THE WILKESBARRE PLAN.
BY GEORGE S. BENNETT.
THE topic assigned me is a large one. Being a business man I shall not attempt anything theoretical, but shall be as practical as possible. The best way I can serve you will be to give you the result of the effort made by our own school in trying to solve some of the problems of to-day, in the organization, management, and grading of Sunday schools. We have been asked to do this, and in speaking, therefore, of our own school, do not accuse us of seeking only to parade our school before you. We shall give you only the plans that have worked well with us, and tell you of the system and methods employed and now in actual operation in the Sunday school of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Wilkesbarre, Pa.
It has taken some time and much labor to get our machinery in working order. We do not claim to be pioneers or original. We have taken many of our ideas and plans from others; we have no patent right on our system. What we have is yours, and if we should find anything of yours in this line suited to our use we should not hesitate to appropriate and incorporate it in our own.
CHURCH AND SCHOOL.
We have a short and simple constitution, the form of which can be found in the Discipline of the Church.
The school is a part of the church, and is under the supervision of the Sunday School Board, consisting of the pastor, the Sunday School Committee appointed by the Quarterly Conference, the officers and teachers of the school. The superintendent is nominated annually by the Sunday School Board, and confirmed by the Quarterly Conference. The other officers of the school, male and female assistant superintendents, secretary, treasurer, librarian (who appoints a suitable number of assistants), chorister, organist, teachers of the Primary and Intermediate Departments (who appoint their assistants), and the teacher of the Teachers' Class, are elected annually by ballot of the board. The teachers are nominated by the superintendent, with the concurrence of the pastor, and are elected annually by the board. The school is thus brought under the immediate care and control of the church, and is not a separate or distinct organization. Being thus one department of the church the official board of the church annually appropriates a sum of money sufficient to meet the ordinary running expenses of the school. Extra expenses are met in various ways.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
We have an Executive Committee of five, elected from among the officers and teachers, with the superintendent as chairman. This committee represents the school in the interim between the stated meetings of the Sunday School Board, conducts all examinations, has charge of all promotions from one class or department to another, the distribution of pupils to classes, and the assignment of teachers to classes.
BUILDING.