IN

N accordance with the call, a copy of which appeared in the last number of The Journal, the State Association of School Directors assembled in the Supreme Court room in Harrisburg at 2 p. m., Wednesday, January 8th. Mr. H. H. QUIMBY, of Montgomery county, as presiding officer. After some preliminary remarks, Mr. Quimby nominated Mr. ISAAC A. CLEAVER, of Chester county, as permanent chairman, who was unanimously elected. Mr. Cleaver, upon taking his seat, made the following brief inaugural address:

"I certainly appreciate this honor. I have thought much over this State Convention and its possibilities within the past few weeks, and I am convinced that at the very outset it needs to be guided and managed with the wisest judgment, with the wisest discretion and with the most prudent care. I must look to you, the other members of this Association, to exercise the wisdom which you possess, rather than to look to myself; and now in accepting a responsible position such as this, I am sure that I am making no mistake when I say that I can rely upon your aid and co-operation in endeavoring to make this Association, at the very start, a success. If we are to establish a State Directors' Association that will be successful and that will deserve a long life, it must be founded upon a broad platform, and that platform, or at least its chief

No. 8.

plank, must be the best interest of the public school system throughout our entire State without regard to our own particular section. Now, in order to do this, let us remember that there are other sections beside our own, and that they are justly entitled to the same consideration that our section claims. With your permission I will not take this as a personal honor, but as an honor to the section of the State which I represent, and will endeavor to do the very best I can in this position of responsibility."

Mr. Roland Thompson, of Mifflin county, was, on motion, elected secretary of the convention.

The roll of delegates prepared by Mr. Quimby, based upon the replies he had received to his letters to the various county organizations, and others, requesting the appointment of delegates, was called and corrected by the insertion of the names of such delegates as were present but not yet enrolled.

It was moved and seconded that all County Superintendents and other educators be admitted to the privileges of this Association, but without the privilege of voting.

The final programme of the two days sessions, as prepared by Mr. Quimby and the committee called to his aid, was adopted, and the work of the meeting proceeded in accordance therewith.

In the absence, because of illness, of

Governor Hastings, who had been requested to deliver the address of welcome, this duty devolved upon Supt. L. O. FOOSE of Harrisburg, who spoke as follows:

Mr. President and Ladies and Gentlemen of the Convention of Directors of the Public Schools of Pennsylvania: I have looked forward to this Convention with a great deal of pleasure. This morning I was notified that the Governor could not be present, and I am requested by the State Superintendent to take his place. I come to say a few words in his absence.

I extend to you a hearty welcome to the City of Harrisburg, and trust that you will find yourselves at home here. It is the headquarters of the educational, legal, and all other authorities of the State. I extend to you the pleasures and opportunities which this capital can afford. There are many points of interest about the Departments, and about the city, and I trust that you will look into these places. The State Snperintendent requested me to say that his Department is open all day and part of the evening, and you will be cordially welcomed to it. In behalf of the Directors of the City of Harrisburg, I welcome you. The latchstring is out, and anything we can do for you to make it pleasant we will gladly do.

This Convention is something of a new departure in the educational line in Pennsylvania, where we have the reputation of moving slowly but I trust surely; and whilst it is a new departure I am glad to see that it is not weak in this line. It is not an easy matter to awaken an interest in the schools of a State so large as this, and I doubt not that you are all gratified at the success of this meeting. I want to congratulate you as Directors on the interest which impelled you on this occasion to come up here to discuss matters of importance to the schools. Pennsylvania in her educational work is really only awakening to the situation. Around her have been States that have made greater progress in the work than this State, and an evolution is going on here in Pennsylvania. For this you as a body are to be congratulated, because whilst this is a firm and solid old State, it yet remains, in large measure, to be made what it ought to be. It ought to be as strong and as high educationally as any State in the Union, and this I trust it will be before many years. As a body of men there is perhaps none in the State which represents so important a cause as yourselves. There is no class of public servants which perhaps receives so little notice or attention on the part of the general public as the Directors of the schools of this State. Their work is quiet, but it is efficient. It seems to be a work of thanklessness, in which their reward is in the future.

