Jasper County Democrat, Volume 9, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 February 1907 — IS IT RIGHT, OR IS IT WRONG? [ARTICLE]

IS IT RIGHT, OR IS IT WRONG?

Miss Queen Perry the music and drawing teacher in the. schools, has resigned and will go to Rensselaer next Monday to fill a like position in the schools there. Miss Perry contracted with the school board of Goodland to teach in the schools during this term and to leave in the middle of a term because some other board offered her a few dollars more on a month lor the remaining four months of the term, cannot be considered in any light, by a right thinking person, butasa dishonorable act. As far as her work in the schools is concerned, everything was entirely satisfactory, .but as a pfersorr to be depended Upon she was entirely unreliable, However, it is no more dishonorable for a teacher, who is moulding the lives of the children and who is supposed to set good examples, to do a thing of this kind, than it is for a school board just because they happen to be in a pincb.to goto their neighboring town and tempt teachers by offering them higher wages. It is reliable people that the business world is looking for. People who cannot be depended upon may be used to an advantage for a short time in case of an emergency, but in the end they will find themselves only nibbling around the edge, and eating the crumbs, of the pie of success. It is now up to the school board to find another teacher. We understand that they will not resort to the despicable method of offering a teacher of a neighboring town a few paltry dollars to do a dishonorable act. In fact a teacher that could be hired in that way would not be considered. Prof. Henderson is making an effort to locate a teacher through the music and art school at Terre Haute, Ind.—Goodland Herald. Regarding the above The Democrat most cordially endorses practically every word, but, unfortunately, it seems to be the custom for school boards to hire teachers wherever they can get them, and the contracts made with teachers are apparently only legally binding on the school boards, because teachers as a rule are not so situated financially as to make a suit for damages very profitable for the school officers. There ought to be some means of holding each equally responsible before the law, and some way of enforcing a penalty where a teacher throws up a position during a term for no other reason than they are offered a trifle more pay somewhere else. The penalty should be forfeiture of their license. In this particular case, we are informed by a member of the school board, the teacher was asked if she could make satisfactory arrangements with the Goodland scfiool board to resign her position there, and that she said she could do so, and her resignation was accepted in good part by said board, who recognized that her coming here was in the way of promotion. However, no matter what the custom may be, it doesn’t look right for one school to hire teachers away from another, especially during the progress of a term of school, under any consideration. Such action savors too much of “commercialism” and ought to be frowned upon by the public everywhere.