or even of the finally successful party, which is so indispensable to the efficient perforinance of their supervisory duties. and increase the public respect and confidence by the salutary restraint they may exercise over each other, and by the means they will thus possess of excluding unworthy associates. The regular and steady increase) It will be perceived by the eighth section of the new in the rate of wages paid to teachers, proves that their act, that county superintendents are authorized hereprofession is advancing in public estimation. The un-after to grant two classes of certificates of qualification natural augmentation of the numbers of those who have to candidates for teachers: the one similar to those heretofore devoted themselves to other professions, par- which they are now authorized to grant, and the other ticularly that of the law, has produced the usual effect of the same description with those which town superof a redundancy; and many of the best educated young intendents may grant, and that the consent of the town men in our State are now turning their attention to the superintendent is not requisite to the annulling of either business of instruction, as the pursuit of their lives class. This discretionary power will enable them to In this state of things more depends on the teachers discriminate between applicants of different qualificathemselves, than on any other cause, to elevate the tions, and at the same time to supply the demand for character of their profession, and with it, the standard legally qualified teachers. A judicious exercise of the of education, and thus expand to the utmost extent the discretion thus vested in them, will speedily create a blessings of our schools. desirable competition among teachers for the higher except to teachers of undoubted ability and qualifications, and should ordinarily be reserved until the county superintendent has thoroughly tested such ability and qualifications by a visit to the school. 4. The county superintendents should make them-grade of certificate, which ought never to be granted selves familiar with the laws concerning common schools, the regulations of the Superintendent, and his decisions and instructions in explanation of them, which will be furnished to each. They will find this knowledge equally indispensable to the performance of their own duties, and to enable them to impart the information and furnish the advice for which they will be constantly solicited, and which is, indeed, one principal object of their appointment. 5. No stronger or more gratifying evidence can be afforded of the approbation with which the Legislature regarded the system of county supervision as at present established, than is comprised in the fact of devolving upon the officers charged or to be charged with these functions, the duty and responsibility of deciding in the first instance, upon all appeals now authorized to be preferred to this department. Under this provision, they are not only vested with most important powers 6. By the tenth section, the State Superintendent is authorized, on the recommendation of the County Superintendent, or on such other evidence as he may deem satisfactory, to grant certificates of qualification of the highest grade This power must of necessity be sparingly exercised; and will be reserved as the suitable reward of thoroughly tested superiority in teaching. The several County Superintendents are hereby directed in their next and each succeeding annual report to specity the names and distinctive qualifications of any number of teachers not exceeding five within their jurisdictions, whom they are willing to recommend as candidates for such State certificate; having particular reference to ability and success in the communication of mental and moral instruction, and of the power of self-culture and the formation of those habits and principles best adapted to develop and strengthen the various physical, intellectual and moral faculties. in reference to the settement of the numerous controversies which spring up in the several districts, but enabled to exert a prevading influence of permanent utility as peace-makers, in that extensive class of cases where the paramount interests of education are now too frequently sacrificed to the attainment of a temporary triumph, or the gratification of a domineering, avaricious or Selfish spirit. There can be no doubt tha: the pre-answer letters from inhabitants and officers of school sence and explanations and friendly counsels of one in whom all parties can contide-who e integrity is above suspicion-who comes to them, not with the dictatorial assumption of power, but as one deeply interested in their welfare and that of their children, and anxious only to restore harmony and peace where harmony and peace are indispensable to the common welfare, will, within the compass of a very short period, materially reduce the number of vexatious, protracted and fitable school district controversies and dissensions. There will still, however, be left a wide field for the exercise of sound judgment, nice discrimination and untiring patience and equanimity. unpro 7. In the discharge of the various duties imposed upon them by the late law, the several County Superintendents will occasionally be called upon to receive and districts. The expense so incurred is made a legal charge on the county; and the respective Boards of Supervisors are authorized to audit and allow the same. As such allowance, however, is discretionary with the Board, the Superintendents will find it advisable to curtail the expenses which may accrue from this source within as narrow bounds as possible. The facility with which personal communication may in most instances be had, and especially the opportunity which will be afforded by their periodical visitations of the districts, will obviate to a very great extent the necessity for epistolary correspondence. Cases will, however, fre. quently occur