Burt Community School - Bears / Roundup Yearbook (Burt, IA)

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SUPERINTENDENT'S TENURE OF OFFICE IN NINE KOSSUTH COUNTY SCHOOLS - There is much criticism of all public or semi-public offices at the present timeg Any governmental function support eel in whole or in. part by public taxes is subject-d to such co .merits. One of the reasons for having less efficient governmental functions than would be commonly found in private business is the relatively short tenure of office in many of those functions. The public schools in many cases have not served the communities in which they are located as well or as efficiently as they should because of the shortness of the tenure of office of the teachers or the supervisory or administrative heads of those schools. Private business would not demand new blood every year or every other year as many of the schools do. We believe that the tenure of some of our schools has been increasing during the last decade and this iamo be regarded as a hopeful sign. On the other hand when the history of the school over a period of thirty-five or forty y ars shows an average tenure of from one to two year’s the conclusion may ri ht fully be drawn that there is need for a more complete under- standing of the problems involved in training young people and giving them the greatest opportunity that the com unity can afford. It is an evident fact that the best possible school cannot be maintained if the head of the school is changed every other year on the average. Plow can there be efficiency of organisation, con tinuity of effort and long-time planning if the school org nizaticn is remodeled at least once each t..;o years on the average? It is a hopeful sign that the tenure is slowly i: creasing in every school which has been checked during the last throe years. c RJPSRI IN NI O r c r :TEN JENT' s NS KOSSUTH 1892 - j- » h TENURE OF OFFICE COUNTY SCHOOLS 1933 i v s-° : ys V- V ° e A V Number of Years No . of Supts. ho. with One Year Tenure 42 . 12 1 2 42 21. 7 32 1 10 4 38 39 20 7 20 11 8 29 12 „ 6 42 16‘. 3 42 21 10 42 ; 2 o 14 No with Two Year Tenure 3 10 Z 6 2 5 4 1 No,with Three Year Tenure 2 i 1 4 5 2 4 3 No. with Four Year Tenure 2 0 0 1 1 1 1 3 0 No. with Five Year Tenure 1 l 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 No. with More Than Five Year Tenurd 2 l 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 Average Tenure In Years 3.4 2.0 3.2 . 1.9 1.95 2.41 2,62 2.00 2.10 - 8 -

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NUMBER OF TEACHERS EMPLOYED BURT PUBLIC SCHOOLS 1907 - 1933 In 1907 five teachers were employed to teach all of the grades an the high school. At that tiinee there were a total of lAO pupils enroll- ed, 115 in the grades and 25 in the high school department which at that time consisted of three years of work. Since that time the high school department has almost quadrupled in size, full four years of work is now offered, a greatly extended curriculum has been introduced, extra- curricular activities have been made a part of the school program, a Junior high school has been organized and revived attention is given to art, music and penmanship in the elementary grades. With the increase in the number of pupils enrolled, especially in the high school , and with greater attention given to what is offered in the school , has come a tremendous increase in effort required by teachers , It was but natural, therefore, that the number of teachers should be increas- ed to meet this new demand upon the schools. The above chart shows the number of teachers employed in the Burt schools each year since 1907. No thinking person would say that it is possible for one or two teachers to teach all of the subjects now taught in the high school and handle even a part of the extra-curricular work that has come to be a part of the school’s work, V hen only a few subjects were offered by the school and there were few if any extra or outside work it was possible for one or two teachers to hear recitations in the classes held. Schools everywhere are reducing the number of teachers, eliminating subjects from the curriculums and otherwise curtailing the activities of the schools. Economy should always be a watchword and an aim in public institutions, but false economy never has in the past, nor will at the present time prove a profitable move. Economy means ’’wise spending Economy does not mean blind slashing of salaries, reduct- ion in teaching steJffs, elimination of valuable courses; failure to maintain standards of equipment or of instruction, When children have to pay for the errors and mistakes of their elders, it is time that people think carefully and straight as to the purpose of the schools and the goals to be attained. The future of the nation rests in these young people and the v'elfare of he social and governmental standards demand that an opportunity be given for education.