There is, I think, room for an organization such as you propose making in this State. Such an organization means influ

ence. It adds dignity to the cause it represents and to those who represent the cause. It presents before the State as a whole important truths, important facts, important influence, in a line in which they are followed and only can be followed, to the fullest extent, by an organization. They represent the interest of the State according to the law, and it seems to me that the State through them ought to speak on educational subjects in no uncertain tones. I can readily see that your work will be important upon this line. You all know the old saying, "As is the teacher so is the school;" but I think we can improve upon that and say, "As is the Director so is the school." Our schools are largely what we make them, and we as Directors, as Superintendents, as citizens, as those who control educational matters, feel that what we might have done is where we have failed. This organization will add force to the educational sentiment in certain parts of the State. I can see many ways in which an organization can be helpful in the State in the matter of public school buildings, ventilation, light, sanitation, etc. If we can do anything to elevate the standard of education in the State, to reach down and help the boys or girls along the way, we have done much, and yet we have not done more than our duty.

I hope that your Convention will be a profitable one. I shall not attempt to trespass longer upon your time. I thank you for the unexpected and undeserved honor of saying these few words to you on this occasion, and renew my welcome to all present.

The response was made by Mr. H. H. HUBBERT, of Philadelphia:

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: We have listened with attention and with much pleasure to the words of Supt. Foose. In his address of welcome he offered us so much here that I think we will be justified in appropriating everything in Harrisburg, including the State Treasury-for if there is anything that School Directors need it is money. We have heard the warm welcome of the Superintendent of Harrisburg to the delegates assembled in this, the first State convention of Directors ever held in Pennsylvania, having for its sole object the improvement of the laws. That is to be the primary object in our deliberations during our convention. No one at all familiar with the complications of our school law will dispute the fact that this is needed; and all who are interested officially and otherwise in our public schools will hear of these efforts with great hope for the future. Our system of school laws has grown very largely out of public necessity, and has sprung, in most cases, from what may be regarded as local needs rather than from the general principle of the common good. Because of this, we have a code of laws in many respects special rather than general in their application, and this should not be so

in a great State like Pennsylvania. As officials connected with the management of the schools, we have all seen how much more efficiently they could be conducted if the Legislature were more liberal in its views. The time for improvement seems to be at hand. I believe the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania appropriates a larger sum of money to the cause of general education than any of her sister States. This has served to invigorate the school authorities everywhere in the State, impelling them to make rapid strides in the direction in which effort would benefit and uplift the schools. It is the duty of the State also to hold front rank in the legislation affecting the management of these important institutions. Her laws should be so framed that they will become a tower of strength.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, we have come together with this object in view. We are here at our own expense. We are not sent here by the State. We come from the different school districts in the Commonwealth, to consult together for the improvement of our school laws, and for better school work. I believe that we shall not go home feeling that we have come together in vain, but we shall see an early fruitage of improvement in the public schools everywhere. It is with much gratification that I find every part of the State represented. I congratulate you, ladies and gentlemen, and hope that we shall enjoy our stay here; that we shall be free in the discussion of questions presented for our consideration-for they are all important. Your committee has given much thought to the selection of proper subjects to be submitted for your consideration. I thank you for your kind attention, and I ought also to thank you for being honored with the privilege of responding to the Superintendent of Harrisburg.

State Supt. N. C. SCHAEFFER being called upon, spoke as follows:

This morning I was wishing for a teacher of elocution, so that I might learn to make a bow suitable for this occasion and worthy of the assemblage before me. To face a State Convention of School Directors is a new sensation. One Governor of Pennsylvania said he was promoted when he was elected a member of the School Board. An ex-President of the United States uttered the same sentiment on his election to membership in the Board of Control. The lofty eminence which a man occupies may be measured by the depths into which he may fall. Neither the Governor nor the President can fall so low as to commit the sin of Herod who slaughtered the innocents at Bethlehem. The only forms of infanticide allowed in civilized countries are those which result from educational cram, and from forcing children into school-rooms that undermine health and vigor of life.

The highest services which one human being can render to another are never paid

for in dollars and cents. Yonder runs a trolley car. You rescue a child that is in danger of being run over. If the father should offer you a dollar bill in recognition of what you had done, you would spurn his filthy lucre. But if he should thank you with tears in his eyes and with the warm pressure of his hand, you would treasure those tears and the pressure of that hand among the sacred memories of your life. The services which faithful Directors render to childhood and to the State, can not be rewarded by money. The fact that you came here as delegates, paying your own penses and receiving no compensation for your services, shows the lofty character of the office which you fill, and you may well hold up your heads in the consciousness that as office-holders you outrank every one else on Capitol Hill.

