New Britain herald., 1918-06-15
TRUANT OFFICER 10
 RE MORE EXACTING
School Board to Wage Campaign
 Against Child Delinquency

At the regular monthly meeting of the school board yesterday afternoon the matter of truancy in the schools was given considerable attention and the truant officer will hereafter be re- quired to conform to these rules:
 l. The truant officer shall be dili- gent in enforcing the laws relative to truancy.
 ?. He shall endeavor to procure attendance at school of all children in the city who are required by law to attend school, and especially of such as are not members of any school. It shall be his duty to visit the homes and places of employment of delinQuents and also to invest- gate the apparent delinquency of children found lettering on the pub lie streets and playgrounds and in places of amusement.
 3. He shall actively devote his en- tire time between the hours of S:3O a. m. and D. m. daily to the duties of his office, except during the months of July and August, but he shall at all times be considered on duty and liable to perform the duties of truant officer.
 4. He shall investigate all cases of truancy, non-attendance and tardi- ness of children who belong to either public or private schools. He shall keep a daily record prepared for that purpose in which will appear the name, age, school, etc, of delinquent pupils and also the name and address of their parents or guardians, to- gether with the weekly school attend ance of the delinquents and a state ment of the final disposition of each case, and also of steps taken by him in each case. He shall file a weekly statement with the superintendent of schools on each Monday forenoon and shall also make a yearly report later than July 10.
 5. Whenever any person having control of any child residing in the city consistently neglects to cause said child to attend schood as required by | law the truant officer shall report the full facts to the superintendent of schools and if so directed shall 1 prosecute such persons for violation | of the law.
 6. The truant officer shall when 1 directed visit and inspect all factories, workshops and mercantile establish ments within the limits of the city to ascertain whether there are any violations of the statutes relating to the employment of children therein and he shall report any case of such illegal employment to the superin- tendent of schools.
 Considerable discussion ensued re- lative to alterations at the High school which would permit greater physical training for the boys and girls. Detailed estimates showed that such alterations would cost about 1 $10,000 and would necessitate much 1 extra work in the way of installing l new lockers, new showers, etc. All of the members favor giving all 1 the physical training possible. The l work for making alterations which would enable the school authorities l to give better physical training to the boy students would only cost 1 about S1 1,500 but when the matter had | been considered from all angles the l committee decided to table it. School Attendance Good. Tn reference to truancy, reports 1 from the High school read at the | meeting showed that truancy at these 1 buildings is not prevalent and is not on the increase. A year ago there
 were 1,731 cases of tardiness at the | Academic High school, whereas there l have been only 974 cases reported l this year. A year ago the percentage l attendance was 93.21, while 1t is now l 92.59. At the Vocational High school | the report read that there have been l only 1,2S9 dismissals this year, where a year ago the total was 1923. To date there have been only 904 cases | of tardiness, as compared to 1,0S7 of | last year. There are no records of l truancy at this school and the aver
 age attendance has increased from 1 93.11 a year ago to 95.O3 at present
 A contract with the Connecticut
 Light & Power company was read showing that the new rates at the , Grammar school are 21.5 per cent
 higher than the old schedule and at the High school the rate has been
 boosted 10.4 per cent. Action was 1 deferred until the next meetng
 pending an investigation and explan-
 ation of the sudden increase
 pr. E. T. Fromen, chairman oi
 the school medical inspectors, took
 exception to @ statement made by Dr
 II. F. Moore, superintendent o1
 health, in which it was hinted that
 CIlS lIltuICdl llSp6ClloI1 Ol llS SCltOOE
 is at fault for the many cases of ade-
 holds among the children. Dr. Fro
 men explained that the school inspec.
 tors have no authority and can only
 recommend the course of treatmen
 to be given. Chairman Gaffney eX
 plained that Dr. Moore was not fa
 miliar with the Connecticut law
 when he made his previous state
 ments.
 New Teachers Named.
 The committee on teachers submit
 ted the following report: