Superintendent

“ And as the superintendent in each city is practically, though not theoretically, the doer of all that is done in the general management, and is responsible for the condition of all the schools in the city, his office is, in fact, second in importance to none. ”

“ If he is warm and genial, such will be the school. A cheerful superintendent spreads cheerfulness throughout the school. A light and trifling, or a gloomy and morose, superintendent infects teachers and scholars alike with the same spirit. Never should the superintendent allow the least impatience or harshness to manifest itself in his look, tone of voice, or manner in the school; for its effects will prove most disastrous. Ill-temper is a perfect barrier to religious improvement and usefulness. ”

“ The superintendent seems to be the man upon whom rests the greatest responsibility, and he is responsible to the directors for all his acts. As stated already, he makes the purchases or orders them made; he disposes of the goods, or orders them disposed of. He makes arrangements for all its business transactions, and he reports to the directors, monthly, the status of the institution. In his hands is placed the power to manipulate and regulate the affairs thereof. If some person in that institution—he may be a good man—is incompetent, he uses his discretion in removing that man. ”

“ The average general superintendent's office is a great clearing house for correspondence. Few matters receive final action and many are passed along to the general manager's office. The resulting delay usually does more harm than good. On the other hand, since we all like to feel that we are highly useful, the general superintendent, or his chief clerk, is unconsciously dwarfing the initiative of superintendents by requiring references to him of matters that should receive final action at division headquarters. ”

“ The law of the survival of the fittest will bring out those all-around men who can succeed in both line and staff. The superintendent who has been detailed as an inspector for a year or two will return to a division with a broader view and will be a better superintendent. He will not resent the inspection of his division by the other department, because conscious of the fact that the inspectors are at least his equals, and perhaps his superiors, in experience and rank. ”

“ The masters in every department of work are never too wise nor too old to learn.
If a man can be found who possesses all these seven traits of character and temperament, the school which can secure him for its superintendent [52] will be fortunate indeed. And the superintendent who thoughtfully reads the catalogue of qualifications, and feels that in some of them he is lacking, may by divine grace and his own will working together make progress toward the goal of becoming an ideal superintendent. ”

“ Then, too, a county should be divided into districts and more assistance given the county superintendent in the supervision of schools. In other words, supervision should be persistent, consistent, and systematic; visits should be more frequent. In the city a superintendent or principal has all his schools and teachers either in one building or in several buildings at no great distance apart. In the latter case he can go from one to another in a few minutes, staying at each as long as he thinks necessary. Little time is lost in travel. ”

“ If a superintendent should have the temerity to come out in the open and describe, for the benefit of the public, the process of running his division by a combination of rules, schedules, and grievance committees, with himself as an almost impersonal factor in the midst of it all, turning the crank merely as director of the machinery, he would in short order be called upon to back up his story with his resignation. ”

“ What can a supervising officer do for a school or for a teacher under such circumstances? Practically nothing. The county superintendent is usually elected to office by the people and frequently on a partisan ticket. This method of choosing naturally tends to make him give more attention to politics than he otherwise would think of giving. So the supervision or superintendency of country schools is too often slighted or neglected—and who is to blame? ”

“ To see any human being swept to such an end is dreadful, but for a county superintendent to witness the drowning of one of her best—though sometimes it must be confessed most insubordinate—teachers, under such circumstances, is unspeakable; and when that teacher is a young man who was once that county superintendent’s sweetheart, and falls in, clothed in a new made-to-order suit in which he looks almost handsome despite his manifest discomfort in his new cravat and starched collar, the experience is something almost 236 impossible to endure. ”

“ Thus the superintendent will be capable of intelligent co-operation with all agencies, public and private, that may minister to the varying needs of the stranded men and boys, women and girls whom he is to distribute and start on their way to independent, economic usefulness in the community. ”

“ It is intended that an Assistant Superintendent shall be on duty in charge of the division headquarters office during office hours. The designation of a particular Assistant Superintendent to handle specified classes of correspondence and telegrams is a matter concerning only this office. Each official transacts business in his own name, and no person should sign the name or initials of another. The principle to guide subordinate officials and employes is to be governed by the latest instructions issued and received. ”

“ The master mechanic and the superintendent of motive power are not components of the same integral unit. The unit system of organization requires a superintendent of motive power to transact all business of record with the office of the superintendent of the division, a component unit of the general jurisdiction. The senior assistant general manager and the senior assistant superintendent, each, as a chief of staff for the head of his unit, decides promptly in the absence of the head of the unit, what matters are sufficiently technical to demand the attention of a particular official. ”

“ The superintendent is supplied with a map of the district, forms of recommendation, rules for patients and nurses, and slates and pencils to be hung at the head-board, to receive the directions of the doctor, and the inquiries of the nurse. In seven of the districts, the lady superintendents furnish the supplies at their own cost! How gladly ought any wealthy woman to avail herself of so sure a method! ”

“ Section 2.—And be it further enacted, that there shall reside at each of said posts, one superintendent having charge thereof, with full power to carry into effect the provisions of this act, subject always to such instructions as the President may impose; one deputy superintendent to act in like manner in case of death, removal or absence of the superintendent, and such artificers and laborers, not exceeding twenty in number, as the said superintendent may deem necessary for the conduct and safety of said posts, all of whom shall be subject to appointment and liable to removal. ”

