Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

The city’s grade school teachers told the Spokane School Board that their pay was too low and that the result was widespread “discontent.”

Miss Sabra Connor of the Holmes School, designated to speak for the city’s Grade Teachers Association, said the board expected a great deal from its teachers.

“In hiring teachers, you require good health, high moral character, good temperament, good looks and a pleasant voice,” said Connor. 

Once hired, they were expected to work early and late “to aid backward children.”

Yet the superintendent’s stenographer and the school janitors all had higher salaries than the best-paid grade school teachers. The result was that many Spokane teachers were leaving for better-paying jobs in Seattle and Portland. She could name 10 teachers preparing to leave for the coast.

The association asked for a raise from $600 per year to $750 per year in the minimum salary. It also asked that teachers receive a $50 raise every year for their first 10 years.

The board was noncommittal and referred the matter to a committee on teachers and salaries.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

2013: Benedict XVI became the first pope in 600 years to resign, ending an eight-year pontificate.