The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1917-10-25
A Letter From Miss Steward
1877 Madison Avenue.
Skowhegan, Maine,
October "a. 1917


In a discussion of the recent
school situation, which appeared in
the last issue of the Independent
Reporter, the following statement was
made: THE question raised by not a
few and even by a member of the
school board is; why did they Miss
and why did they tender their resigna-
tions?' If this deplorable ignorance
of the matter really exists, Miss F'lynt
and | feel that, in justice to the citi-
zens of Skowhegan and to ourselves,
we should give an exact statement Of
the reasons for our designations.
1t has been the custom lat least for
the last seven years as admitted by
one member of the Board, for the
teachers of academic subjects in the
Skowhegan High School to receive
$5i5 for their first year work With a
raise of SIS for each additional year
OF service until the maximum of $3.50
has been reached. 1t spite of the ex-
listing custom, | petitioned the Board
for $3.50 for the present year in place
of the $625 to which my years of
teaching were supposed to entitle me
Little hope was offered me for the
success of my petition for the reasons
that, to grant that additional raise
would be establishing a precedent
and the town, furthermore, had appro-
priated no larger amount than usual
for the high school. Therefore,
when | received my contract for 1925
| accepted it.
During the first week of the fall
term the report came to Miss Flynt
and me that Miss Merrill was receiv-
ing $3.50, her second year as teacher
in the school We sent for Mr.. Ger
rish on Friday, September 21, and,
when he had confirmed the report, we
stated what we considered the injus-
tice of the situation and our desire to
! present the case to the School Board,
which he assured us would hold its
regular meeting either that afternoon
or the following day. That evening
| telephoned to Mr.. Bailey as the
| chairman of the Board to obtain, if
/ possible, correct information about
their meeting, and at the same time
| stated that Miss Flynt and had a
| grievence in the matter of salary to
| present In response to Mr. Bailey's
/ information that the meeting had been
/ postponed until Tuesday. | expressed
our hope that the matter could be
/ satisfactorily arranged, and il not, in
/ justice to ourselves that we might be
gin to work our notice the following
/ Monday, September "a Since the
! chairman of the School Board repre-
sents the Committee as whole we
can, therefore, see no reason for the
statement "They had been working
! two days notice even before the Com
mittee knew anything about it"
On Tuesday, September -. Miss
/ FlYnt and | met with the Committee
and laid the matter before them They
asked what we considered a satisfac-
tory settlement In reply we merely
asked that teachers with the same
qualifications should receive the same
remuneration in return for equal ser
vice. We agreed to the Committees s
request for time to consider our
proposition, asking only, in case they
| ,
that we might date the beginning of
our notice from Monday. September
"a, the time specified to Mr.. Bailey on
the previous Friday. Thus the mat
ter remained for nearly two weeks.
On Friday, October 5, Mr. Gerrish
approached me once more on the sub
! ject and | assured him that we were
still of the same mind. This. | as
| Ion to, IA s,,tn ~.
| following statement refers: After
the notice was given an official went
to the teachers and tried to get them
to withdraw but his request was not
granted
On the following day. October 6, we
received a notice from the Board, stat
ing that they were obliged to refuse
our request, and asking that we notify
them before Tuesday if we wished to
withdraw our designations. BY re
turn mail, we replied that we did not.
We received no notice that our
designations had been officially ac-
cepted until the night Of Thursday,
October 49, This left us a notice of
/ one day in return for the four weeks
already given them for consideration
of the matter. If we had followed
the advise given by one member of
the Board: When anything is desir-
ed by teacher it is poor policy to
resign before the teacher finds out
whether or not she can get her de
mands", would the situation have been
! improved? The Board would have
| had unlimited time for consideration
at the end of which we would still
have had four weeks notice to serve
before being able to accept a more
desirable position.
In refutation of the argument pre-
sented, that we had broken our con-
tract, | would like to add the follow
/ ing statement. The contract under
/ which | have been working reads
! ON your part an acceptance will be
/ binding upon you until the close OF
i the school year ending in June. I'M
! less you shall be sooner released by
i the Board, on account of sickness. or
having given four weeks notice of a
! desire to leave the service; but said
! four weeks shall not accrue during
vacation In what respect have |
/ broken my contract?
i Both Miss Flynt and myself would
like, at this time. to express our ap-
/ probation of the efforts which have
4 been made by the citizens of the town
and pupils of the school to retain our
] services We deeply regret that the
discrimination of the Board has made
necessary our withdrawal from the
/ school
For your kindness in presenting to
i the public this explanation of the eX-