The Punta Gorda herald. [volume] (Punta Gorda, Fla.) 1893-1958, 1922-07-21
SCHOOL BOARD DISAGREES
AND FAILS TO RE- DISTRICT
Knight Against and Can(well for
Changing School Districts a. the
Law Directs

|
the county to conform to the law
came up at an adjourned meeting of
the board Saturday. int nothing was
done after discussion lasting an
| hour or more.
The law says that The county board
of public instruction shall divide the
county ILlo three school board dis
tricte, each district having as near
as practicable the same number of
voters. When the county w2s organ
lied and the officers appointeG it was
necessary 80 make the districts so
that each GppOintec would live in the
district he was to represent. Two OF
the appOintees, Messrs. Knicht and
! lCantwell, lived in the weSte-n divi-
sion OF the county, 50 it was neces-
sary at that time, or was thought
necessary, TO mako two districts of
the territory across the riv5v. This
resulted in a very One3idod Gistribu-
ton of the population, territory and
taxable values as related 10 he dis
Itricts, the combined voting strength
of the two districts being % 90 per
cent of the total for the county while
the two got sc 2-3 per cent of the
representation, leaving the one dis
trict on the eastern side Of the cOun-
| ty with II Is per cent of the voters
with only 33 1-3 percent Of the repre-
sentation. The big district, en- brac-
! ing all the territory cast Of the river
and bay, has 9S5 voters wnils the two
across the river have lis and 1863
respectively. One of the districts
across the bay pays IS Ia percent
of the taxes (for school pUrpOses)
and the other one II percent, while
the district east of the river and bay
pays rs As percent, with q heavy
burden of special taxes adG,C. All
of these facts We're brought out at
the meeting, when charts showing
the distribution OF taxes, population
and representation as related to the
present districts We're presented and
attention called to the law.
Mr.. knight stated. Iii effect, that he
did not favor re-districtinG the coun-
ty, regardless of the laws commands,
and said that similar situations exist
ed elsewhere. as if to justify this po-
sition.
In discussing the matter, MIR. Cant
well stated that there was rot the
! slightest doubt that the present situa-
| tion worked hardship Oh the people
east of the river. and that il was the
boards duty to remedy This situation
| because he present districts conform
! to neither the spirit nor the letter
of the law and as q matter Of plain
! justice. He appealed to MI. knights
! IeenCc Of justice and fair play, but to
no avail and asked him TO live his
reasons for opposing the proposal TO
legally establish the school board dis
tricts, but his questioning brought
| forth no reason.
| Finally Mr.. Knight moved to table
! the proposed resolution to legally es-
tablsh the lines of the school board
districts and divide the people as near
as practicable, and in order TO put the
board on record, Mr. Cantwoll sec
onded the motion, upon which, the
motion being put, Knight voted yet"
and Cantwol mo-" consequently no
action was taken. Mr.. Mason, the
representative OF district number one,
on the east side Of the bay and river,
has been out Of the state a month
or more and as this leaves but two
members, il is impossible for the
board to decide any matter upon
which Messrs Knight and Cantwell
do not agree.
The matter of adding 2 teach"
training department to the local
cussion and MIR. knight expressed
himself as being opposed to- this also,
notwithstanding the fact that it in
TOlvCs no expense to the county
district but on the other hand, by add
ing this department the county will
receive $500 from the state. The
superintendent explained that the
regular high school corps would han
die this work and that all that was
required was th2t there &c 10 stu
dents and that they follow prescrib-
ed course of study varying but little
Iif any from the course being taught
and that they be given IS minutes
practical teaching experience each
/ week. Mr.. Knight did not believe
| this could be done legally, notwith-
standing Arcadia and other schools
have had teacher training depart
/ ments conducted along this line for
number of years. He finally con-
sented to allow this to pass, but ex-
pressed the opinion that il was not
legal and had misgivings as to the
outcome
Then came discussion of the pro-
, CONTINUED ca last page)