The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-01-17
Vatertown Civic Union Elects H. H. Hemnway President

ACCOTQInR IO IUc Os D. OCuDub figures, in Connecticut 99k per cent Of the native born people ten years of age, and over, are able to 18th among all the other states in this respect.
 Summary
 Tn three out of the above five factors Connecticut is well within the upper quarter of the 4S states We, therefore, find 1t incorrect to say that 1t has a low educational place in the country according 10 any of the figures available to us. 3. Miscellaneous Complaints and Suggestions
 Your committee ha sheard many complaints and suggestions regard ing the teaching and management of Watertown schools. Many of these deal with personalities; some with misunderstanding; some with
 minor troubles that should be pos sible to adjust satisfactorily for
 both parents and teachers. It is clear, however, that the reason these are not more easily adjusted is because there is no organization to act as a connecting link be- lb"SNh thC oCIiOOA poell VI anu tIG Teaching staff on one side and the
 parents and the taxpayers on the
 other. A means has not been found for the teaching staff to be of help to the parents in their sugges- tions about the child; nor have the natural questions and misunder- standings of the parent been car ried to the teacher for his ex- planation or adjustment
 Many times this lack of repre- sentation of the parents has led to misunderstanding on both sides. A typical example is the ques- ton concerning the length of the lunch hour. Parents whose chill dren carry their lunch with them to school, prefer q short lunch hour. Parents whose children go to their homes for lunch, and re- turn to school again, prefer longer lunch hour. This is the kind of question which should be settled for the benefit of the ma jority of children, taking into con- sideration the problem of the
 minority. It is question that
 naturally concerns the parents as well as the teachers, and without proper explanation and represen- tation, any decision is sure to dis
 please certain sections of people. We have also found that just such problems create a lack of un- derstanding and cooperation. This leads quite naturally into the sug- gestion of your committee, which we hope you will pass on to the members of the Civic Union, and to the parents who are interested in the education of their children. Parent Teacher Association Sue- gestcd
 Som etime ago we understand q Parent-Teacher association was or 2aniZed, but later became inactive. Many reasons have been given as to why this was. Rightly, or wrongly, the impression has been made that the association was not friendly and cooperative with the school board and the teaching staff. Ma turally, 1t was difficult to expect a success under these conditions. We don't find fault with the principle of the organization, but we do think 1t was unfortunate that such 1 an impression was made, and we | believe that a new start in CO., operative spirit can prove success 1 full.
 N. Searle Light, director of field service of the Connecticut state
 board of education says:-
 We heartily believe in Parent Teacher associations. We encour- age them. We cooperate with them and we are glad to see them start ed. Some years ago some of the organizations dealt in personalities, and were regarded as fault finding, and non cooperative. Nowadays
 we hear little of that and prac- tically all associations that I know
 of arc of great help to both par ents and teachers. We would be
 very glad to see q successful as- sociation started in Watertown. T. J. Condon, superintendent of the Waterbury public schools says: "I am very much in favor of Parent Teacher associations. believe they can be of great bene- fit in working out the best pos. sible education of the child. Tn- telligent direction of the meetings, cooperative work and suggestions by both parent and teacher can | be great help in our public
 school system"
 l Among the most successful of
 the Parent Teacher associations in this locality is that of the Bunker | Hill Parent-Teacher association. 1t
 is q member of the state organiZa- | tion, and in turn a member of the
 national organization called "The
 National Congress Association of
 Parent Teacher"
 Mrs Louis Wenzel Is president
 of the association, and says:-
 We are delighted with tho re-
 suits oe the Parent-Teacher asso-
 citation. At the present time we
 have 115 members who pay fifty
 cents q year. and fifty per cent of
 our dues, and any other money
 we collect. goes to the school and
 the community. We have 100 per
 cent membership of teachers who
 are keenly interested in the or
 ganization. and cooperate with us
 for the best possible handling of the school and the children. We have officers and directors
 who receive many suggestions from | the parents, and we are able to ] explain or adjust, many things 1 which seem difficult at first. We have speakers who are very helpful to use in fearing how to handle our children.
 We give prizes for various
 things connected with the school. and sometimes have contributed
 money for special equipment, or
 tests, and have helped in many
 ways. We believe the organiza- ton has brought about a fine un-
 derstanding between teachers and lparent. and is great help to both" 1 The suggestion of starting a Parent Teacher association was
 talked over with MT Swift, the sup
 erintendent Of Watertown schools,
 and he expressed himself as heart fly in favor of the idea. He made
 the "cllcnt suggestion that pos
 sibIy the association could be
 formed in branches so that tho
 parents and teachers of the South
 school could consider their prob
 loms together. those of Baldwin
 might form another group, and tho
 high school n third group. All of
 these might meet for joint meet.
 ings, but consider their individual
 problems separately. MT Swift said he would be delighted to work