AMERICAN

JOURNAL OF EDUCATION.

No. VI.

JUNE, 1826.

VOL. I.

REGULATIONS OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE OF THE CITY OF BOSTON.

[The following article is copied from a pamphlet under the above title: these regulations form a valuable and interesting document connected with the present condition of education in the city of Boston; and they furnish at the same time much matter calculated to prove peculiarly useful in those parts of the country where the public mind is at present occupied with the establishment of schools similar to those which form the subject of this article.]

THE following regulations of the school committee of the city of Boston, embrace the substance of those heretofore adopted by successive boards, as far as they could be collected from 1789 to the present year, 1826,-who have, for a period of one third of a century, with laudable zeal and diligence cherished these our favorite institutions. They also correspond very nearly with the common usages of the schools. They are the fabric of our fathers, newmodelled and enlarged, and accommodated to the order of things under the city charter, and to the present circumstances and taste of the community.

Regulations relating to the Board of the School Committee.

This Board consists of twelve gentlemen annually elected, one by each ward of the city, together with the mayor and aldermen, ex officiis.

They are recognised by the charter as a co-ordinate branch of the city government, and, agreeably to their construction of their powers and duties, are authorised and required to organise their body, appoint their own meetings, raise their own committees, and,

in short, to manage their affairs in such manner, agreeably to the statutes of the commonwealth, as in their judgement will best promote the important objects for which they were instituted.

1. At the first meeting in each year, the board shall organise itself by appointing a chairman, a secretary, visiting committees or sub-committees, and such other special or standing committees, on different subjects, as the circumstances of the public schools for the current year seem to render expedient.

2. It shall be the duty of the chairman to preside at the meetings of this board; to call any special meeting thereof, when he may deem it necessary, or at the request of any two of its members in writing; and to be the organ of communication with any other branch or branches of the city government relative to any votes and doings of this body which may have respect to a co-operation with them in the transaction of business; copies of the same having been duly furnished by the secretary.

In the absence of the stated chairman, his place shall be filled by the board, pro tempore.

3. It shall be the duty of the secretary to keep the records of this board, and faithfully to insert therein all their votes and doings, to give written notice of all their meetings, to preserve files of the communications and reports made to them, and to perform any other service usually expected of such officer.

4. A visiting committee, or sub-committee, for each school, shall be appointed by the board, consisting of three, whose duty it shall be, to visit their particular school, at least once each quarter of the year, and as much oftener as they can make it convenient, for the purpose of attending carefully to all the exercises of each class; of inspecting the school bill, and inquiring into the deportment and progress of the scholars, in order to commend good conduct and improvement, and to discountenance negligence and vice; and of awarding the annual medals to superior merit. It shall be their duty to embrace these opportunities to converse freely with the instructers on the affairs of the schools, to elicit from them such occasional suggestions as may be turned to their benefit, to encourage the faithful and deserving instructer in his arduous duties, and to detect and mark the delinquencies of the remiss.

It shall be the duty of the sub-committee to give their advice to the instructers on any emergency; and, on complaint duly made, to take cognisance of any difficulty which may have occurred between the instructers and the parents of pupils, relative to the government or instruction of their school. An appeal, however, to the whole board is not hereby denied to any citizen.

In case of a vacancy in any school in the place of either of the instructers, it shall be the duty of the sub-committce of said school

to procure a temporary supply, and to give notice of such vacancy to the board, that they may proceed to fill the office in question. In each temporary supply the sub-committee shall procure, as far as it is practicable, a person of suitable qualifications to be confirmed in his place by the board, should he apply for it.

In addition to these specific duties of the sub-committees, it shall be their duty, generally, to make any temporary arrangement they may think proper, relative to the discipline and instruction of their schools, or the convenience of the instructers thereof, in cases not provided for by the general regulations of this board.

Each and every sub-committee shall report to this board, when they have visited their schools, what accommodations or indulgences they have granted any instructer, as exemption from duty, for occasional indisposition, &c. and any circumstances whatever that may have occurred in the course of business, which have a general bearing on the interests of the schools; that an order may be taken thereon, if necessary, to preserve uniformity in the system of public education.

5. An examining committee shall be annually appointed by this board, consisting of three members, at least, to be joined by as many others of the board as can conveniently attend; whose duty it shall be to visit the several schools of the city, in the month of May or June, and critically to examine the pupils in all the branches taught therein, in order to ascertain the condition of the schools and their comparative merit, and to report previously to the annual election of the instructers, that the appointments of the board, on that occasion, may be judiciously made.

