New Britain herald., 1924-09-20
Weekday Religions Education IS
 Subject Of Interest to Ministers

children of Its own constituency. Batavia, Illinois, Is good example of this type. ...t.
 3. The neighborhood or city type. Schools in this type lose their denominations character and merge with other churches in common course of study and . common purpose, irrespective of denomination, engaging teachers without reference to their denon. national affiliation. There is general board known asSthe board of religious education for the com- munity. It is made up of repre- sentations from the various coopers atlng churches. Gray. Indiana. and Oak Park, Illinois, are types of this organization.
 4. The true community typA This type of school has a common course of study and a single gov- erning board. The board, however, does not represent the churches but the community at large. Tn most cases this type is only repre- sentative of the Protestant portion of the community There are very few of this type in existence now as types organized in this way have changed to type 8.
 The various communities in whiSh weekday religious education is being carried on have found that no single standard can be used by all but that each must map out its own program. patterning after the standard outlines as closely as pos sible.
 The Plan of Instruction
 The following plan of grouping grades for instruction and @rsigns ment of work has been notably successful at Salina, Kansas, under the direction of the superintendent of school. W. s. Heusner.
 Group I-(Grades 1 and 9. 5 p. m. to p. m. These children do not return to school, but go di- rectly home from church et { o'clock.
 Group II (Grades 8 and y. 1:3e p. m. to 2:40 p. m. These children go directly to church after lunch. When they are dismissed from church at 2:40 P. m. they go to the public school without delay.
 Group I1I-(Grades 5 and 6), . a. m. These children go to their church at g o'clock on Wednes. days, instead of going to school, as on other days. When they are dis missed from church at 1O:20 they return to school without delay for the rest of their morning classes.
 Group IV-(Grades and 8. 1o:45 a. m. to 12 noon. These chil- dren go home for lunch after leav- ing church, and go to school in the afternoon as usual.
 Pupils not electing religious edu- cation are kept in the pubh4 schools while their classmates take religious instruction. During that time, they are given practical courses in citizenship and patrict- ism.
 The Organization
 The ministers and lay represents atives of the churches in the con1- munity usually meet first to discuss problems, form an organization. and adopt a constitution whereby permanent council of religious ed- ucation may be created. Such a general council usually consists of a president, president, secres tary and treasurer, and an advisory committee of several members. It functions through subcommittee such as a committee on religious educations, to study local problems of the weekday schools and inves- 1 tigate methods and achievements of other cities; a committee on pro- gram, to provide instructors with programs for the regular meetings: finance committe, to decide what funds are needed and see that they are obtained; a committee on disci- pline; and committee on studies and curriculum, to decide what ma terial shall be used.
 The teachers for weekday schools of religious education should be chosen with the greatest care and if possible from among women who have had training and experience in the public schools. Absolute CO., operation between the churches and the school officials and the school board is necessary. In some tn- stances, the superintendent of schools arranges for teachers Of the public schools not employed during the period of religious instruction. to visit these schools of religious education which are held in each church or synagogue and make written reports of their observa- tions to the superintendent. In cities where there is 9 regularly employed director of religious edu- cation it is his duty to visit the schools regularly and make note of 1 the progress of the work. Where there is none, the city superinten- dent of schools visits the religious schools in person as often as hn duties will permit. No teachers are employed who are not well prepared to handle the work placed in their hands.