The San Francisco call., 1898-10-10
OPPOSED WITHOUT CAUSE
REFUSED TO SOLICIT VOTES FOR
 THE GANG.
Miss Stockton Will Attack the "Clas- sifcation System" by Which the Boss Controls the
 Schools.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

SAN JOSE, Oct. 9.--A suit will short ly be brought in the Superior Court to
 test the validity of the section of the new charter which provides for a clas- sif1cation committee to annually report
 upon the teachers of the various schools. This committee is the agency
 through which Req keeps teachers within his power and causes them to get out and work for gang votes dur ing the campaign. It Is a bugaboo to the average teacher, for those with the least bit of independence or who re- fuse to serve Req or the Mackenzies are soon "classified' out.
 The step to test this matter Is to be taken by Miss Fannie Stockton, who for many years was a teacher in the Lowell Grammar School. Last June she, with Minnie Simonds and Mrs. R. B. Dunlap, were dropped from the de- partment without word of warning. Such prominent attorneys as Frank H. Gould, of San Francisco, and James H. Campbell, of this city, have taken up the young lady's fight, and the case will be thoroughly ventilated in the courts.
 The classification committee that re- moved Miss Stockton was composed of Trustees Graham and Kenyon. When approached by friends of the teacher for the reason of her dismissal the only excuse they gave was that Req had or dered 1t done. They said they knew Miss Stockton to be good teacher and wanted to keep her in the department, but Req would not listen to their en- treaties.
 The classification committee report that deposed Miss Stockton was adopt cd at a secret meeting of the Board of Education that was called by Req him. CaIr hot he 1r11iT too scented a printed list of all teachers in the department. Lines had been drawn through the names of those Req want ed dropped This report was not even signed by the committee at that time. nor even to this day has it been signed.
 Section 13 of Article TX of the char ter, which provides for the classified ton committee is as follows:
 The committee on classification shall make themselves thoroughly acquainted, by personal inspection, with the work of every employe of the board, and it shall twenty days before the close of the school year, to make a written report to the board, stating what duties are being discharged by each employe and the na- ture of the service rendered. In this re- port they shall distinctly state what em- plOyes shall. in their opinion. be retained for the ensuing year.
 But this is not all. The second par dSIGDIl Ol OtCllOiI IT, Al lICIS pIO- vides:
 All teachers thus elected to permanent positions in the department who are re- ported upon favorably by majority of the committee on classification, shall re- tain their positions for the ensuing year without reelection, and shall be remov- able only for cause No teacher shall be from position held In the schools of the city, except by the votes of four members of the board.
 The last clause of this section was wantonly violated. On the committee report there was a tie vote, Trustees Graham and Kenyon voting for it and Wemple and OBrien against.
 All the teachers in the department are deeply interested in the suit, and their sympathy, which they are obliged o express secretly in order to hold their positions, is with Miss Stockton. The young lady has hosts of influential friends, and these are insisting that the ->atter he tested and she reinstated. Her trouble arose because she refused to get out and work for the gang dur ng the late charter election.