MT. Judd were appointed a committee
 to act on teachers supply, and John
 c. Wilcoxson and F. D. Blakeman were essary. The bills for the past year ! were read by the secretary and or dered paid MT. Fairchild made a. Sug- l gestion that the bills of the commit take advantage of the two per cent. | discount. A letter from the state
 board of education announced that the
 town would not be entitled to receive
 any money from the state on account
 of the salary of the superintendent be-
 cause the law limited such an allow
 ance to towns employing no more than
 90 teachers. Secretary Blakeman as-
 sured the committee that the state
 board of education was in error A
 copy of the law accompanied the conn munication. This ended the official
 business, but the male portion of the committee held a star chamber ses- sion after Mrs. Winton had gone which lasted nearly an hour. The re- ception of Mrs. Winton was not at all gracious. It has abeen freely reported that the male portion of the com
 mittee propose to freeze out the lone woman on the committee, and make it so hot for her that she will be glad to resign. In reply to a question by
 Mrs. Winton, both pr. CoggsweH and Supt. Kelsey denied that any contract existed between him, the superinten- dent, and the school committee by In an interview with the Farmer correspondent one acknowledged that he had been employed to teach these periods and that typewriting. was one printed in the Stratford column of The Farmer the next day and was not denied. Other questions were ignored and there was an evident desire to withhold all the information possible from the new member of the commits tee. In spite of the denials that MT. Kutchner, the new high school teach CT, was principal, he appears as prin- cipa1 on the official list of teachers in the High school In reply to per- sistent questioning Mrs Winton ob- tained acknowledgment that Prof. Kel- sey does no teaching and does not in- tend to do any; that Miss Edith Tar ner teaches only physical culture to as- sist the regular teachers. The ques- tioning revealed that the town is pay ing Prof. Kelsey $2.O00, Miss Turner $S50 and that the town has lost the fiplicity of teachers, two of whom who have been mentioned, making slight return to the town for the sal- aries they receive, and that the town is mulcted to the tune of 8, $50 through the management of the present school committee. There is on reason why the services of Prof. Kelsey as su- perintendent should not be dispensed with if the work he was employed to do is performed by MT Kutchner whose salary IS $1 POO per year. After met very chilly reception, but would continue to have information for the taxpayers as long as they wished to members of the committee, while not in accordance with the standard set l by educators generally, did not frigh- l ten her a bit She said: CT received 1 the most courteous treatment in the | caucus, in the campaign from the vo- i terss of the town as a, whole and also 1 in the town meetings in which I have 1 taken part, and have met with noth- 1 ing that would indicate that women 1 should not take a hand in politics. It l
 
 I find conditions which would indicate l that politics is too rotten for a. Wo- | man to be mixed up in." . PeaSe, a local Indian, was the vic | tim of alcoholic mania yesterday and l was discovered in Ferry creek up to his | neck His shrieks brought out the 1 neighbors who were unable to reach | him. Constable Fred Palmer was sent for and he managed N to rescue | Pease from his impending fate In | the process the constable got a good | wetting. Once on the bank Pease l slipped away and climbed a tree. The | followed and after "a few high | wire stunts got his man to the ground | passed the night. The constable was shivering with the cold when he reached the center, and was obliged to | change every article of his clothing | before he appeared on the street again.
 Lillie Melia, five years old daughter of MT. and Mrs. eGorge Me1ia of North King street, fell from a, swing at her home yesterday afternoon and was severely injured. pr. Rowland found the child's collar bone broken and reduced the fracture.
 H. Q. Lowell & Co. have been award ed the contract for covering the fur naces of the public school with fire proof material as voted at a town require 1.425 feet of fire proofng. The work will be begun today.
 With R. A. Curtis as chairman and W. Smith secretary, the Pro- last evening named the following ticket: For representatives, Richard Howell, L. I. Snyder; judge of pro- bate, Phi1o P. Havens; justices of the Polly, Herbert W. Doolittle, George Meachen, J. W. Simendinger, John J. Conroy.