City 
 
 Superintendents 
 of Schools 
 
 Extract from a paper prepared for 
 The National Council 
 of Education 
 
 AARON GOVE, 
 
 Superintendent of Schools, 
 School District No* One, 
 DENVER, COLO. 
 
* 3 * 79 , t* 
 
 SuperintenSents 
 of Schools. 
 
 The technical duties of a city superin¬ 
 tendent are administrative. He is the 
 executive officer of the constituted 
 school authorities. The direction and 
 control of schools, primarily in the peo¬ 
 ple, by them is lawfully delegated to a 
 number of persons variously termed 
 Directors, Committee, Inspectors, or 
 Boards of Education. Originally, these 
 authorities, themselves, performed all 
 the duties pertaining to their office, 
 personally and directly managing and 
 controlling the conduct of the schools. 
 
 HISTOBY. 
 
 In 1851 the School Committee of Bos¬ 
 ton determined that an executive officer 
 of the committee, a man skillful in his 
 profession and adapted by temperament 
 and education to the duties, ought to 
 be placed as an intermediate agent be¬ 
 tween the committee and the schools; 
 one who should devote his entire time 
 to executing the directions of the com¬ 
 mittee. Nathan Bishop was elected in 
 
 
dtp Superintendents 
 
 the month of May of that year. The 
 movement for the establishment of this 
 office began several years earlier. Its 
 scope and objects were ably set forth 
 in the first printed report of the board, 
 viz.: the famous one of 1845. Mr. Mann 
 had suggested the need of additional 
 means of supervision in his first report 
 of 1838, and in some paper not long 
 afterward he had specially suggested 
 the expediency of appointing a superin¬ 
 tendent of the primary schools of Bos¬ 
 ton. As a matter of fact the first su¬ 
 perintendent had supervision of the 
 grammar and high schools not of the 
 primary, which were managed by an¬ 
 other school board. The office of su¬ 
 perintendent was established in Provi¬ 
 dence about 1839 and Nathan Bishop 
 held the office until elected in Boston. 
 The office had a temporary existence in 
 Springfield before it was established in 
 Boston, but had been discontinued 
 there. Professor Greene was superin¬ 
 tendent at Springfield in 1842, and the 
 office ended with his service. This 
 seems to have been the initial move- 
 2 
 
of Schools, 
 
 merit which has resulted in a custom 
 now quite generally adopted. It is not 
 the purpose of this paper to discuss 
 the propriety of the existence of such 
 an office but rather to portray some¬ 
 thing of the duties which to-day belong 
 to it. 
 
 DUTIES. 
 
 But the inquiry is made, even at 
 the present day, “Why the expense 
 and machinery of a superintendent?” 
 The answer frequently is such as would 
 summarily abolish the office. I take 
 it that no valid objection can be made 
 to efficient supervision in any depart¬ 
 ment of our social or political economy. 
 Objections probably arise amongst those 
 whose observations have been made in 
 an unfortunate direction. What num¬ 
 ber of schools can economically employ 
 the whole time of a supervising officer 
 is a proper question. In industrial es¬ 
 tablishments, as well as in enterprises 
 requiring unskilled manual labor, em¬ 
 ployers insist upon abundant super¬ 
 vision. A great railroad company 
 3 
 
Citg Superintendents 
 
 places one man to boss three or four. 
 Every factory, large or small, has its 
 foreman and its bosses. Experience has 
 taught that such an arrangement pays 
 financially. The conclusions are quite 
 as reasonable in the conduct of schools; 
 where even a small aggregation of 
 schools is, there an able superintendent 
 can be profitably engaged. 
 
 The written laws prescribing the 
 duties of a superintendent although 
 variously framed, are nearly identical 
 in substance. “He shall have an over¬ 
 sight of all public schools within the 
 boundaries of the district and shall per¬ 
 form such duties as may be prescribed 
 by the board of education.” 
 
 This formula presents a trivial idea 
 of the complexity and magnitude of the 
 labors of the office, and yet it covers 
 the whole matter. 
 
 Two distinct and separate classes of 
 duties are demanded of the intelligent 
 superintendent: one relating to the 
 board, the other relating to the schools. 
 Facing the one he is never to have his 
 back to the other; he is to be director, 
 4 
 
of Schools. 
 
 petitioner, advisor, or servitor accord¬ 
 ing to the case in hand. Although his 
 formulated duties do not so prescribe, 
 yet his chief duty towards the board is 
 that of adviser. Unfortunately con¬ 
 stituted is that board that does not 
 seek his advice; more unfortunate is 
 that superintendent who is unable to 
 give healthful advice. 
 
