Towns having a valuation per pupil in excess of the State average ($7,396):

Burlington,

Boxford (Academy),

Hamilton,

Topsfield (High),

Chilmark,

Lincoln,

Wellfleet (High),

Dover (High),

Gosnold,

Hull,

Hopedale (High),

Oak Bluffs (High),

Mattapoisett,

Marion (Academy),
Nahant (High),

Towns that did not avail themselves of the law:

SUPERINTENDENTS OF SCHOOLS.

The number of changes among superintendents in 1908 has been unusually large. The school year of 1908-09 opened with 68 towns and cities under new superintendents. Of the 80 unions, 20 have new men. Thirteen superintendents failed of re-election. Eleven retired voluntarily, one or two leaving the work and the others going to better positions. Ten men have left the field and 14 new men have entered it. Eleven of these received certificates of qualifications from the Board of Education after passing an examination.

The town of Nantucket employs a superintendent this year for the first time. Topsfield, which was outside a union last year, has joined the Newbury union. Saugus and Stoneham, which have employed a man jointly for several years, will hereafter act singly, each with a superintendent of its own. pole, which has been united with Medfield, will hereafter act alone, and Medfield has joined the Millis union. Manchester and Amesbury have separated, and each has its own superintendent.

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Were all the changes made intelligently, with an eye single to the good of the schools, the outlook for the future would be

most promising. Some of them were certainly wisely made, and school conditions ought to be improved in consequence. But the reasons for others were personal rather than professional, and there is no ground to expect that the schools will be any better for them. Several of the men have been doing all that the limitations of the field would allow, but have been the victims of petty personal differences with individual members of the school committees. In other cases, where a man has been long in office, a vague feeling of restlessness has appeared, and a desire for change for the sake of change has forced the retirement of the superintendent.

Much of the dissatisfaction is due to mutual misunderstanding. The superintendent fails to present his plans or to explain his methods clearly, and the committee who would be glad to help are made to seem to obstruct. Unfortunately, some superintendents have neither definite plans and well-constructed policies, nor tact in meeting nor skill in convincing the person with whom they deal. Such men are bound to fail, and they go from one position to another, until finally they are forced to retire altogether.

The superintendency of a small town or of a union affords an opportunity for a man to show of what sort of stuff he is made, and is the best of training schools for places of larger responsibility. When a city is in need of a superintendent, and is able and willing to pay for superiority, it ought to be possible to find suitable men in these smaller places, men who have in them the probability of growth whose success in the smaller field has been so pronounced and so conspicuous as to ensure their success under larger responsibility.

In making changes in the superintendents, there is a growing tendency on the part of school committees to seek the advice. of the officers of the Board of Education. This advice is always gladly given. The secretary and agents of the Board are in a position to know much of the men seeking office as superintendent, and, knowing the needs of the various fields as they do, they can be of great service in fitting the men to the places. Especially they can be helpful in warning committees against unsuitable candidates.