Organizing and Building Up the Sunday School / Modern Sunday School Manuals

by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut

VIII

THE ASSOCIATE AND DEPARTMENT SUPERINTENDENTS

1. The Necessity. In every Sunday school there is need of an officer to aid the superintendent and to take his place when absent. Even in a small school the supervision can be more thorough and the teaching more efficient, if some one is at hand with authority to relieve the superintendent of minor details, and give him freedom for the general management. And in a large school assistants to the superintendent are an absolute necessity, for each department becomes in itself a school. There is need, therefore, of a general assistant to be the chief of staff to the superintendent, and, in a large and well-organized school, of a special assistant in each department.

2. Titles. Until recently, the assistant superintendent in most Sunday schools was merely one of the teachers named to take the place of the superintendent when absent, but with no duties when the head of the school was present. In the complete organization that is now becoming general, the office has been renamed, and its functions distinctly assigned. The chief assistant to the superintendent is now generally called the Associate Superintendent, a higher title for his important and regular duties. The chief of each department in the Sunday school is generally called Department Superintendent, that is, Primary Department Superintendent, Senior Department Superintendent; and each department superintendent has the same relation to his department that the associate superintendent holds to the school.

3. Appointment. The associate superintendent should be nominated by the superintendent and confirmed by the board of teachers and officers. When two candidates are nominated for the office of superintendent, and one obtains a majority, it is not wise to elect the minority candidate as associate superintendent, unless he is entirely acceptable to the newly chosen superintendent. The chief executive of the school should not be compelled to find next to him a rival, who may be an uncongenial worker, to carry out plans with which the latter may not be in accord. In order to possess freedom in his policy the superintendent should choose his own chief helper; but he should receive the confirmation of his choice from his fellow workers in the school. The same plan of nomination and confirmation should be followed in the choice of the department superintendents. The associate and the department superintendents should constitute the superintendent's cabinet, to be called together often for consultation upon the interests of the school.

4. Duties of the Associate Superintendent. (1) Not a Teacher. Unless the school be small, with less than a hundred members, the associate superintendent should not at the same time be the regular teacher of a class. He will find other work to occupy his time, both before and during the session of the school. He may, however, hold himself ready to act as substitute for an absent teacher.

(2) Deputy Superintendent. If for any reason the superintendent is absent, his place should be taken promptly by the associate superintendent. It should also be understood that if at the moment of opening the school, or at any point in the general service, the superintendent is not on the platform, the associate shall act as his representative, without the slightest reflection upon the superintendent's administration, the two being regarded in their work as one.

(3) Providing Substitutes. One definite duty of the associate superintendent should be to provide substitutes for absent teachers, relieving entirely the superintendent from that burdensome and perplexing task. The teachers should permit no ordinary hindrance to keep them from their classes, for no one can fully supply the place of a true teacher in the regard of the scholars. But when a teacher finds it necessary to be absent he should make strenuous endeavor to find a substitute; and if unable to secure one, should notify, not the superintendent, but the associate; and before the lesson period the associate should have a supply ready.

If the school has been properly graded it will include a Teacher-training Class; but under no circumstances should the associate take one of its members as a supply teacher, even for one Sunday. This class should remain untouched by the demand for teachers until its members have completed the prescribed course. If there is a Reserve Class, substitutes should be called from it in some order, preferably alphabetical, so that the same members will not be taken too frequently.