 FINANCES. 
 
 To do so he must be familiar, 
 first, with the financial affairs of 
 the district. He must know about 
 the assessment roll and about the 
 tax collector’s returns; he must be 
 acquainted with the sources of income, 
 and with the ratio of school expenses to 
 other municipal expenses. Money is 
 the greatest power in upbuilding school 
 interests. A community may be intel¬ 
 ligent to a high degree, may be unan¬ 
 imous in a desire to establish and main¬ 
 tain an excellent public school system, 
 but no good resolutions can take the 
 place of an empty treasury. In States 
 west of Ohio this knowledge is of great 
 5 
 
CJt^ Superintendents 
 
 moment, because extraordinary pro¬ 
 vision must annually be made for great 
 increase in school population. When 
 many towns annually levy a school tax 
 ten times greater than the rate of the 
 entire State, county and municipal tax 
 of Connecticut, when nearly half of all 
 the money paid to the tax collector for 
 all purposes is expended towards main¬ 
 taining schools and building school- 
 houses, notwithstanding streets are to 
 be graded, bridges constructed, public 
 buildings erected, waiter and gas works 
 provided, sewers built, fire and police 
 departments and courts of justice main¬ 
 tained, with such great expenses for 
 schools, it well behooves the adviser of 
 the board to remember when he would 
 ask for helpful but not necessary ac¬ 
 cessories for the conduct of the schools, 
 to be able intelligently to count the cost 
 ere he asks for the expenditure. 
 
 The school tax in a little town in 
 Illinois is three per centum of the as¬ 
 sessed valuation of the district. Kan¬ 
 sas, Iowa, and Nebraska can furnish 
 many instances of a rate of school tax 
 
of Schools. 
 
 that would cause a New England man 
 to stand aghast with fear lest ruin com¬ 
 pass the land. A part of one Western 
 city the present year is paying a school 
 tax of two per centum, while the entire 
 tax for all other purposes is two per 
 centum. 
 
 expeotditttres. 
 
 The superintendent in connection 
 with the board must assist in tem¬ 
 pering the expenditures to the reason¬ 
 able income, that the efficiency of the 
 schools be not impaired. He must be 
 able to suggest modes of retrenchment 
 other than one reducing the pay of 
 teachers. Care is requisite that the 
 proper number of pupils be assigned to 
 each school. If necessary, few calls 
 can be made for improvements in build¬ 
 ings, for supplies, and for apparatus. 
 He must be ready with make-shifts in 
 all directions, except in that of in¬ 
 structors, in order that low salaries of 
 teachers be not made still lower. Of 
 all public institutions in the West, the 
 schools are nearest to the people. The 
 7 
 
Ctt£ SupenntenDents 
 
 school-house and its inmates are within 
 easy striking distance of every man 
 and every woman in the district. When 
 the effect of straightened finances 
 reaches the taxpayers, the schools are 
 usually the first target for the aims 
 of retrenchment. 
 
 The superintendent, if he be well in¬ 
 formed in public finance, can do much 
 toward averting the calamity of em¬ 
 ploying poor teachers at low salaries 
 by pointing out other methods of reduc¬ 
 tion. It should ever be remembered 
 that the typical city of the Northern 
 States is ready to pay without murmur 
 all necessary tax for the support of 
 schools, but the city demands a dollar’s 
 worth of school for every dollar ex¬ 
 pended. 
 
 SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 Second, the superintendent should be 
 well informed in the arrangement and 
 construction of school-houses. What 
 enormous blots lie scattered all over 
 our fair land in the shape of abortions, 
 miscalled school-houses! Maine is full 
 of them; California is not free from 
 8 
 
of Schools. 
 
 them; like carcasses on the plains they 
 lie broadcast in the Mississippi valley. 
 Magnificent cities and humble villages 
 have alike been struck with the calam¬ 
 ity of misshapen, ill-constructed, un¬ 
 healthful, inconvenient preposterous 
 school-houses. To remember that the 
 people furnish millions of dollars gladly 
 for ignorant boards and superintendents 
 to squander, is to feel that one has the 
 right to question the propriety of the 
 existence of the office of superintendent. 
 It is futile to say that the superintend¬ 
 ent has no authority in this direction; 
 he has what often is better than au¬ 
 thority, he has advisory power and 
 his superior knowledge, if he have it, 
 is certain to influence his associates. 
 
