The Wrangell sentinel., 1940-09-13
Action of Territorial
 Board of Education
 ArOuSeS Controversy

Action of the Territorial
 Board of Education in putting
 University of Alaska graduates
 on the preferred list for teach
 ing jobs in the Territory has
 aroused considerable eontroVer-
 sy, and alarm among local
 school boards who fear they
 may have teachers forced upon
 them whether they meet the
 requirements of the local board
 or not To get clarification of
 the matter, the Wrangell Civic
 Club through its corresponding
 Secretary. Mrs. M. o. Johnson,
 addressed the following com
 munication to Mrs. Margaret
 K, Harrais of Valdez, Secretary
 of the board, and received in
 reply a copy of the Valdez Min
 CT with a marked article and
 the notation My interpreta-
 tiOn in which five of seven of
 those present C0nour-haVe not
 heard yet from other two."
 At a recent regular meeting of our club. l was asked to write you concerning the action of the Terri torial Board of Education in regard to the hiring of teachers for our schools and the preference that should b eaccorded University of Al-I aska graduates.
 We have no fault to find with the University of Alaska for it lsI no doubt doing a very fine pieceI of work, and giving many Alaska young people who might not other-l wise have it an opportunity for higher education, and we feel that schoolboards will give the graduates of that institution every opportun- ity as a teacher, all things being equal
 Our school-boards must observe certain regulations in regard toI qualifications of grade and high school teachers if our schools are to receive the accreditation which we wish them to have and the new minimum wage law enables theI towns to demand that the teachers they hire be fully qualified ac- cordingly and be possessed of ex- tra-currieular training that will en- rich the lives of the young people who come under their care. We dol not say that the University of All aska cannot in time do for it's stu dents what the larger Universities and Colleges of the states can do, +3 institution.
 If many of our high school grad uates whose parents have lived in the Territory for years, and who will make it their home when they are ready to establish themselves, wish to go outside for their high CT education and apply for positionSI in our schools when they have full filled the requirements, should they be denied an opportunity to teach in Alaska? Why should a school board be forced to engage a grad uate from the University of Alaska, instead, when that graduate might have been a resident only long enough to attain that particular qualification? We desire an equal opportunity for all our young peo- pie of Alaska, based on ability and general ualificatiOns-not on the location of the university they at tended.
 Our towns have many fine wom- en who have come here from the states to teach, have married and established homes here and contrib uted greatly to the cultural life of their respective communities. Let us continue to welcome them! If the University of Alaska graduate is en- titled by her qualifications for the position that is open to get that position, let us by all means engage her. It will be a compliment that she will appreciate if she be select ed from the long list of applicants which inveriably includes a sur- prising number of highly qualified teachers who wish to come to Alas ka,-but do not compel us to hire her, Territorial Board of Education!
 The refund to towns of a certain amount of the school expenditures was made by the Legislature and is applicable to the entire Territory. It should not be used as a whip for the benefit of any section or in stitution We are not alone in hop ing that you will rescind your ac- tion at a future meeting.