“ In every Sunday school there is need of an officer to aid the superintendent and to take his place when absent. Even in a small school the supervision can be more thorough and the teaching more efficient, if some one is at hand with authority to relieve the superintendent of minor details, and give him freedom for the general management. And in a large school assistants to the superintendent are an absolute necessity, for each department becomes in itself a school. ”

“ Every superintendent believes that he is the best judge of men on the pike. On every system are probably men who can give him cards and spades, picked coal and treated water, and then outclass him on such a run. ”

“ The superintendent yearns to reach and save him. He thinks and prays over the matter until he feels deeply for the youth. He then visits him, and approaches him with unusual respect—informs him that he has come to ask a particular favor—will he accept the post of librarian in our flourishing little Sabbath-school? He readily consents. The superintendent then says, "Charlie, we teachers have a delightful social gathering at each other's houses every Thursday evening, and as you have a fine horse and buggy, cannot you make it convenient to bring up the two Misses S—— to that meeting?" ”

“ County superintendents were provided for by the law of 1854, to be elected at the annual elections. In 1861 it was enacted that a territorial superintendent should be chosen triennially by the legislature, whose duty it should be to collect such information as might be deemed important, reporting annually to that body, and supervising the expenditure of the school fund. ”

“ IX. Each district commander will appoint a superintendent of freedmen,—a commissioned officer,—with such number of assistants —officers and non-commissioned officers—as may be necessary, whose duty it will be to take charge of all the freed people in his district who are without homes or proper employment. The superintendents will send back to their homes all who have left them in violation of the above rules, and will endeavor to find homes and suitable employment for all others. ”

“ Under the unit system the superintendent can be thus spared from his division to help save the company money because there is always a competent man to perform his duties, and a provision all along the line for automatic successions to meet just such incidents of service. It should be as easy for a chief assistant superintendent, familiar with the routine, to assume the superintendent's regular duties any day as for the second dispatcher to work the first trick. ”

“ Nearly everywhere, Sunday-school conventions are available; and to [Pg 208] these, as gathering up in his own experience whatever his school has learned and accomplished, the superintendent should carry his freshest inspiration and his wisest plans. No superintendent can live—can be a live superintendent—to himself.
One thing should be said, to close this hasty sketch. If the superintendent is all this, or even part of all this, in his personal motives, and in his relations to officers, teachers, scholars, and other schools, he will always be a paid superintendent. He may have no salary ”

“ The election of the superintendent should be made by the workers in the school, its board of teachers and officers, and its action should be formally confirmed by the ruling board of the local church. No man should hold the office of a superintendent who fails to receive the approval of the church of which the school is a part. He should know that in his appointment the school, the church, and the pastor all unite. ”

“ No Station Master is allowed to be absent without leave from the Superintendent of his Division, except from illness, in which case he must immediately inform the Superintendent, and take care that some competent person is intrusted with the duties. ”

“ You feel that a man from another division has been forced on you by the general superintendent; that you have suffered a personal affront because the promotion you recommended on your own division has not been approved. I am sorry to rule against you, but from your own story if anybody deserves six months twice a year, it is you and not the general superintendent. ”

“ When it is remembered that the county superintendent must also attend to an office that has a large amount of correspondence and clerical work, that he is usually commissioned with authority to oversee the building of all schoolhouses in his county, that he must act as judge in hearing appeals in school disputes, that he must conduct all teachers' examinations and in many instances grade the papers, and, finally, that country roads are often impassable, it is seen that his time for supervision is greatly curtailed. ”

“ Under the American system a county superintendent of schools invariably has to be a school politician, and almost invariably has to be a political politician as well. His school gang is made up of his assistants and clerks and principals and other numerous appointees, all of whom depend upon his favor 225and are looking for promotion; also those teachers who serve him as bell-wethers, leading the flocks of teacher sheep. ”

“ The general superintendent starts out with a brave determination to get along with a small staff. Sooner, rather than later, human nature asserts itself; he feels that my man can be more useful if he is on my staff. He builds up a larger staff with an inevitable retarding bureau of correspondence. He perhaps has a $200 traveling engineer finding fault with the division performance of the $300 superintendent. ”

“ And in the increasing number of schools which are employing graded lessons, not uniform in the departments, the superintendent should have at least a general knowledge of the subjects studied in each department. The more thoroughly the superintendent fills his own mind and heart with the truth, the more efficiently will the truth be taught in his school. ”

“ Fifthly and finally, the superintendent and other schools. He has been getting from them all he can, if he is enterprising; he should give to them all he can. The large cities have their superintendents' unions, composed of those that hold now, or have held, this post of honor and responsibility,—and few associations are as delightful. ”

“ His duties still distinctly pertained to the performance of the ordinary governmental functions of the City in the supervision of its streets and parks and his position as Superintendent both with respect to duties and tenure may properly be regarded as subject to the control of the legislature and of the Commission Council acting under its authority. ”