 Of all professions, that of the archi¬ 
 tect seems to contain the grandest, 
 noblest and most skillful elements. 
 Every true man does admire and rev¬ 
 erence the art of the true architect; 
 but those who do plan and construct 
 a school-house economically, that shall 
 be comfortable, healthful, and con¬ 
 venient are few in number. Why should 
 
Gitg Superintendents 
 
 an architect be expected to be in¬ 
 formed as to the desirable interior ar¬ 
 rangements of a school-house? Who 
 but the practical and studious school¬ 
 master can tell the necessities of the 
 case? The latter is useless without the 
 former; the architect should not be per¬ 
 mitted to work alone. As is the 
 unfortunate custom, the appear¬ 
 ance of the exterior of the build¬ 
 ing is often of the greatest mo¬ 
 ment, the interior arrrangements must 
 be modified to suit the outside. 
 The people assist the architect by in¬ 
 sisting upon a towered ornament to the 
 town, -while the board and superin¬ 
 tendent, often only superintendent, urge 
 that the money be spent on the inside 
 for health and work and not on the 
 outside for pomp and show. Year after 
 year we are building on, duplicating 
 mistakes, profiting not by the experi¬ 
 ence of all that have built before us. 
 Probably as many school-house mon¬ 
 strosities are erecting this year as in 
 any preceding year. One can find them 
 in New England, New York, and Ohio, 
 10 
 
of Schools. 
 
 that part of the country to which we 
 look for examples. The duties of su¬ 
 perintendents require them to call a 
 halt and see that gross blunders be not 
 repeated. This means that the superin¬ 
 tendent shall have made a study of the 
 subject and be intimate not necessarily 
 with the details of construction but 
 with all that pertains to convenience in 
 work and to the promotion and preserv¬ 
 ation of health. 
 
 IlfCIDENTAIi EXPENSES. 
 
 Third, the superintendent should be 
 prompt to advise in the matter of ex¬ 
 penditures. School boards are inclined 
 to be extravagant. One will find that a 
 board elected on an issue of retrench¬ 
 ment, will often contain elements that 
 are prone to lavish expenditure. They 
 are sure to see opportunities of reduc¬ 
 ing the pay-roll but are unwittingly 
 led in the other direction. A shrewd 
 business agent for dealers in apparatus, 
 books, maps, patent short cuts or gim- 
 cracks of various sorts, is able to dem¬ 
 onstrate to the board member all the 
 virtues and merits of his wares and 
 
Gltg Superintendents 
 
 speedily makes a convert. The goods 
 are often ordered soon to be laid aside 
 in the cellar. Principals and teachers 
 too often join in requesting such invest¬ 
 ments with no thought of the outlay. 
 How many of us care to take a careful 
 inventory of all such purchases by the 
 authorities during the last ten years as 
 may to-day be found in the cellars and 
 garrets of our school-buildings? These 
 leaks from the treasury amount to a 
 large sum. It is usually in the power 
 of the superintendent to stop them; he 
 should be so intelligently conservative 
 as to advise investment only when com¬ 
 mensurate returns are certain. He 
 should not allow the people’s money to 
 be spent in such experiments if he can 
 prevent it. In recommending changes 
 involving cost, he should watch the 
 emptying purse, and avoid all possible 
 outlay except the outlay for skill to fill 
 the places of instructors. 
 
 CONDUCT OF SCHOOLS. 
 
 Fourth, the superintendent should see 
 that the board is informed as to the 
 12 
 
of Schools 
 
 current conduct of the schools. This is 
 necessary because the board is the 
 official, therefore the most emphatic 
 medium between the schools and the 
 people. Pupils’ and teachers’ comments 
 upon the management are quite sec¬ 
 ondary to the utterances of him whom 
 the people have selected to represent 
 them on the board of management. It 
 is no easy task to see that the individ¬ 
 ual members are familiar with the is¬ 
 sues that continually arise. Formal 
 meetings are not sufficient to accom¬ 
 plish the purpose, personal interviews 
 are necessary. 
 
 PEOPEETT. 
 
 Fifth, the care of the school property 
 is directly in the line of the superintend¬ 
 ent’s duties; this places him in direct 
 relation to the janitors or custodians 
 of the buildings during other than 
 school hours. Neat and well preserved 
 school-houses, with fences, out-houses, 
 furniture and all that pertains to the 
 premises are essential accompaniments 
 to good schools. A broken pane, pencil 
 
Cits Superintendents 
 
 or chalk marks or whittlings in out¬ 
 houses or on fences not only indicate 
 weakness in supervision but are also a 
 positive barrier to making desirable 
 character among the pupils. The su¬ 
 perintendent is the only person who can 
 and will make visits of inspection and 
 spur janitors and principals to eternal 
 vigilance. A coat of paint, a day’s 
 work on roof, resetting a fence post 
 can prevent, sometimes, expensive re¬ 
 pairs; the superintendent is most likely 
 to discover these needs and by sugges¬ 
 tions to the board extensive outlays may 
 be avoided. 
 
