Provo City, , [189]1
President Wilford Woodruff.
Chairman General Board of Education.
Dear Brother,
In compliance with my instructions I herewith submit
respectfully the Annual Report of the operation of our church-
schools during the academic year 1890-1891.
As was to be expected, the establishment of the Freeschool System
has not been without material influence upon our churchschools,
so that the four seminaries at Mt. Pleasant, Springville; 14th Ward,
and Fremont had to be discontinued by decision of their
respective Boards, and the Stake Academies at Beaver, Snow-
flake, and St. Joseph do not intend to open the ensuing
school year for lack of funds. The Seminary at Samaria has
been combined with the Stake Academy at Malad, and
the Principal of the former, Bro. Samuel Davis, has joined
the Stake Academy as one of the regular teachers.
Much difficulty has been experienced by many of the
Boards of Education paying no attention to the instructions
given by the General Board of Education in the General Cir-
culars, and in the "Church School Papers"' as published in
the Juvenile Instructor. The reason for this is not so much
an intentional opposition as ^rather^ a careless indifference on
the part of members of such Boards, which causes them to
take very little, or in some instances, no concern at all ab-
out the duties of their membership. In consequence of
this all the work devolves upon one or two, who occasionally
feel reluctant in assuming all the responsibility.
A reconstruction of many of these Boards, that carry
such "deadhead's" becomes a matter of necessity, but
can only be affected in a satisfactory manner, by the
First Presidency taking this matter in hand.
As an illustration of the foregoing complaint is the
manner in which the request of the General Superinten-
dent was responded to in regard to the supply of teachers
for the coming school year. The "Church School Papers"
No. 5, Juv. Instrs May 1st, requested all Boards needing teach-
ers for the coming school year to report to the General
Superintendent during June, so that appropriate selections
could be made. The urgency of the case consisted in the
increased demand for district schoolteachers and the
greater financial advantages offered by School-Trustees.
The y indecision of many of our Boards discouraged
several teachers, and I could not find it in my heart
to keep them in suspense until all good positions
in district-schools were filled, and these teachers
after all waiting perhaps yet disappointed in ob-
taining the coveted position in the church-school.
In this way the Church School Service has lost
several efficient teachers, where places had to be
supplied afterwards by less experienced ones.
Several Boards of Education did not make final arrange-
ments for Principals and Teachers until the latter part of
the present month. Such a course will frustrate every attempt
for reaching the high aims of our educational system. While
fully realizing the financial embarrassment under which the
most of our Boards of Education are laboring, the [undesigned]
is convinced by his own educational experience, that the
cause of our church schools could be advanced far beyond
its present status by united and intelligent efforts of the
various Boards of Education, in keeping close [ellbow]-feeling
with the General Board.
The importance of the engagement of a lady-teacher or
a Matron for the special instruction of the female pupils,
of the cultivation of Singing, ^and the^ attendance of some one of ^from^ every
churchschool at the Annual and at the Drespective Dis-
trict and Branch Conventions is not yet appreciated
thoroughly, nor are many members of the various Boards
very anxious to keep themselves posted in regard to the
instructions given from time to time by the General
Board.
In thus frankly stating the chief drawbacks that until
now have encumbered our progress I have not done so in
a spirit of faultfinding with my co-laborers, but with a
desire to point out such deficiencies in our operations as
need our first attention. In these critical times, when
our public schoolsystem is supplied with all the
most improved appurtenances of modern education
and can secure the services of the best teachers by good
salaries, our Church School Organization would soon
wear itself out in the futile attempt to keep ahead
of all these enticements, if not every member of these
Boards and Faculties will perform his duty in the
spirit of a sacred mission.
Accompanying this letter is my annual report, both
statistical and financial, but I regret exceedingly the in-
completeness of the same, which has been caused by
the failure of some of the Boards to respond to my re-
peated and urgent requests to send in their reports. In
some instances I received only semi-annually reports,
in others the receipts and disbursements were not
specified as to Cash, [Mdse], or Produce, and in others
aggain these specifications were so terribly mixed that
it was very difficult to unraval them, not withstanding
the plainness of the blanks.
As General Circular No. 7 pages 3 & 4, par. 1 requires only
an Annual Report to be made out henceforth, to be
sent in on or before every July 15th, the confusion in
the minds of some Board-Secretaries and Treasurers will
be avoided, and I shall have time sufficient to get
things into proper shape for my October-Conference Report.
The experience of the first two years of our operations has
suggested a few changes in the blanks for our statistical
report which I shall respectfully submit to you for your
approval before long.
No financial reports have been received for the last
academic year from B. Y. College, Logan; Weber Stake Academy,
Ogden; XVIII Ward Seminary, S. L. City; Juab Stake Academy, Nephi;
Emery Stake Academy, Castle Dale; Board ^and^ Snowflake Stake
Academy, Arizona ^and Springville Seminary^. After my reports were closed and cop-
ied last night, I received reports from St. George S. Academy,
and Huntington Seminary, a summary of which I enclose
as a supplementary.
With kind regards,
Your brother in the Gospel,