where such communications may be neTo qualify themselves for the judicious and enlight-cessary and when so certified under oath by the Counened discharge of the duties and responsibilities thus ty Superintendent, the requisite amount will doubtless devolved upon them, the county superintendents must promptly be allowed by Boards of Supervisors. first render themselves familiar with the various laws 8. The power of removal from office vested in the Surelating to common schools and with the published de-perintendent will, it can scarcely be necessary to say, cisions of the department under those laws. In order never be exercised unless upon the most pressing exito secure as far as may be possible, perfect uniformity geney, and in cases of flagrant neglect, violation or of decision throughout the State, it is recommended to perversion of duty, where the action of the appointing the several county superintendents to refer at once to power cannot be had in season to avert the evil. While the head of the department, every question respecting the Superintendent will, in no case undertake to review the proper interpretation of any given statute or prin or in any manner to control, by the exercise of this ciple, not clearly apparent or specifically settled by the power, the designation by the respective Boards of the published decisions. It is of the utmost importance individual de-med most suitable to discharge the duties that the administration of the system should be uniform of the office of County Superintendent, he will take in every section of the State. Discordant principles and care that the confidence reposed in such individual, is clashing decisions in reference to the same point, must, neither abused nor betrayed: and especially that the it is obvious, fatally weaken the influence of that adini. great interests of education, and the salutary provirable organization which now prevails, and introducesions of the legiglature for their advancement are not anarchy and confusion in the place of order and justice. rendered obnoxious to the people in consequence of the In the settlement and disposition of the various ques-incompetency or unfaithfulness of the agent selected to tions which will come up before them, the county super-vindicate the one and enforce the other. intendents can preserve and extend their influence and promote their usefulness, only by a strict impartiality between the contending parties, and a calm, temperate, dispassionate, but at the same time, firm and dignified examination and decision of the points at issue. If they err, either in reference to the facts or the law, a prompt remedy is afforded by an appeal to this depart ment; but if they have imprudently made themselves, either by an overweening confidence in their construction of the law with reference to the particular facts of any given case, or otherwise, parties to the controversy; they will find it exceedingly difficult to regain that influence over the minds and feelings of the disappointed, || UNIFORMITY OF TEXT BOOKS. 9. It is believed that the period has now arrived when an earnest and systematic effort should be made, under the auspices of the Town and County Superintendents, to relieve our institutions of elementary in truction from the serious embarrassments resulting from the diversity and constant change of text books. The several County Superintendents are therefore enjoined to avall themselves of the earliest practicable opportunity to cause an uniform series of text books, embracing all the elementary works ordinarily used in the common schools, to be adopted in each of the districts subject to their supervision, under the direction and with the tre. 10. The compensation of the County Superintendents It is believed that under the provision allowing com- As their pay cannot exceed $500 in each year, which 11. County Visiters. The authority to appoint these A review of the several heads of these instructions CORRECTION. on Assessment roll of town, 19 117 4 76 122 15 168 Board of Supervisors, 19, 20, 22, 40, 41, 75, 112 to 114, ...... Errors in tax lists and rate bills,. Forms and instructions, ... ... 167 160 145, 154, 156 to 159 103, 104, 119, 124 2 76 107 to 114 General Deputy Superintendent,- New towns,·· 184 101 ..... 197(a) 179, 195 76, 187 182 9 107 to 115, 133, 140 74, 75, 79 to 1 25, 66, 68, 92, 93 Officers of school districts, ... 103 to 106, 122, 126, 128, 131 to 134 ........ The annual reports of Trustees of school districts Taxes, 74, 76, 77, 103, 106, 119, 121, 127, 155, 175 to 178 Tax list, Tenants, Town Collector, ... Qualifications of voters, ... 147 127 137 140 147 137 126 136 137 141 144 144 103, 106 to 120, 127, 134, 161, 180||Supervisors of towns, duties of,-... Town Superintendent, 16, 25 to 52, 55 to 64, 66, 68, Valuation of taxable property, 131 143 Annual and special meetings, Application of school money, &c......... Applications to the State Superintendent, Assessment and collection of district taxes,. ....... Appeals to the County Superintendent, to the State Superintendent, Board of supervisors, their duty, Bond to be required of the collector, Building, furnishing, &c. of school house,. Clerks of Boards of Supervisors, of towns, of counties, Contracts with teachers, Colored children, schools for, Collectors of school districts,- their jurisdiction, County Superintendents, their duty,..... 153, their mode of proceeding, what property liable, &c.. Change of site of school house,. Division of teachers' money into portions, Duties of Town Superintendents, District Clerk, his duties, District School Journal, directions in relation OFFICIAL. TO TOWN SUP'TS OF COMMON SCHOOLS. 