 THE PEOPLE. 
 
 It is in the other direction, towards 
 the other side of the field, to the schools 
 and the people that from the superin¬ 
 tendent’s place the outlook is far reach¬ 
 ing. Here it is that technical, profes¬ 
 sional skill is the effective element of 
 action. The number of professional, 
 studied superintendents in this country 
 is alarmingly small. Not the pecuniary 
 remuneration, the glory of ambition, 
 philanthropic love, nor a desire to be 
 14 
 
of Schools, 
 
 and to do good has so far been sufficient 
 to induce the necessary number of men 
 to prepare for and engage in the work 
 of school supervision. The position it¬ 
 self is not a widely acknowledged dis¬ 
 tinctive occupation. In time it will as¬ 
 sume that dignity that is not now ac¬ 
 corded to it. The position of teacher is 
 now often considered as demanding 
 principally text-book scholarship; the 
 superintendent’s office can never be ex¬ 
 alted except as a sequel to the exalta¬ 
 tion of the teacher, an intimate and 
 practical knowledge of whose work is a 
 necessity to the superintendent. He 
 must be a fair general scholar; he must 
 have passed through several years of 
 technical training both as pupil and 
 teacher; he is not to the best degree 
 able to supervise primary, grammar, or 
 high schools unless he has for a reason¬ 
 able time served as a teacher in these 
 respective schools. The conditions of 
 public education force into the superin¬ 
 tendent’s harness persons whose prep¬ 
 aration has-. been inadequate, whose 
 work has not been such as has fitted 
 
Cits Superintendents 
 
 them for the duties. Men of great 
 capacity and liberal education are fre¬ 
 quently pressed into the service of 
 school boards and then learn for the 
 first time by practice what before they 
 had only known in theory. A clear 
 loss follows the early administration of 
 such supervisors: the illustrations are 
 at hand and are familiar. And so 
 instead of having a large number of 
 well-prepared superintendents, we are 
 compelled continually to make over 
 material prepared for quite another and 
 different calling in life. With this 
 thought in mind, it is not strange that 
 the necessity of the office is sometimes 
 questioned. 
 
 TEA CHESS. 
 
 The relations of the superintendent to 
 the teacher are exceedingly delicate and 
 difficult of management. He finds him¬ 
 self associated with ladies and gentle¬ 
 men any one of whom has, in certain 
 directions, superior qualifications. They 
 are quite his equals, socially and intel¬ 
 lectually, frequently his superiors. He 
 16 
 
of Schools. 
 
 is so to adjust these forces as to ac¬ 
 complish the work of the whole field in 
 the best way. His view is of the en¬ 
 tire situation and, often a course of 
 conduct, right and necessary, is in¬ 
 sisted upon quite against the judgment 
 of his associates. Confidence in his 
 management is essential to success. 
 
 The little frictions and misunder¬ 
 standings such as ever arise in small 
 and intimate communities are to be 
 regulated; carelessness and shiftless¬ 
 ness are to be upbraided; errors are to 
 be corrected and insubordination is 
 promptly to be followed by dismissal. 
 Such things and many more are to be 
 accomplished when neither the power 
 of the general of the army nor of the 
 overseer of the shop can reasonably or 
 profitably be vested in the superintend¬ 
 ent. 
 
 INSTSUCTIOJSr. 
 
 Again, he is to teach, and in no 
 part of the work is more skill re¬ 
 quired than in properly and effectively 
 teaching a teacher how to teach, es- 
 
Cit^ Superintendents 
 
 pecially one who is failing in the school, 
 and yet who' presents to the inspector 
 many crude, unorganized yet strong 
 elements of a true teacher. To tell a 
 teacher that the work is unsatisfactory 
 because the results are unsatisfactory 
 is easy and cheap. The schools would 
 be soon relieved of the great mass of 
 excellent young persons by such a line 
 of attack. The superintendent’s duties 
 require him to help the teacher to do 
 satisfactory work by giving intelligent 
 and dexterous assistance. To do this 
 involves superior knowledge on his part. 
 At the frequent assemblages of teach¬ 
 ers the superintendent is so* to preside 
 as to enable each to appropriate from 
 the other whatever can be obtained in 
 the way of helpful suggestions for the 
 conduct of the classes, never concealing 
 the relative merits of his associates, 
 even though his own pride do suffer. 
 These meetings must be frequent and 
 are always helpful when properly con¬ 
 ducted. The harm arising from inter¬ 
 ference with methods of discipline and 
 instruction is to be avoided by giving 
 18 
 
of Softools, 
 
 all possible personal latitude. Appro¬ 
 priated methods are too often soulless, 
 heartless, mechanical operations. A 
 teacher to be in the best way success¬ 
 ful, must not be subjected to dictation 
 in details. 
 
