New York State Education Department Assistant Commissioner for District Organization and District Superintendents County…

Initially arranged alphabetically by county, thereafter arranged alphabetically by surname of district superintendent.

During the 1930's, educators envisioned a comprehensive high school that would educate all children for work and life in a democracy. However, most central schools were not big enough to offer a full array of academic and vocational courses. In 1944, a Council on Rural Education, funded by farm organizations, recommended a "new type of rural supervisory district," responsible to school districts and responsive to needs of rural people. The result was the intermediate district law of 1948. While the intermediate districts were to be formed, the act provided for temporary boards of cooperative educational services (now called BOCES), which the New York State Education Department (NYSED) hoped would "get people working together across district lines" and provide shared educational services in rural areas. The intermediate districts never came into existence, but the BOCES proved to be popular with rural school districts and the general public, since they provided a wide range of educational services at reasonable cost, while maintaining a significant degree of local control over the programs offered by the BOCES. Today there are 37 BOCES, incorporating all school districts except for those in the "Big 5" cities (New York, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers).

The position of district superintendent was created in 1910 through an amendment to Article 14 of the Education Law. It replaced the position of Commissioner of Schools, which had been an elective office, with a position that was appointed by supervisory district personnel (currently, the superintendent is appointed by the Board of Cooperative Educational Services in the supervisory district). The shift to an appointive office was designed to increase the level of professionalism and educational expertise of district administrators. While the superintendents are selected by local personnel, they are paid by the New York State Education Department, and answerable to the State Commissioner of Education. District superintendents act as the chief executive officer of the district BOCES, perform administrative and supervisory activities with districts, and perform special duties assigned by the Commissioner. In effect, they act as an intermediary between school districts and the State Education Department.

This series consists of correspondence and other documents of district superintendents and boards of cooperative educational services (BOCES) relating to their administration of school district reorganization, building programs, and special issues in education. The Education Department has responsibility for supervision of all educational institutions in the state, for allocating state and federal financial aid to schools, and for providing and coordinating vocational rehabilitation services. In this series files for district superintendents have green or yellow tabs; files for BOCES districts usually have orange tabs. Occasionally the dates on the tabs are inaccurate because later material is included.

Files for district superintendents contain correspondence and memoranda concerning plans and proposals for school district reorganization, with much information on school programs and facilities and on local support for and opposition to reorganization. The files also contain correspondence about building aid requested by schools recommended for reorganization under the "Master Plan for School District Reorganization in New York State" (Albany, 1947; revised 1958). Other documents found in the files are certificates of apportionment of building aid; reports on votes on school district reorganization proposals; copies of orders by the Commissioner of Education appointing district superintendents and redrawing supervisory district boundaries; and some correspondence with superintendents concerning controversial issues such as sex education and anti-war protests in schools.

Files for BOCES districts contain correspondence, reports, and other documents concerning construction and operation of BOCES vocational education centers; and scattered copies of BOCES budgets and annual reports. There are a few special studies, such as one on the education of children of migrant farm workers in Wayne County, and another on the proposed consolidation of BOCES districts in St. Lawrence County.

One cubic foot contains files for each retiring district superintendent during the period ca. 1965-1975. Contents of the files vary, but many contain correspondence concerning the retirement, the benefits due, a copy of the superintendent's personnel card which gives a summary of educational employment, copies of orders of appointment, with related correspondence, and testimonial programs and news clippings.

There are several maps found throughout the series. One distinct group consists of annotated topographic print copies of selected Wayne County industrial sites chosen by industrial development groups and the Department of Commerce and included in a report. They reflect selection factors such as transportation facilities and access, topography, surface water supplies, drainage conditions, and facilities for the establishment of sewage disposal systems. Other maps are present in appendices giving community analyses (such as housing conditions and location of "blighted areas") for reports on unified school districts. There are a few hand drawn area maps for proposed district reorganization, some showing town and district lines, percentages of students by race, and/or numbers of enrollments. There are also a few maps accompanying exploratory proposals for BOCES construction projects or consultant reports on other school building needs. Generally, the presence of title, legend, scale, and preparer information varies; the maps range in size from 22 x 28 cm to 81 x 81 cm.

11121Series 11121, Correspondence with district superintendents

15671Series 15671, District superintendent county files relating to appointments and organization orders

B0314Series B0314, Office of District Organization and District Superintendents subject files, further document the supervision of district superintendents

B0473Series B0473, BOCES correspondence and administrative files

B0474Series B0474, BOCES applications for shared services

11000Series 11000, BOCES annual financial and statistical reports

14209Series 14209, BOCES new service proposals deal with Boards of Cooperative Education Services

B0477Series B0477, Bureau of School District Organization subject and administrative files

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