In many of the schools for the deaf a problem has arisen in connection with a number of feeble-minded children more or less defective in speech or hearing who have sought to gain admittance. Educators of the deaf have been called upon to give considerable attention to this class, and it has been a serious question what to do with them.[270] Many of those who have applied at the institutions have been denied. Some have been allowed to enter, and their presence in the schools has constituted a difficult problem.[271] It is felt by those concerned in the education of the deaf that they are out of place here, and that they should be removed to a regular institution for the feeble-minded, or should otherwise be specially provided for.[272]
The government of schools for the deaf is practically the same in the different states. They are, for the most part, in the hands of boards of trustees, boards of directors, boards of managers, or boards of visitors, as they are variously termed. The semi-public institutions, as we have seen, were started as private concerns under private boards of directors. These boards still exist, and control the affairs of the institutions, having full powers but subject to such regulation as the state may direct. Such boards are usually self-perpetuating bodies, though in some cases the governor has been allowed to name a part. In the American School the governors and secretaries of state of the New England states are _ex-officio_ directors. In the case of some schools, as the Pennsylvania Institution, where membership is open to any one on the payment of the dues, the governing board is elected by the members of the society or corporation.[273] In all these boards the members serve without compensation. Their size varies considerably, but they are usually large, having in some cases over twenty members.[274]
Where the school is strictly a state institution, the board is usually appointed by the governor, sometimes with the approval of the state senate.[275] In a few cases the boards are elected by the legislature, as in Georgia and Tennessee. In Montana appointment is made by the state board of education. In several of the states the governor or some other public officer, most often the superintendent of public instruction, is a member _ex-officio_.[276] These boards also as a rule serve without compensation, and are paid only for expenses actually incurred.[277] Their size is smaller than that of the corporate boards, usually consisting of from three to seven members, though in a few cases they may go beyond the latter figure. They are appointed to serve two, three, four or five years, and in a few cases even longer. In states where the members are elected by the legislature, the term is usually indefinite; and in one or two states, as in Alabama, the board is self-perpetuating.[278]