 It is to or for the pupils that the 
 superintendent’s greatest force, thought, 
 and study must be directed. All ef¬ 
 fort has but one aim, all instruments 
 and means one object. All interests 
 center at the children. The schools are 
 for them. Every element of power is 
 ultimately exerted here. The advance¬ 
 ment of the pupils’ interests is the de¬ 
 sideratum of all school management. 
 
 The superintendent must be able to 
 classify so that reasonable allotments 
 of pupils to teacher be made; to make 
 provisions for extraordinary pupils 
 whether of mental or physical peculiar¬ 
 ities; to avoid inflexible laws; to modify 
 rules; to allay prejudice, to forgive of¬ 
 fenses, to advise whipping, to expel 
 pupils, to cultivate morality, to form 
 character, to retain boys in school when 
 
Cits Superintendents 
 
 they would rather go to work, and to 
 make the children happy. The superin¬ 
 tendent of a system of schools should 
 be the publicly acknowledged friend and 
 often the confidant and private coun¬ 
 sellor of the young people. He ought to 
 be a welcome visitor at home and at 
 school. He must be able to talk with 
 pupils of every grade, placing himself 
 on their plane of thought and impulse. 
 He ought to be a father, thereby from 
 an intimate knowledge of his own 
 children’s lives be the better able to ap¬ 
 proach and advise the children of other 
 people. 
 
 parents . 
 
 Looking towards teacher and pupil, 
 one sees beyond in the same direction 
 the parents and people. Each indi¬ 
 vidual in the community understands 
 that his is the right to inquire into the 
 conduct and suggest as to the man¬ 
 agement of the school. Dictation, ad¬ 
 vice, complaint, and approbation are 
 lavishly contributed. The superintend¬ 
 ent is the appointed person to receive 
 
of Schools, 
 
 these tenders. He must listen courte¬ 
 ously, appropriate the helpful sugges¬ 
 tions, redress grievances, mollify com¬ 
 plaints, and be comforted by approba¬ 
 tion, but not disheartened by blame. 
 He stands the representative of the 
 board in the conduct of the schools be¬ 
 fore the people. In this line of his 
 duties, requirements not heretofore 
 mentioned are demanded. A knowledge 
 of humanity, not acquired from books, 
 but from men, a true notion of busi¬ 
 ness and of family relations, an appre¬ 
 ciation of home in its thousand forms 
 and conditions, of paternal and ma¬ 
 ternal discipline in its various degrees, 
 of the loves and hates of neighborhoods, 
 of the breeding and antecedents of 
 parents; in fact, a knowledge of all that 
 goes to make up one peculiar American 
 social community, is needed by the su¬ 
 perintendent, that he may properly and 
 successfully administer and adjust such 
 matters connected with school life as 
 are daily brought before him. It is im¬ 
 portant that he so adjudicate that ap¬ 
 peals from his decision be seldom, that 
 
Cits Superintendents 
 
 the board be not often annoyed by 
 called meetings for the purpose of re¬ 
 opening cases of alleged grievances 
 upon which judgment has already been 
 pronounced. This latter class of duties 
 demand strength of manhood as the 
 busy world makes manhood, and calls 
 for an activity of a sort that can not 
 be found in him whose life has been a 
 purely literary one, spent among books 
 alone in the library. A quarrel pre¬ 
 vented by the tact or foresight of the 
 superintendent may save the entire sys¬ 
 tem from an overturning that long 
 time only could right. 
 
 To keep abreast of the professional 
 advance is manifestly a duty. In¬ 
 formed of the doings and requirements 
 of other jurisdictions all over the land, 
 he is able, if properly conservative, to 
 avoid any foolish episodes of his con¬ 
 temporaries. 
 
 I have written of the typical district 
 where the average superintendent is 
 called to supervise the school. Old 
 crystallized school systems, and the 
 very large new ones being relatively 
 
of Schools. 
 
 few in number, could hardly be con¬ 
 sidered in a paper on the duties of city 
 superintendents. 
 
 AARON GOVE. 
 
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