Henderson daily dispatch., 1936-10-08
OTHERS VIEWS
SCHOOL BUS CONDITIONS.
To the Editor:

The most disorganized department
| IN the entire State set-up is the school
| system, under the direction of Mr..
| Clyde A. Erwin. The administration
has no policy, nor program. and in
fact no idea of what it is trying to
DO, except to spend all the money it
can get by legislative action and any
supplements of the various sub-di-
visions.
The case in point is the absolute
! INABILITY on the part of Mr.. Erwin
| and his department to have anv or
der or policy with respect to the OPP
! Grafton of buses to haul children to
and from school. The State as whole
! has been indicted by the carelessness
of this department and children have
been made to suffer for the errors
and carelessness of the said depart
ment.
Under date of September % in Mar
shall, Madison county school bus driv-
ers struck for higher wages. The
State School Commission cannot al
locate sufficient funds to see that
! this situation is eliminated imme-
diately so that students in the school
will not lose time in class, vet the
said State School Commission, under
Mr.. Clyde A. Erwin, can grant in
creases to county school superinten-
dents where there is political aid to
be had.
In Carthage, on May 7, 1885, there
was an accident to a school bus
driven by minor, sixteen years old,
in which two children were killed
and seventeen injured. The coroner's
jury in this case clears the driver but
| indicts the State, and the Raleigh
Evening Times of Friday, May 9Th, in
an editorial, says: "There will be no
extra session of the Legislature, but
when it convenes next January, the
! school bus scandal should be one of
the first reformable things to receive
attention"
In the Greensboro Daily News, of
Saturday, May 9th, in an editorial
headed: Death by Systemization," it
J is said-"Thus nobody is to be pun
ished for the fatality; and that is
precisely what the Daily News ex-
pected." The Greensboro Daily News
further says: "Who supervises the
buses, who is responsible in the final
analysis for their mechanical fitness,
who hires the drivers, who's to blame
when the regular driver lets a sub
stitute without official approval take
over his duties? Who can be cracked
/ down upon, as he should be, under
such conditions and with such illimit-
able opportunities for buck-passing
In the Raleigh Evening Times, Sat-
| urday, May %, quoting from an edi-
torial: "Old School Bus Scandal Pre-
sents a Novel Facet. In this in
stance the bus was standing in the
i school yard with several children
seated and waiting within it. Along
| came Lee Cherry, age 20, who was ap-
| pealed to by the pupils to take them
| for a ride. He obliged and all was to
the merry-merry until the bus turned
over and several of the celebrating
| passengers hurt"
All of this chaos is caused by the
absolute lack of any business admin
iStration in the conduct of the School
Commission. All of the trucks used
in the transportation of children to
and from school are State property,
i bought with States funds and main
tanned with States funds. Yet. there
| is no care taken of this property;
| these buses sit out in the yards of
people who drive them; they are used
| for personal use; they are used on
Sunday; and they are used at the ex-
pense of the State for personal bust
ness.
Mr.. Clyde A. Erwin, superintendent
of public instruction, is daily violat-
| ing the law of the State of North
| Carolina in allowing students under
the age prescribed by law to operate
buses on the highways. There is abb
solutely no protection for the occu-
pants of these buses operated in this
hap-hazard manner, and Mr.. Clyde
A. Erwin, as head of the State School
Commission, is directly responsible to
| the people of this State for the pro-
lection of their children who are
hauled to and from school in these
buses. Mr.. Erwin does not think well
enough of the public schools of this
, State to send his own child to pub
! lie school,; he sends his child to a
| private school. This is an admission
of what?
CALVIN ZIMMERMAN,
: Republican Candidate for Superin-
! tnndont Of P1lhlic 1nStrI1ctiOn