St. Johnsbury Caledonian. (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1920-1920, 1920-04-14

Fairbanks brothers. by decd, made
light modification in the speciti
qualifications o. trustee memhcishi
so that III" trust. as ii present Goa
>titutcd, exists:
ION condition that the trustee
forming said CON olation shall b
men of Christian character. and tha
always a majority of the whole mum
Der shall be members in good stand
ing OF Congl cgatonal churches, tn
order to which the founders of Tx
academy belonged, and that il these
provisions shall be knowingly violate,
and tho trustees shall allow tho mum
Der Of such church members on thcl
board to be less than majority o.
their whole number during more
than one whole year, then the prop
crty shall revert to the heirs of thu
original donors.
The academy trustees today hol,
real estate of the value OF between
one hundred and twenty-five and ono
hundred and fifty thousand dollars
making the total amount of trust
property so held by them OF
upwards of %300.000, the use OF
and the income from which is eX-
clusivcly devoted to the educational
purposes of the academy.
From the foregoing it must clearly
appear that the present property OF
the academy is held by 4 self-perpetn-
ating board of trustees; that the
terms Of the trust provide not only
that the trust property shall be used
for the educational purposes Of the
academy, but also provide with par
ticular explicitness the qualifications
of those who may become members
of the board of trustees, and any
failure on the part of the
trustees, either in the admin
istration of the trust property
OF in selection of the membership of
their board, would work a forfeiture
and the trust property would revert
TO the heirs of the donors.
This is, therefore, the legal situa-
ton which neither the board of trus-
tees nor the citizens of st. Johnsbury
have power to alter, modify or amend
even if both should desire to do so.
Now it must be apparent to all
that the highest success of the edu-
cational interests of the town can best
be secured by a hearty cooperation
between the trustees of the academy
and the representatives. of our public
school system. The following refer
ence to actions taken by the board of
trustees shows to some extent what
they have done in this direction.
On November s, 1897 they voted;
chat the chairman of the st. Johns
bury town school board b. and he
hereby is invited to sit with us in an
advisory capacity on this board and
thereafter for some time the chair
man of the town school board attend
ed meetings of the board of trustees.
On May 9, 1901, the board of trus-
tees voted that it was "the sense
of the meeting that at least twice
year joint sessions of the town board
and the board of trustees would be
desirable, and other Joint meetings
as occasion might require"
For the past four years the Board
of Trustees has elected to its MEM
bership the senior member in service
of the town school board with all the
rights of any member of the board OF
trustees.
This spirit of cooperation was still
further shown when, on February Is.
1918 the board of trustees voted,
that the principal of the academy
in conjunction with the instruction
be and hereby is directed,
,fter conference with the town school
directors, to make such changes in
he course Of study to be pursued by
own pupils in the st. John3buly
A cademy as may be found NECESSARY
md proper to adjust its work to the
courses of study that will be pursued
n the town public schools, and 9TH
,rwisc to provide opportunity for the
pursuit Of continuation courses in the
academy for such town pupils as may
lcsirc, upon completing their courses
n the town public schools, to enter
he academy"
The success of the cooperation Sc
ured under the last mentioned vote
ppcars in the annual report Of the
own superintendent of schools, for
he year ending January goth from
which we quote as follows:
"Somewhat over a year ago, Prin-
ipal Davis of the academy and your
superintendent were appointed COM
nittec to coordinate the work of the
'ublic schools with that of the acad-
my in order that there might be no
DUPLICATION of effort and that the
rogress through the grades and the
cademy might be continuous. This
coordination has been happily
rought about. Pupils who have COM
letcd in satisfactory manner the
wo years. course in French, elective
a the Junior High School, may enter
he second year French at the
cademy. The same holds true of
ooking. Those who have completed
l satisfactory manner the elemen-
lly algebra and concrete geometry
cquired in the second year of the
unior High school are put in divi-
ons by themselves in the freshman
ear, and it is possible for them to go
lster than those who have had no