The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1918-11-22
70 Patrons Of Public Schools,

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Wayne County:
We regret very much that the condi
Hons caused by the epidemic Of In
auenza necessitates the closing Of our
schools. for We are deeply concerned
about the welfare OF our children The
schools have been closed so many
lays that our hopes Of terms work
Airly well done are shattered.
Our schools have been tested by this
war as never before. The men who
vent to the front received their edu.
sation in the public schools. The 10y
llty and success of this product 10 the
measure Of efficiency Of the school.
The government needed the teachers
Ind the school machinery, In order to
reach the homes OF all the people with
important Information. The response
came in Wayne county before the re-
quest was made. More than 300 teach
ers have given themselves and their
schools over to the Government since
war was declared against Germany.
Records Of Wayne county show that
our schools have been working on a
war modified program. and reflect the
manner In which we hace adapted our
selves to new conditions and new de-
mands. We began on Linooln's birth
day In 1916, by each childd sending q
penny to the Belgium children, and
ended on Liberty Day, Nov. IL, 1918.
completing the purchase Of $4,000 dol
lars of war saving stamps, an average
Of 16 dollars per pupil.
The cooperation of the teachers in
making the records of the selective
draft. their activities in every school
on food conservation plans, Red Cross,
farm census, tag day, registration
days, Liberty Bonds, and War Saving
Stamps are all items OF common
knowledge.
The food administration. through
DR.. Barnard. comends us highly for
our cooperation, and Mr.. Oliver in a
letter Expresses his appreciation for
the support which our schools gave to
his war saving campaign.
.As the last and greatest. We have
given twenty-eight Of our best teach
ers to the army, some OF which have
made the supreme sacrifice and forty
two women from the school teaching
force have given their services to the
government for war work. All this is
noble and a record to which we can
refer with much pride, but today we
are facing a serious condition in our
schools in the reorganization Of our
work. What we need first Is that the
schools be kept free from Interrupt
ton by outside agencies. SO that our
reorganization and plans for the fu-
ture can be worked out by school peo-
ple-persons who understand the
school problem, and are trained in
this work-and by patrons OF the
school itself These children are
there problems, and we can trust this
solution to these classes Of persons.
We expect early in the new year, by
means of conferences held In the diff
ferent townships between the teach
ers and parents and aided by the edu-
Gators, to get at the needs OF the
school and to develop plans to meet
these needs.
But patrons, we must make the
start. We must get ready to open
our schools soon or our children will
have lost one-half years work In
school, which may change the course
OF many lives. We want to plead
with you TO cooperate with us to
stamp out this epidemic now and we
can do SO, ii every parent will hGp us.
II every patron OF the school will
keep his children at home on his own