Our proposal to create a German department in the public schools and to hire a German teacher and an assistant teacher received unanimous approval at last Tuesday's session. This is an especially important decision for the German population in that it recognizes that the German language has the same rights to be taught in the public schools as does English.
The German citizens who wish that their children keep their mother tongue have only with great sacrifices been able to keep open the private schools of which there are presently three. The necessity for these will now disappear which have merely the goal to keep the language alive and provide a German thoroughness in the curriculum. The first result will be that the independent German schools will end as such. The German school that was to be built will become a branch of the public schools, i.e., a free school to which any citizen can send his children without having to pay. Our American co-citizens now also have the possibility to give their children German language instruction and we're convinced that very many will take advantage of this possibility.
The School Board will likewise make efforts to engage only capable teachers for the German Department as they currently do for the English Department. The enhancement of the city's schools is now the slogan and we are pleased to be able to report that the principal agrees in this matter and is decisively working on this.