The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1920-01-08
LETTERS TO
THE EDITOR
SCHOOL BOARDS NOT TO BLAME.

HOULT, w. Va, Jan. 7.-[Editor
The West Virginian. lin an editorial
few days ago the West Virginian re-
ferred to the school situation in way
that reflected on the public spirit
and intelligence of the school direc-
tors. Evidently the boards OF COM
missionecs Is meant as we have no
officers officially known as director
| in this state.
A great deal OF what was said was
good and to the point but the writer
-evideEtly lost sight OF the fact that
the powers of school officers are
hedged about. with all sorts OF limitai
tons and restrictions and that they
must reckon with an unenlightened
public sentiment on the part of many
taxpayers when the matter OF spend
ing school moneys comes up.
While we do have ut times some
poor school officials my observations,
after 25 years experience raising and
educating family, during which time
have kept i'll touch with the schools,
is that school boards have hard time
keeping within their financial limita
! tons and trying to drag along a lag
! ging public sentiment. An example
+, OF that is the fact that when the spe-
; cial election on school levy was held
last spring, there was one per cent. in
Whitfield district whore Is voters &C
tually voted against the school levy
to 10 votes for the levy, thing that
made many people in this distric.
hang their heads in shame
Please remember that West Virginia
being, up TO a half century ago, part
lof an old Southern slave state, the
course of education Jagged behind as
it did III all the slave states. Our old
school code was the result of early
efforts at free school system and as
we outgrow it instead of cutting new
garment our lawmakers merely add
ed patch after patch until our big
overgrown state looked ridiculous in
its old educational suit with legs and
sleeves too short and patched until
/ the original garment was almost lost.
Educators begged for new code and
at last the leading educators Of the
state met as we all know, and cut TO
measure an entirely new garment but
/ our lawmakers at Charleston knew
/ so much more than the educators what
were our needs that they cut and
sewed and eliminated here and added
there till the new garment while quite
an Improvement over the old, is still
a long way from a perfect fit. One
important thing left out was the max
ing the county the unit of taxation.
This received so much opposition from
the portions of the state and counties
that were most fortunately situated
because of some natural advantage
They did not believe in the teaching
, of the Master that requires us to share
each others burdens. Often the ad
vantage was natural like coal, oil ana
gas, or natural fertile soils, more often
the richer sections are near. ccnters
like county seats which draw on all
the more remote sections OF the coun-
ty for their wealth but are unwilling
to share it again in educational advan-
. tages. It reminds US of the people
who inherit great wealth without eff
fort on their own part, from a dis
tant relative and then refer snobbish-
ly to less fortunate neighbors, who are
making brave struggle against ad-
versity, as incompetent" or shit
less"
Speaking for the Winfield board
can say that we had to struggle against
all kinds of adverse conditions. we
wanted to pay as high a salary for