St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-09-30
SOME LIvELINEss.
Members of the School Board
Have Little Row.

Members of the School Board
Have Little Row.
For short time it looked as though
the meeting of the board of education
held yesterday afternoon would rival in
excitement one of the red-hot meetings
of the council, but the lIveliness soon
subsidized and that staid body fell back
into its usual tranquility. This unusual
feature of the meeting was introduced
by John Norton, who. when the pay
rolls were submitted TO be passed upon,
objected to them on the ground that the
name of son of the foreman of build
ings, Mr.. Duncan, appeared. He said:
lit has always been a rule of this
board that no relative of any of its mem
bers shall hold any position in the gift
of the board, and if that rule holds good
with members why not with the Off
Gals and employees. | learn that Mr..
Duncan has appointed his son as his as
sstant, and that the young man makes
contracts and gives orders. Now, as
Mr.. Duncan has the control during the
course of the year of many thousands
of dollars of this boards funds. object
strongly to having his son act as his as
SiStant."
MIR. Jaeger suggested that this was
take up in open meeting at this time
and act upon without any investigation,
and moved that it be referred to the com
mittee on buildings and supplies. In
SpectOr Norton insisted that it should
be taken up at once, stating that when
lie found anything wrong pertaining to
the affairs of the board he proposed to
push an Investigation, no matter who it
affected, even though member of the
board itself might be concerned.
At this point President Ankeny
turned to Foreman Duncan. who was
present, and said; "Mr. Duncan, is
this true?'
NO, sir, it is false" replied Mr.. Dun
can.
Have you an assistant"
mo, sir, have not"
Mr.. Norton then turned to Mr.. Dun
can and said: "Do you mean to tell me
that your son does not carry an order
book and issue orders?"
81 do, sir" replied the foreman.
"You cannot find me an order that he
has ever signed, and the statements you
have made here are all false, absolutely
false.n
At this juncture Mr.. Pratt said: "If
Mr.. Norton chooses to press this matter
we will have all the circumstances of
the case entered into right here, but |
think it would be better to refer it to
the committee"
President Ankeny stated that it could
hardly be referred to the committee, as
the question was upon the passage of
the bills ana pay rolls.
The budget. without the particular
pay roll III question, was then passed,
and later the Objectionable pay roll was
passed without Mr.. Norton'S vote.
If WAS nGcidPI IN oman the nVQninu
schools. and a resolution to that effect
was adopted. The w. 9. T. U. applied
for permission to establish a cooking
school III the basement of the jackson
school, Offering to pay the cost of main
tenance. Mr.. Jaeger moved that the
request be complied with, but Messrs.
Norton, Gjertson and Ankeny objected,
and carried their point. A. Humphrey
appeared on behalf of the Southeast
Minneapolis Improvement association.
and called the attention of the board to
the poor sanitary condition of the Mot
ley school. He set forth that the
plumbing was very bad. and also that
ventilation was poor. The matter was
referred TO the committee on building,
with power to act.
The East Il lie school question also
came up; eX-Ald. Comstock appeared
and made strong argument in favor of
change of boundaries, setting forth
tn at the Everett school was so crowded
that the children were obliged to sit
upon cedar blocks and use soap boxes
for desks. This was referred to the
committee Oh schools.
Supt. Bradley's report showed that
the attendance for the month had been
19,404, an increase of 2,099 over Sep,
temper of last year. He referred to the
crowding of the school buildings caused
by this addition in the AID nce and
the need of additional faci tits, and
also reported the res gnatioI of five
teachers.
The Sc sion lasted so long that the
board postponed action looking to Clerk
Conger's release. da will probably be
given a chance t. resign anyhow.