1874 Rules and Regulations
Rules and Regulations for the Government of Public Schools in the Province of British Columbia.
- The hours of teaching in each School shall be from 9 a.m.
to 12 m., and from 1 p.m. to 3.30 p.m., from April to September,
inclusive; and from 9.30 a.m. to 12 m., and from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.,
from October to March, inclusive.
- Every Saturday, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Queen's Birthday,
Dominion Day, and Prince of Wales' Birthday shall be a Holiday
in each School. There shall be a recess of fifteen minutes in
the middle of each morning's work.
- There shall be two vacations in each year; the first, or Summer
vacation, shall continue for one month from the first Monday in
July or August, at the option of the Trustee Board in each School
District; the second, for two weeks, at Christmas and New Year.
- Young Children, not being pupils of the school, shall not
be allowed to accompany teachers or pupils, as such a practice
tends to the interruption of the regular business of the School.
- No teacher shall be deprived of any part of his or her salary
on account of observing allowed holidays and vacations.
Regulations for Teachers' Salaries
Whereas it is desirable that salaries should be equalized by
placing them on the basis of average attendance, and that teachers,
trustees, and parents, should have a direct interest in securing
as large an attendance as possible, therefore be it resolved:-
- That from and after the 1st August, 1874, the salaries
of all duly qualified Public School Teachers in the employ of
the Education Department, when the average attendance of pupils
is from 10 to 20 inclusive, shall be $50 per month; from 20 to
30 inclusive, $60 per month; from 30 to 40 inclusive, $70 per
month; and from 40 to 50 inclusive, $80 per month. As soon as
the average attendance in any school shall exceed 50, such School
shall be entitled to an assistant teacher; the average shall be
calculated annually from the attendance for the year preceding
1st August, excluding vacations and public holidays.
- The teacher at Yale, and those teachers further inland, shall
receive $10 per month each in addition to the salaries to which
they are entitled by the above scale, as compensation for the
increased cost of living.
- In districts where the average attendance for the year falls
below ten, the schools may be taught by teachers preparing to
qualify, at a lower rate of salary than $50 per month; but if
considered advisable by the Board such schools may either be kept
open for a portion of the year or be entirely closed.
- The above mentioned re-adjustment shall not apply to schools
when more than one teacher is employed in the same department.
Public School Teachers and Their Duties.
It shall be the duty of every Teacher of a Public School-
- To teach diligently and faithfully all the branches required
to be taught in the School, according to the terms of his engagement
with the Trustees, and according to the rules and regulations
adopted by the Board of Education:
- To keep daily, weekly, and monthly registers of the School:
- To maintain proper order and discipline in his School, according
to the authorized forms and regulations:
- To keep a visitor's book (which the Trustees shall provide)
and enter therein the visits made to his School, and to present
such a book to such visitor, and request him to make therein any
remarks suggested by his visit:
- At all times when desired by them, to give to Trustees and
visitors access to the registers and visitor's book appertaining
to the School, and upon his leaving the School to deliver up the
same to the order of the Trustees:
- To have, at the end of each half-year, public examinations
of his School, of which he shall give due notice to the Trustees
of the School, and through his pupils to their parents and guardians:
- To furnish to the Superintendent of Education, when desired,
any information which it may be in his power to give respecting
anything connected with the operation of his school, or in anywise
affecting its interests or character:
- To classify the pupils according to their respective abilities:
- To observe, and impress upon the minds of the pupils, the
great rule of regularity and order,-A TIME AND PLACE FOR EVERYTHING,
AND EVERYTHING IN ITS PROPER TIME AND PLACE:
- To promote, both by precept and example, CLEANLINESS, NEATNESS,
and DECENCY. To personally inspect the children every morning,
to see that they have their hands and faces washed, their hair
combed, and clothes clean. The school apartments, too, should
be swept and dusted every evening:
- To pay the strictest attention to the morals and general conduct
of the pupils; to omit no opportunity of inculcating the principles
of TRUTH and HONESTY; the duties of respect to superiors, and
obedience to all persons placed in authority over them:
- To evince a regard for the improvement and general welfare
of the pupils; to treat them with kindness, combined with firmness;
and to aim at governing them by their affections and reason rather
than harshness and severity:
- To cultivate kindly and affectionate feelings among the pupils;
to discountenance quarrelling, cruelty to animals, and every approach
to vice:
- To practice such discipline in school as would be exercised
by a judicious parent in the family, avoiding corporal punishment,
except when it shall appear to him to be imperatively necessary;
and then a record of the offence and the punishment shall be made
in the school register for the inspection of trustees and visitors:
- No teacher shall compel the services of pupils for his own
private benefit or convenience:
- For gross misconduct, or a violent or willful opposition to
authority, the teacher may suspend a pupil from attending school,
forthwith informing the parent or guardian of the fact, and the
reason of it; but no pupil shall be expelled without the authority
of the trustees:
- When the example of any pupil is very hurtful, and reformation
appears hopeless, it shall be the duty of the teacher, with the
approbation of the trustees, to expel such pupil from the school;
but any pupil under the public censure, who shall express to the
teacher his regret for such a course of conduct, as openly and
explicitly as the case may require, shall, with the approbation
of the trustees and teacher, be re-admitted to the school.
Duties of Pupils, Parents, and Guradians.
- Pupils must come to school clean and neat in their persons
and clothes, and be present at the commencement of each day's
work:
- No pupil shall, without the teacher's consent, depart before
the time appointed for closing the school:
- A pupil absenting himself or herself from the school, except
on account of sickness, or other urgent reasons, satisfactory
to the teacher, forfeits his or her standing in the class, and
must undergo such other punishment as the teacher may deem necessary:
- The parents or guardians of all pupils shall furnish their
children with the authorized text books, to be obtained from the
teachers of the respective schools, who are to charge therefor
the prices agreed upon by the Board of Education; but, in case
of inability to comply with this rule, the teacher may, under
special circumstances, supply the necessary books free of cost;