The Penn's Grove record., 1913-10-03
WOMAN FOR
TRUANT OFFICER
Miss Cecilia McGrath to Round
Up Pupils Absent from School
TAKES PLACE OF POLICEM MAN
End of Agitation for Two Years by
superintendent Foster-Man Not
Suitable Except When Drastic
Treatment Is Required.

(OpeCldA isenLOn correspondence
Trenton.-Following two years of
agitation on the part of Superintend-
ent Henry W. Foster, a woman has
been appointed to take the place of a
policeman as truant officer at the
South Orange public schools. The
appointee is Miss Cecilia McGrath, of
East Orange, who has already as
sumed her new duties. Superintend-
ent Foster has commended that the use
OF a policeman as an attendance Of
fcer, except where incorrigibility re-
quires drastic treatment, is not suit
ed to American ideals and has recon-
mended to the Board of Education re-
peatedly since 1911 hat a change be
made.
The new attendance officer is a
nurse, as was recommended by Mr..
Foster. Mr.. Foster says that properly
qualified women have been found to
be, in many ways, the best attendance
officers, while parents resent the i'm
plication that their children need such
a display of force as that of a police
man.
The officer himself, the superintend-
ent holds, does not feel that keeping
children in school is his natural duty.
He claims that the policeman lacks
the feeling of personal responsibility,
and that this is perhaps the most ser
ious defect in the old method of hay
ing a policeman attendance officer.
Assists Medical Inspector.
Miss McGrath will also act as as
sistant to DR.. Anne B. Newton, the
medical inspector in the schools, as
Superintendent Foster had planned.
Mr.. Foster says that the new law
with reference to medical inspection
requires much work in keeping rec
ords of an annual physical examina-
ton of every pupil. The superintend-
ent says also that the attendance Of
fcer should keep the school census up
to date.
The census is required in order to
avoid what otherwise is sure to occur,
the non-enrollment of certain children
in any school. Mr.. Foster is of the
opinion that the combined work in
the South Orange school district,
which includes South Orange village,
MapleWood and Hilton, is not at pres
ent more than can be done by one ca
pable woman, but, he adds, a com
petent woman officer will feel the per-
sonal responsibility which is vitality
necessary to efficient administration
of the new school law.
With the appointment of the wo
man officer, Mr.. Foster says the ex
pense viii be somewhat increased, but
to a large extent counterbalanced by
a material addition to the receipts
from the State for better attendance
and by the cost of the school census,
The regular attendance and conse'
Guently improved morals and intelli
gence of several children, in the past
going to waste, will alone be ade
quate compensation, and by the in
c~reasing population of the district new
conditions are arising which more and
more justified the appointment of the
woman officer, Mr.. Foster contends.
Tourists Enjoy Autumn.
Notwithstanding the threatening
weather and occasional showers there
were many motorists on the roads
throughout the State. On the shore
road, many cars were noted carrying
impedimenta from summer homes
at the shore that had been closed fol
the season, while other carried parties
of anglers who had INDUCED in theil
faVorite pastime at various points
along the Jersey coast from South Am
boy all the way down to the end o.
Barnegat Bay. In the northern part O.
the State the roads were equally
crowded with those who enjoy the
clear, cool air of the mountain sec
ton. Several of the cars encountered
carried great clusters of goldenrod o.
branches of oak leaves with theil
many-hued autumnal tints. Many O
the highways are in even better con
dition than they were in midsummer
as most of the repair work has beer
completed, and the motorists arr
quick to take advantage of this fac
for short weekend trips to new points
of interest.
Give Boys a Chance.
There is a Vice Chancellor who is
admired by all who know him, ant
loved by many, who once replied to
querulous complaint by al employees
concerning the lack of knowledge OF
the part of his employees, with the acit
remark:-"It's your own fault" Thu
acidity was due to the fact that it wa
the truth. Under the old apprentice
system part of the agreement which