148 Form of draft on State treasurer for school moneys, of instrument annulling do. of district tax list, and warrant for its col of assessment, rate-bill and warrant, Inspections, form of account of, Jurisdiction of Collector, Liabilities of Town Superintendents, do. 148 138 139 126 127 136 The means of enabling the several districts to parti- 149 Libraries, district, do. 161 DISTRICT SCHOOL JOURNAL, OF THE STATE OF NEW-YORK. VOL. IV. ALBANY, FEB., 1844. No. 11. ANNUAL REPORT shall not have been appointed, unless by order Of the Superintendent of Common Schools to the Le. of the Superintendent of Common Schools." Afgislature of the State of New-York. Albany, January 13th, 1844. The undersigned, as Superintendent of Com. mon Schools, in pursuance of the provisions of law, respectfully submits the following REPORT. There are in this State fifty-nine counties, comprising nine cities, containing sixty-two wards and 835 towns: total towns and wards, 897. Each county in the State, with the exception of Lewis, has now appointed a county superintendent, under the act of 1841, as amended by the act of 1843; and in the counties of Allegany, Cattaraugus, Dutchess, Jefferson, Oneida, Onondaga, Monroe and Washington, each comprising more than one hundred and fifty school districts, two county superintendents have been appointed, and these counties have been divided into two convenient districts, to each of which a superintendent has been assigned, in pursuance of the 4th section of the act of 1843. In the county of Richmond, no superintendent was appointed until the late meeting of the board of supervisors in that county, consequently no other statistical report has been received than that of the county clerk, transmitting copies of the annual reports of the commissioners and town superintendents of common schools; the aggregate footings of which, as well as those received from the clerk of Lewis county, have been transferred to the abstract of the annual reports of the several town superintendents, accompanying this report. ter the ineffectual ballotting and final adjournment of the board, an application for such an order was made to this Department by the clerk of the board, under a resolution to that ef fect adopted by them. But upon full consideration, it was believed that the whole responsibility, ought to rest upon the supervisors, who might at any time before the first of February rext, meet and make the appointment; and that this Department ought not, without the strongest and most satisfactory reasons, to sanction a nullification of the laws of this State. The clerk of the board of supervisors was accordingly apprised that unless the appointment should be made in season, the distributive share of the School Fund for the present year, would not be apportioned to the county. From each of the counties in which superintendents had been appointed under the act of 1841, reports in accordance with law, and the instructions of the Department, have been received, and are herewith transmitted to the Legislature. Number of School Districts. There were in the State on the first day of October last, as appears from the returns, 10,875 districts; showing a considerable diminution from the number reported last year. This diminution has been caused by the union or consolidation of small districts, and by the refusal on the part of the town superintendents generally, to increase the number of existing districts by the formation of new ones, excepting under peculiar circumstances; and it is earnestly hoped that the same policy will be steadily pursued in future, in every The supervisors of the county of Lewis, not practicable case, throughout the State. Small withstanding the positive and mandatory provi- and consequently inefficient districts have, heresions of the acts of 1841 and 1843, have entirely tofore for a long period, been the source of many neglected to comply with these provisions; and formidable evils. Miserable school houses, poor this county is now the only one in the State which and cheap teachers, interrupted and temporary is destitute of a superintendent. No effort with- instruction, and heavy rate-bills, are among the in the knowledge of this Department has been permanent calamities incident to small school made by the supervisors, since the passage of districts. The ordinary pretext for the division the act of 1841, to appoint such an officer, until and subdivision of districts, is the greater proxOctober last; and the whole character of the pro-imity to be afforded to a portion of the inhabiceedings at that time, as communicated to this tants to the school house. To this single fancied Department by the clerk of the board of supervisors, the result of the three days' ballotting, and the determination not to meet at any future period, nor to make any further effort to comply with the provisions of the statute, would seem to school; and that those individuals are the most to justify the belief, that a preconcerted understanding existing to put the law at defiance. By the 4th section of the act of the 17th of April, 1843, it is provided that "no share of the public money shall hereafter be apportioned to any county in which a county superintendent benefit, considerations of much greater importance are often sacrificed. The idea seems to be entertained by many, that it is a great hardship for children to travel a mile, or even half a mile, favored, who find the school house nearest to their homes. It is true that there are a few stormy days in the year, when the nearness of the school house may be deemed a convenience. But all children of ten or twelve years of age, must, in order to maintain health, and secure the due de Private and Select Schools. the city of New-York, from which no returns on this head have been received, is reported at 954; and the aggregate number of pupils in attendance at such schools, at 34,105. The number so attending in the several private and select schools in the city of New-York, cannot, it is believed, fall short of 30,000. velopment of their physical functions, exercise ber thus under instruction, during the preceding daily, to a much greater extent than is produced year. by one or even two miles' travel. Unrestrained exercise in the open air