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Scientists often dispute over their claims to priority in the making of discoveries. I know not in whose brain originated the idea of forming a State organization of School Directors. If Mr. H. H. Quimby, of Montgomery, does not deserve this honor, to him at least belongs the credit of realizing this idea by his indefatigable efforts to secure the appointment of delegates, and to provide all things necessary for the first meeting.

A New England educator expressed surprise at what he saw and heard at the Bucks county convention of Directors. He said:

We have nothing like it in my State." So far as I now know this is the first State Directors' Convention that has been organized. It can become an instrument of great good if its members will not only discuss the management of schools, but also watch new legislation, for the purpose of preventing harm and of inaugurating needed reforms. May the School Directors' Convention of Pennsylvania live, and grow, and flourish.

On motion of Mr. H. H. Quimby, it was ordered that a committee be appointed to prepare a constitution for the permanent State Association of School Directors, to report to-morrow morning at 9 o'clock.

After some discussion of the number which should compose this committee, it was ordered 'that it should consist of five members.

On motion of G. W. Kennedy, of Schuylkill, it was ordered that a committee of five be appointed to nominate officers for the permanent organization.

On motion of T. P. Fleeson, of Allegheny, it was ordered that a committee of five members be appointed on resolutions.

"The Consolidation of Districts and Free Transportation of Pupils" was then discussed in the following papers by Prof. R. S. MACNAMEE and Mr. S. C.

CONSOLIDATION OF COUNTRY SCHOOLS AND FREE TRANSPORTATION OF

PUPILS.

That the persons named upon your programme have been selected to open the discussion of this question is doubtless due to the fact that the district we represent has, during the present school year, introduced the scheme of consolidating country schools and furnishing free transportation to the pupils of the outlying districts. This being the case, I may be permitted here to give a brief history of what has been done in our township.

Six years ago, in order to accommodate a rapidly growing population, a new school district was formed out of the southern part of the old Strafford school district in Tredyffrin township, in which is located the village of Devon, and a school was opened in a private dwelling till a more suitable building could be provided. Before the new building was erected at Devon, the school at Strafford burned down and the directors had two schools on their hands, with no building. At once arose the question whether to combine the two schools and erect a double building, or to put up two buildings, one at Devon and the other at Strafford. A meeting of the patrons of the two districts was held and the matter was discussed, with the result that a petition was presented to the Board, asking that a double building be erected and the schools combined so that the children might have the better advantages made possible by the union of the two schools.

This request was granted. A double building was erected at Strafford; the only objection to this arrangement being the distance the children of the Devon district had to walk to the building at Strafford. But last year this school became overcrowded, and again the cry for increased school accommodations was heard, and again a meeting of the patrons of the Devon district was held to discuss the situation.

This meeting resulted in a request to the Board either to erect a single building at Devon, thus overcoming the matter of distance, or to enlarge the building at Strafford and furnish free transportation to the pupils of the Devon district. The latter request was granted. The building was enlarged, an additional teacher was employed, and since September 1st, the children of that district have been conveyed to and from school in a large "bus" fitted up for the purpose. This starts from a central point in Devon promptly at 8:25 every morning, and goes along the main road leading to school, gathering up the children on its way. Those living off this road are required to walk to it in the morning, and from the nearest point on it to their homes in the

stop at the doors of all their patrons, neither can this 'bus be expected to do so.

Such is a brief history of what has been done in our townships towards introducing consolidation and free transportation. So far it has only been proposed to build no more single buildings, leaving the question of closing and consolidating some of the schools now in use to be settled according to the wishes of the people and what seems, in the light of our experience with this school, to be best for the schools of our townships. Up to the present time nothing could have worked more smoothly or more to the satisfaction of the patrons. Those who at the beginning were indifferent, and those who were actively opposed to the plan, have alike become its supporters; and there is now hardly a dissenting voice raised. The children are delighted. There is no need of a compulsory law in the Devon district. The regular and full attendance could hardly be surpassed through a compulsory law under the old system.

Now, what are some of the advantages claimed for consolidation and free transportation? How far is it practicable and to what extent is it not? What about its cost? Its effect on the attendance?

How

do results in teaching compare with those under the old system? These are some of the questions that naturally suggest themselves, and all of them are worth considering.

Back of this movement, both in Chester county and elsewhere, is an earnest desire to enlarge the usefulness of our country schools to bring within the reach of pupils of rural districts advantages which, with very rare exceptions, are now enjoyed only by our towns; and to do it, too, without additional cost to the tax-payer. Can it be done?

The system is not old enough in Chester county to answer that question satisfactorily; but let us look to Massachusetts, where it originated and where it has been in operation for years, and see how it has worked there.