6. It shall be the duty of the chairman of each sub-committee, or special, or standing committee, to call a meeting of the same immediately after their appointment, when the times of future meetings, and such other arrangements shall be agreed on, as shall be deemed by them expedient. All the official acts of such committees shall be done in meetings of the same, duly notified by the chairman, and shall be expressive of the sense of a majority of any such committee, and when reported to this board shall be in writing, and shall be submitted to their paramount authority.

7. Although the interest of the schools demands sub-committees of this board, each member of it shall consider it his duty to exercise a watch over the literary and moral improvement of every public school in the city, and to afford personal assistance in their visitations, exhibitions, and examinations; in short, on common special, occasions, according to his inclination, leisure and convenience.

or

8. In the month of June, annually, this board shall nominate and appoint a suitable number of gentlemen, (at present fifty-two.) as

equally distributed as may be among the wards of the city, whose duty collectively shall be to provide instruction for children between four and seven years of age, and to apportion the expenses among the several schools, agreeably to the direction of the town at the institution of the Primary Schools; and shall authorise the committee of these schools to organise their body and regulate their proceedings, as they deem most convenient, and to fill all vacancies occurring in the same, during the year; from whom this board will respectfully receive such communications as they may please occasionally to make on the subject of those schools.

9. Whenever this board shall judge that the accommodation and benefit of the community require an additional school, or the enlargement or new-modelling of any in operation, it shall be their duty to attend to the subject, and without delay to request the co-operation of the City Council in the business: and there shall be appointed annually a standing committee of the board to meet the agents of said department, and jointly with the same to superintend the construction of the apartments, seats, &c. of the building to be erected or repaired during the year; that the best models may be adopted to subserve the purposes of improved education, for which this board is responsible to the community.

10. A majority of the board shall be required to constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at any meeting of the same. 11. There shall be the following stated meetings of this board, viz. on the second Tuesday of May, August, November, and February, at 10 o'clock, A. M. at the room of the Mayor and Aldermen. At the stated meetings in February and August, suitable arrangements shall be made, and special committees appointed for the semi-annual visitations and exhibitions of the several schools.

Regulations relating to the Public Schools.

THE public schools of this city consist of one Latin Grammar School, one English High School, eight Grammar and Writing Schools, besides one African School; and of fifty-one Primary Schools,* in all of which children of both sexes are freely admitted to all the privileges therein enjoyed, except in the two schools first named, which are designed exclusively for the benefit of the male population. These schools are intended to form a system of education, advancing from the lowest to the highest degree of improvement, which can be derived from any literary seminaries inferior

*Two additional schools of this class have been voted.

+ The High School for Girls-for an account of which, see No.2, of this Journal, and intelligence in our present number,-now affords corresponding advanta ges to females.

to colleges and universities. In these, the youth of this metropolis, through the unexampled liberality of the citizens in their corporate capacity, and the munificence of individuals, at different periods, enjoy advantages second to none in the schools of our country, for obtaining a practical and theoretical acquaintance with the various branches of a useful education, for acquiring good moral habits, and imbibing pure and patriotic principles.

The particular superintendence of the Primary Schools is delegated to a separate board, who publish their own rules and regu lations.*

Regulations common to all the Public Schools under the immediate Superintendence of the School Committee.

1. The instructers, in all the public schools, shall be elected, and their salaries voted, annually; and no continuance or preferment of them in office shall be predicated on any principles, but those of literary and moral merit and practical skill. In their original appointment, the degree of Bachelor of Arts, at some respectable college, duly incorporated and authorised to confer degrees, shall be considered as a necessary qualification in the instructers of all the public schools, except the writing.

2. As all the instructers derive their authority from this board, they shall be alike responsible to it for the faithful discharge of their appropriate duties, and be equally under its patronage, and shall be alike respected and obeyed by their pupils. The Masters of the schools shall hold priority of rank; and their direction shall be followed in cases not provided for by the general regulations of this board, or any sub-committee of the same, or by the written and authorised rules of the school. In instances of unfaithfulness in office, it shall be the mutual duty of those immediately connected in the business of a school, to represent the same to the sub-committee of the school in question, and through them to this board; that any abuse of their confidence may be promptly corrected.

3. The instructers shall be punctual in their attendance at the hours ap pointed for opening the schools, and shall require like punctuality of the scholars. Strict regard shall also be paid to the hours assigned for dismissing the schools; and no scholars shall be allowed to depart before the same, except at the request of a parent or guardian, expressed personally at the time, or by a particular note, or special messenger, or in cases otherwise authorised by the committee. During school hours the instructers shall faithfully devote themselves to the public service only.

4. The morning exercises of all the schools shall commence with

* An abstract of these rules will be given in our next.