is indispensable to the health of the young. It is one of the laws whichvate schools in the State, exclusive of those in has been strongly impressed by the Creator upon the animal organization; and obedience to this law is enforced by a powerful instinct which impels the young of all animals, while in a state of growth, to daily muscular exertion. The human race is as subject to this law, as any other part of animated nature: and it is a fact established by all experience, that those children are the most healthful in body and vigorous in mind, whose corporeal motions are least constrained, and whose lungs are most in contact with the pure and open air. The most aged and experienced teachers will testify that, as a general rule, those children who live farthest from the school house, are the most punctual in their daily attendance, and make the greatest progress in their studies. Number of Children taught. Average period of Tuition. The average length of time during which the schools have been taught in the several districts from which reports have been received, was eight months. In the city and county of New-York, and in the city of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings, the schools were kept open during the whole year; in the county of Richmond, an average period of eleven months; in the county of Queens, an average period of ten months; in each of the counties of Columbia and Rockland, an average period of nine and a half months; and in each of the counties of Dutchess, Monroc, Orange, Schenectady, Suffolk, Ulster, and Westchester, for an average period of nine months Attendance of Pupils. The number of pupils reported as having attended their respective schools during the entire year, was 23,608; the number attending for ten months and upwards, 34, 896; eight months and upwards, 70,178; six months and upwards, 144, 422; four months and upwards, 270,996; 2 months and upwards, 478,029; and the number in attendance for a less period than 2 months, 162,325. The aggregate number of children actually in attendance at the period of the visitations of the schools by the several county superintendents during the winter terms, is reported at 213,129; during the summer terms at 189,048. The aggregate number of children between the ages of five and sixteen years, residing in the several districts from which reports were received, exclusive of those in the city of New-York, was, as appears by the returns, 607,995; and the number of children of all ages, who have been in attendance in the several district schools, for a longer or shorter period, during the year ending on the first day of January, 1843, exclu. sive of those in the city of New-York, is reported at 610,354. There is reason to apprehend that these returns are in some instances defective; but as the enumeration of the number of chil. dren between the ages of five and sixteen is made the basis of the annual distribution of the school moneys to the several districts, and the names and number of children between these ages of the several inhabitants are required to be specifically reported, with severe penalties for any intentional variation in point of accuracy, it Of the number thus in attendance at the periis presumable that no serious error has occurred; od of the winter visitations in 6,666 districts, 9,and after making due allowance on the one hand 855 were in the alphabet; 28,056 in spelling; for the number of children under instruction in 197,403 in reading; 99,032 engaged in the study academies and private schools of every grade, of arithmetic; 55,118 in the study of geography; and on the other for the considerable number of 11,139 in that of history; 42,301 in that of those over the age of sixteen and under that of English grammar; 2,343 were in the use of globes twenty or twenty-one, who are permitted to par- and other scientific apparatus; 2,316 in the study ticipate in the benefits of common school instruc- of algebra; 644 in that of geometry, surveying tion, the number reported cannot, it is believed, and the higher mathematics; 4,712 in that of vary essentially from the truth. There are no natural philosophy; 558 in that of the philosomeans of ascertaining with precision the number phy of the mind; 76 in that of physiology; 903 of children between the ages of five and sixteen in that of book-keeping; 6,000 in composition; residing in the city of New-York; no returns on 10,220 in vocal music; 189 in chemistry; 8,949 this head being required by law in that city; but in the definition of words; 217 in astronomy; and it is presumed, from the most accurate calcula-1,173 in other branches not specifically enution which can be made from the materials fur-merated. | Course and extent of Study. nished by the last census, that the number does Of the pupils in attendance at the summer vi. not vary far from 75,000, of which 47,428 are sitations in 6,942 districts, 17,616 were in the returned as having been under instruction during | alphabet; 38,730 in spelling; 148,007 in reading; a longer or shorter period of time in the schools 51,229 in arithmetic; 50,335 in geography; 7,210 of the Public School Society, the several incor-in history; 22,727 in English grammar; 3,283 in porated institutions entitled to participate in the the use of globes and other scientific apparatus; distribution of the public money, and the several 1,276 in algebra; 394 in geometry and the highdistrict schools organized in pursuance of law. er mathematics; 2,769 in natural philosophy; The aggregate number of children of all ages, 386 in mental philosophy; 92 in physiology; 730 therefore, who have been under instruction in the in book-keeping; 4,499 in composition; 17,632 in several district schools of the State during the vocal music; 43 in chemistry; 9,975 in definition; year reported, may be stated at 657,782; showing || 191 in astronomy; and 1,814 in other branches an increase of upwards of 59,000 over the num- not enumerated." |