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SUPERIOR'S NEW HIGH SCHOOL TO BE COMPLETED IN JULY 1910

Superior is to have a new high school building second to none in the state of Wisconsin. Even Madison's far-famed structure is to be surpassed in this new building at the head of the lakes. The above cut is from an architect's drawing and shows that the city is alive to the educational needs of its younger generation. The total cost of the building without equipment will be about $262,000 and it will be ready for occupancy in the fall term of It will be three stories in height and will be built in the form of a hollow square with dimensions of about one hundred seventy feet on next year. each side. The center of the square will be occupied by an auditorium seating about eleven hundred people, and a large gymnasium. Every modern convenience known to school-room architecture will be incorporated in the building, including the vacuum process of cleaning, the fan air system,

etc. Provision will be made for the departments of Manual Training and Domestic Science.

PROBLEMS OF SCHOOL LAW

Subscribers are invited to make use of this department and we are always pleased to answer questions sent to us.-Editor].

The Annual Meeting Will Be Held on Tuesday, July 6, this Year:

I notice that the Fourth of July comes on Sunday. Will this make any difference in the time of holding the annual school district meetings?

July 4 comes on Sunday this year. This makes July 5 a legal holiday. Consequently the annual school district meetings will be held on Tuesday, July 6, at 7:00 in the afternoon.

No Law on Vacation:

Is there any law that relates to a two weeks' vacation during the holidays?

No. The electors of a school district may authorize the board to make a contract with the teacher that school will continue through what is known as the usual Christmas holiday vacation. In many districts this will enable the older boys and girls who are still within the compulsory age limit to more readily comply with the requirements of the compulsory attendance law without loss of time on the farms.

A Teacher Loses Two Positions:

A teacher had been teaching at a certain school. She applied for another school and secured the promise of it, but another teacher had been hired at that same school before she secured the promise and she was forced to give it up. Another teacher had also been hired to take her place in the school which she had been teaching, but nevertheless she came back into the district and tried to secure her

old position. Did she not give up her right to her first school when she gave notice that she would quit and when she secured another school?

Yes. She has no recourse or remedy. She can not force herself into the school in either district.

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In a joint school district, towns of A and B, with the school house in the town of A, there are two families afflicted with the itch, one family in each town. A certain person of the town of A, but not a member of the school board, ordered the health officer of the town of B to come and examine the children in the schoolroom. This the doctor did. Who pays the doctor's bill-the person that ordered the health officer, the school district, or the town of A, or the town of B?

The school district is under no obligation to pay the doctor's bill. Neither is the town of A; neither is the town of B. If anybody pays the bill it will be the person that ordered the health officer to make the examination. The health officer of the town of A was the proper officer to attend to this

business. He has authority to attend to matters of this kind on his own motion, or on the authority of the school board, or the authority of the town officers. It is always presumed that the town is responsible for the pay of its health officer, but unless the circumstances and conditions are out of the ordinary, it is not responsible to the health officer of another town.

Have Indian Children a Right to Attend School and to Be Counted in the Census?

In our school district there is a colony of Indians in which there are several Indian children located in our school district. Have they a right to attend our school and should they be counted in our school census?

Yes, if they are not on a reservation, have severed their tribal relations, and are permanently located in the district. Children in a colony of wandering Indians should not be counted in the school census. If the colony is permanent, as I understand it is, and they do not belong to any tribe, their right to attend school will be unquestoned and it is the duty of the district to furnish seats, books, etc. Whether or not the district has a right to count them in the census depends wholly upon the permanency of their location and other conditions that I have named. You will recognize that a definite answer can be given only in cases where the conditions with regard to permanency, etc., are made known.

The School Board Determines the School Hours:— Who fixes the time for opening and closing school, the length of recesses, and the noon period? Are these things fixed by law? May a teacher or principal regulate these matters as seems best? How many hours of teaching is a regular school day?

None of these matters are fixed by statute. The law, however, gives the school district board power to make all of the rules and regulations for the organization, gradation, and government of the school. The board has the power to fix the length of the recesses, both morning and afternoon, and the noon period. The law of custom has, however, practically become the law of the land. This requires that school shall be opened at 9:00, fifteen minutes recess in the forenoon, with an hour or more for country schools at the noon intermission, fifteen minutes recess in the afternoon, the school

closing at 4:00. These rules apply more particularly to the country schools. The law presumes that in schools of this class the teacher shall be engaged in hearing recitations and giving instruction five and one-half hours each school day. This, however, is the law of custom only and subject to such changes as may be made by the school board, or by the teachers by and with the consent of the school board. The teacher is the executive officer of the board and rules and regulations made for the gradation and government of the school, as long as they are reasonable, will be held to be the rules of the school, although they are made by the teacher or teachers, and will be considered as the rules governing the school until some contrary action is taken by the board.

