The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-06-01

Attorney George R. sturges. counsel for the state board of education was In Waterbury yester- day and attended the. meeting of the board of education, and ex- plained the law with reference to the teachers pension fund and the matter of repairs on the school buildings.
 With reference to the teachers having contract with the city for a certain amount and then signing waivers to allow the city to retain ten per cent or any other amount of it, and still reporting to the state that the teachers were being paid the amount of their contract was wrong in theory and practice, even though 1t is being done in a few other places.
 In answer to various questions, MT Sturges finally admitted that the difference in what a teacher would receive as pension would not be materially effected by the system in use here to help out dur ing the depression unless 1t should continue for at least ten years. He made this clear and added that otherwise 1t was not worth talk ing about, except for the addition al amount of bookkeeping 1t makes for the office in Hartford. He gave several illustrations of how the plan in use could be made to work to the disadvantage of the state. For instance the signed contract might show that a teacher was getting $200O, but she had already signed a waiver turning back half to the city thus putting herself to appear as entitled to a much larger pension than the facts would war rant. MT Sturges said he knew it was more agreeable to the teach CTS to give in this way than to have straight cut of ten per cent in their wages. because the original amount might not come back after the dull period is over. Besides, while a teacher might be willing to give a certain amount of her wages to help others during the depres- sion, 1t could not be called vol untary offering, because she would know that in case she refused her head might go off and somebody else take her place.
 MT Sturges also talked on con- ditions in the schools with refer ence to repairs. He said that the survey made here Is the same as what is being done all over the state. Nothing referred to he said Is mandatory except the use of panic bolts on doors. In answer to question from Chairman Walsh as to how Waterbury schools compared with the build- ings in other cities, he replied very favorably, many were 8 great deal | worse and but few much better. The explanation of MT Sturges on both matters was very satisfac- tory. The board voted to express appreciation for the visit and in- structed the clerk to send a copy of the resolution to MT Sturges. The committee on rules submit ted it's report which was adopted. This is the first real change that has been made in the rules for q long time, and yet there are but few changes. With the exception of forbidding teachers to engage in any commercial occupation during the school year. the others do not amount to much. This matter has caused much confusion for a long time. It is said that teachers had been taking part in various kinds of occupations such as real estate and insurance and anything else where they might earn a dollar in an honest way. It was finally de- cided to put an end to that busi- ness.
 The school board has had much trouble in getting tuition from some of the outside schools. At present East Mountain owes $1.000 and Oronoke $1.600 for tuition. In order to prevent repetition of this 1t was decided to demand the tuition in the future for outside pupils who want to come to the city schools before they enter. Tlshs was not wholly satisfactory to all the members and it is likely to be changed before the rules are print