The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1918-01-01
Policies of Boards of Education.

I
Mr.. Maurice r. Massey, member of
the Board of Education of Beverly city,
gave a very interesting address on the
subject of 'Policies of Boards of Edu-
cation" 1t pleased those present to
such an extent that they requested Mr..
Massey to put it in shape to be print
ed. He spoke entirely from notes, but
he said he thought he could get it to-
gether He has done so, and THE
NEWS prints it with the idea that it
will not only be interesting to all who
read it but will be instructive as well.
1t is as follows:
Mr.. Chairman, Ladies and Gentle
men: / am going to ask each and
every one of you to try and dismiss
from your minds the thought that |
am the speaker of the day and in
stead | want you to look upon me as
one of you, which | truly am, and we
are going to have just a "heart to
heart" talk ON subject which is very
dear to all of us-education.
When 1 was appointed member of
the Board of Education of the city of
Beverly, / gave the matter much
thought, for in filling the position |
wanted to give the very best that was
in me and to accomplish that task l
felt that / was a trustee of the child;
therefore, with that idea uppermost
in my mind-always trustee of the
child--to my mind there wasn't any
thing but what the child should have
if / possibly could secure it. | would
have the very best of schools, would
have the very best teachers for the
child, and again / would have the best
of supplies and equipment so that the
child would not be hampered in any
way on his or her way to the Road
of Success"
Now, how was this possible? To
begin with / must have broad-mind-
ed Board to cooperate with, which
fortunately in my case was fact; the
majority of my Board were progressive
and wide awake and agreed with me
in the main on all of my policies,
therefore my task was easy, but in
other districts l found upon examina-
ton such was not the case and there
fore in expressing to you my ideas and
thoughts it is with the fond hope that
some of you will see the light and be-
come progressive and broad-minded.
Can education be placed upon a
commercial basis? / contend that it
can but you must have a broad-minded
board. Now, how are we to secure
that Board? By being careful of
whom we elect as a member. / wish
to go on record and state that
strongly approve of the elective Board
and consider the appointive Board a
failure. The appointive Board is al
ways controlled by politics. / have
seen high-class educated member of
an appointive Board not re-appointed
and his place filled by political
friend of the controlling power, a very
good man but non-progressive in
ideas, thereby hinderng the progress
of the Board; therefore l cannot i'm
press upon you too strongly that the
successful Board must be an elective
Board.
In selecting a member for an cleo
tive Board insist that he is a property
holder and taxpayer, for in filling
his position he is spending his own
money as well as his neighbours and
he will be careful and economical. Now
when | say careful and economical /
do not mean "stingy" or close, or as
the Scotch say near" but one who
will watch his expense account. The
"stingy" man doesn't have an expense
account, but your careful man will
vote for a teacher at $50 per month
if he believes she is efficient, rather
than one at $40 per month just be-
cause she is cheap and he is saving
$50. He will figure out that the $50
per month teacher is worth double the
$40 per month teacher and that he is
actually saving $40.
wish to say that am in favor of
electing women as members of al
Board of Education, but in Board of
five there should be only two women,
they should always be in the minority.
They are as rule poor in executive
but highly efficient in other
work, such as care of property, look
ing after the supplies and of excellent
help to the staff of teachers in build
ing up the morals of the child.
am in favor of a Board consisting
of five members. 1t is always more
efficient than larger Board and there
should be but one member on a com
mittee and not several as in a larger
Board; the larger the Board the more
unsuccessful owing to the difference
in opinions likely to exist among the
many members. You will find this a
fact in any business, and if small
board of managers is successful in a
corporation the same rsle must ap-
ply to small Board OF Education.
Now, we have our small broad
minded Board, what is our next step?
We must have a high-class general
of the work. l allude to the
To get good man you
must pay him well; and if you pay
well you can secure good man. Now
impress upon him most strongly that
you hold him absolutely responsible |
for the success or failure of the school, |
arm him with all the authority you
possibly can, place upon him the fact |
that he must select and engage all |
teachers, of course with the approval |
of the Board, but this task of selec- |
ton must be his, that is his profess |
sion. He knows more about the quail |
fications of a teacher in five minutes |
than the average mmber of a Board
knows in five months. This proves to
him that he has your confidence. This
does away with the fact of a relative
or friend of member of the Board
securing a position as teacher by in
fiuence or we might say "pull." You
know / have never found anything in
the law which imposes upon me the
duty of looking our for my relatives,
my friends, or relatives of friends for
a position as teacher.
Impress upon the supervisor that he
must attend all meetings of the Board.
That is his first duty. Instruct him
as well to bring before the Board at
each meeting all of his complaints or
suggestions as the case might, be. In
sist upon meeting of the Board with
the staff of teachers, prove to the
teacher that you are supporting her
in her work, show her plainly that if
she has a grievance she has right
to state it before the Board, in other
words get acquainted with the eachers.
Show hem that you are their friend
and supporter and they will repay you
with the best they have. Guard the
teacher against any gossip or idle talk
arising from supposed case of injus-
tice. A child may carry a tale to a
parent who will become very peeved
at the action of the teacher, but as
rule the child may tell an untruth-
that is human nature and natural
but guard that teacher from any come
back arising from such a case. Have
the parents meet the Board and discuss
the matter; but when you come down
to the point of having the parents at
the Board they as rule will not put
in appearance, for in their hearts they
will realize that the child has perhaps
exaggerated. In doing this kind of
work it proves to the teacher and the
SunerYiSor that Won are inst Won are