No School on Monday, May 31, this Year:

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When a legal holiday falls on Sunday, as Memorial Day this yar, is the following Monday a legal holiday?

Yes, made so by statute.

A Question of Residence and Voting:

A lady teacher whose parents live in another county in this state has taught in one school in this county two years, spending the summer vacations where her parents live. When she offered to vote for superintendent of schools she was not allowed to, on the basis that she was not a resident of the district. Should her vote have been accepted by the inspector?

Yes, if the young lady was of voting age. The matter of residence is in her case a matter of intention. Her residence is not absolutely established by the fact that she has parents and that she spends her vacations with them. It is presumed that in cases of this kind the matter of intention governs and I believe that as a rule election officers act accordingly. This question has been much discussed with reference to the right of stuIdents to vote while they are attending the state. university and normal schools.

Put the Vacations in the Teacher's Contract:

Is it necessary to state in a teacher's contract the date and length of vacations, where no mention is made of vacations in contract or otherwise?

It is not necessary to fix the date and length of vacations in the contract but it is a good plan. If a teacher comes into a district in which the terms of vacation periods were authorized at the regular meeting of the school board, she is presumed when she signs the contract to have agreed to the plans of the board and to comply therewith. If these conditions are made a part of the contract, trouble will be avoided. The district is not obliged to pay

a teacher during an ordinary vacation period, unless such vacation is caused by loss of the school house, the prevalence of an epidemic in the district, or some extraordinary occurence.

PROGRESS OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION.

The only new bill introduced in the Senate is 530 S. which aims to exempt holders of first grade county certificates who have taught successfully in the public schools of the state for ten years or more from further examination.

Two minor bills, 850 A. and 851 A., amend the high school law have been introduced in the Assembly. The important new measure in this body is known as 858 A., which provides for the abolition of the present method of electing county superintendents by a vote of the people and substituting therefor the election of a county board of education, this board to choose a county superintendent the same as city superintendents are now elected. This is one of the most important educational measures before the present legislature.

No. 860 A. Relates to county training schools and provides for determining the place of establishment.

No. 861 A. Provides for the collection of tuition for non-resident students attending county training schools.

No. 862 A. Relates to vacancies in the office of sub-district clerks in towns under the township system.

Of the educational bills which have been introduced in the legislature and noted in the March and April issues of the Journal, the following is their present status (April 20). All bills not mentioned are still in the Committee on Education of the house in which they were introduced.

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composed of the colleges of the north central states and all high schools favorably acted upon are so accredited that their graduates may enter without examination any of the institutions represented. None of the smaller schools is ever accepted. In fact, the policy is that a high school must have at least four assistants and very few are accredited who have less than five assistants. The recitation periods must be at least forty-five minutes and no class number over thirty pupils. While one requirement is that all members of the high-school faculty shall be college graduates, this is not adhered to strictly, especially where normal graduates have had sufficient experience to prove their efficiency in the work.

At the last meeting over one hundred schools were dropped from the accredited list of the association and a number added, this readjustment taking place at every annual meeting. Twelve new schools were added from Wisconsin-Beaver Dam, Beloit Academy, Fort Atkinson, Green Bay (East Side), Hudson, Manitowoc (West Side), New Richmond, Platteville, South Milwaukee, Tomah, Viroqua, and Delevan-making a total of seventy-one Wisconsin schools now on the approved list. Six Wisconsin schools were temporarily dropped. Berlin was not recommended on account of having too short recitation periods. Menasha has only three teachers doing academic work. The association does not recognize work done in the Commercial, Manual Training, or Domestic Science departments. Portage had too many students in its classes; in other words, not a sufficient number of teachers for its enrollment which would meet the approval of the association. Black River Falls, Lodi, and Medford were refused admission for the reason that they had in their faculty new normal school teachers without much high-school experience. With reference to this last condition it must be understood that the association does not discredit the work of normal school graduates in the high school, but if these are employed it insists upon successful experience of some length. In no instance of the dropping of Wisconsin schools was any fault laid at the door of the superintendent or principal. It was simply due to a failure on the part of the board of education to provide the proper funds for securing a satisfactory faculty to meet the needs of the high

school.

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Re-elected on April 6, for a term of four years from July 1, 1909. On the completion of the new term he will have filled this office for more than double

the time of any other State Superintendent, making an un

broken record of ten and one-half years. Robert

Graham served five years, from

1882 to 1887

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