Room Divided

"Teacher," called a small girl in the back row. Two teachers' faces turned toward her. "May I write on the blackboard now?" Two teachers' voices answered simultaneously. "Yes," said one. "No," said the other. So last week in a little white clapboard schoolroom in Center Groton, Conn., Mrs. Hazel Bucklyn and Miss Ellen Innes vied for a $1,200 teaching job.

Center Groton is a leisurely New England village. Out on the school steps sat District Committeeman Dudley Brown, a 56-year-old Yankee carpenter, who had appointed Mrs. Bucklyn because she had 17 years teaching experience. The School Board and superintendent who had appointed Miss Innes, ruled that Mrs. Bucklyn would get no pay. But Committeeman Brown had possession of the steps, a seasoned pipe between his teeth. When State troopers came around he shooed them off.

So the two teachers locked the doors on themselves and their 22 pupils (grades 1 to 4), pulled down the shades to keep the curious from looking in, and taught in semidarkness. They did not get along badly. Miss Innes conducted the class. Mrs. Bucklyn advised individual pupils. As the town made no move to oust either, the somewhat puzzled pupils continued to get double education.

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