If any believe this scheme to be the offspring of educational cranks, or that it was hurriedly thrust upon the people, let me right here disabuse their minds. No educational reform of recent years has been wrought out more deliberately or with more painstaking care, or by a more conservative and enlightened people. And while the scheme has met with triumphant success at the end of ten years' agitation, it is safe to say that, being so novel and without precedent, it never could have succeeded among a less intelligent people than those of the Bay State.

To Concord, Mass., having an area of about twenty-five square miles and, in 1880, containing twelve schools in eleven buildings, belongs the honor of being the pioneer in this movement. Seven of these twelve

schools were located in or near villages, and the other five were in outlying farming districts, constantly growing smaller and weaker from lack of interest and the drift of population towards the towns. About 1880 a proposition was made to consolidate the seven village schools into three, and to close the five outlying schools and convey their pupils to these three central schools. At first a majority of the people opposed the plan, and the history of the movement during the ten years that elapsed between the closing of the first of these schools and the last, tells of petitions and counter-petitions and continuous discussion, under which the opposition slowly but surely melted away; and to-day the system has the most unanimous support of the people. The little, oldtime schools of Concord have been closed out and knocked off to the highest bidder, without a single dissenting voice being raised in their behalf. It is worthy of note, too, that during these entire ten years a majority of the Board were in favor of the scheme, and were farmers from the districts in which were located the schools it was proposed to close.

And not only in Concord has the scheme succeeded. Dr. Winship is authority for the statement that one hundred and thirty-five townships in that little commonwealth have adopted it; and that to-day there is scarcely to be found in the whole State a single oneteacher school, where there were probably five hundred of them five years ago. This from such an intelligent, yet conservative people as those of Massachusetts, is a tremendous endorsement of the plan.

The man who had neither the time nor inclination to investigate the probable results or possibilities of the scheme, but who denounced it from the first as a failure, has disappeared; the strong, though natural conservatism of the people has been overcome; the belief that the movement was in the interest of the central, and against the outlying districts has faded away; the fear that real estate would depreciate in value in the closed districts has been proved groundless by the fact that it meets with more ready sale at better prices than formerly. The natural reluctance of parents to sending their children from one and a half to three miles to school has disappeared, and they now much prefer seeing them conveyed in comfortable vehicles to trudging through the mud and snow, and they would not return to the old system if they could.

Each vehicle is in charge of a trusty driver, often a farmer's wife, and discipline is maintained by simply requiring any unruly pupil to get out and walk, and a single application of this remedy is said to be effective. These vehicles start from the extreme end of the district they are to serve, gathering up children as they go along the main road to school in the morning, and distributing them the same way in the evening. They are fitted with seats running length

wise, curtained on all sides, and in cold weather the floors are covered with straw, and the children are provided with blankets.

The advantages claimed for the system are many. All the benefits which come from thorough grading and classification; of libraries and reference books easily furnished to the few schools, but which would be denied the many; all the advantages of more thorough supervision; of opportunity of securing teachers particularly fitted for the different grades of work, from the primary to the high school; of large, well-ventilated and well-equipped school buildings; of less tardiness and more regular attendance in all kinds of weather; and of from fifty to one hundred per cent. better results in teaching -these are among them. Every means of making teaching more effective can be adopted and carried into operation more readily, and it gives the same advantage to the outlying, purely rural districts as to the towns and villages.

Now, what about the very important matter of cost? In Concord, during the term of '91-'92, it cost $40 per week to convey the pupils of the closed districts, but it would have cost $60 per week to have run the closed schools. Here was a clear saving of onethird, because it required no extra teachers at the central schools, the children of the closed districts merging with those of the central.

Under consolidation fewer teachers will do the work of a township, and what is saved in salaries and other expenses will in many instances pay the cost of transportation. Indeed, in some cases money would doubtless be saved, as in the case of Concord. I think it best not to claim that this would always be the case; but rather that much better results would be obtained for about the same amount that is now expended. I feel confident that those who aim at better results at no greater or but slightly greater cost, will not be disappointed in consolidation.

In a certain township in Chester county there are four schools in contiguous territory, having a total attendance of about ninety. If three of these schools were closed and consolidated with the fourth, which is central, and this central school classified and graded, and put in charge of two teachers, a saving in salaries and fuel of about $825 per annum would be effected. The cost of transportation of the three closed schools would be from $750 to $800, showing a balance in favor of transportation.