The San Francisco call., 1899-01-29
Minority Members Of the Board
Of Education Will Demand
lmpartiality in the Dis
missal of Teachers.
A Majority Of the Directors Favor Re-
consideration of the Abolition of the
Commercial Departments of the
Mission High School.

everything is now in practical readiness
for the meeting of the Board of Educa-
tion which will be held tomorrow night
This session will have at least the merit
of removing the anxiety that rules
throughout the School Department Those
teachers who are under the ban will know
the fact beyond question and those that
are not will be relieved from doubt Nc
full list of the teachers to be dismissed
has yet been published and none
will be until Tuesday morning Su-
perintendent Webster has almost
finished his report. and when II
is completed the members of the School
Board intend to scan it very close
ly and critically as the Superintendent
has already given good ground for the
suspicion that he leans rather heavily or
occasions upon jokers
The minority members of the board are
determined that the majority Shall be
Scrupulously fair in CARRYING out the or
ders of dismissal and consolidation which
have already been made. Every effort is
being made by politicians of both par
ties to save favorites at the expense OF
teachers who under the general orders of
the board should not be dismissed. At
tempts are being made to juggle some
teachers out and keep others in, but the
minority believes that for decency's sake
at least the work of reform should be
honestly done.
The records of the Board of Education
will be the proof of the Justice or the in
justice of the action of the directors.
every teacher in the department, day.
night, regular and special instructor.
KNOWS the date of his or her appointment.
Each mas the absolute right to knoW
under the ruling of the board itself thu +
every teacher appointed after her must he
G!isInlssed before she is disturbed II this
Is not done the board Will stultifv itself
ana ana Justify the assertion that politics and
not reform animates its actions The
!dst lgachers appointed must b., under
'iis rGiing OF the board, the first to go.
A serious complication has already
presented itself in reference to this r,IiInS
me records show that in some cases &c
many IN ~ as s. twenty 1--WE teachers We're appointed
way will be without difficulty if. for ex-
ample, al Of the twenty are to be CON
solaated SOL "a "a out, but if only some Of than
ere aIe 10 pc dismissed a question of d!scre
tlon VIII arise: Every one of the twenty
IeacheTs viii have. the right to say that
SSae Sas Inaii baan be the last to go. It
cases as these lots be drawn bv
Ihe TEACHERS to decide who shall
70, Mhaatever ia policy is adopted, the
Superintendent Webster. ''0'' -
On Wednesday night the board adopted
q tI DlIanket resolution providing that all
ana after August l. 1895 shall be summar-
lily dismissed. This resolution has a much
deeper significance than was at first sun
posed 1t was intended to strike. not
only at substitute and probationary
teachers appointed since August /. but at
teachers who were transferred from the
evening to the day schools since that
GATE. In one instance a teacher who had
been several years in the night schools
was transferred to the day class. Her an
pointment to the department. will date
from her entrance into the day school,
All her service in the night school will
count for nothing. In this way certain
teachers recently appointed to the depart
ment Will be saved at the expense of 9TH
ers, who have been longer in the service.
Since the work of consolidation has be-
gun 1t has been suggested that the mar
ried teachers in the department be asked
to give up their places before their un-
married rivals. 1t is argued that the mar
rled teachers have husbands to support
them and can with better grace retire be-
fore those who must support them
selves. There is a standing rule of
the Board of Education covering
this subject, but it has not been
enforced. The new board has the power
to make 1t operative now and may
do so. If married teachers are retired
many of the recent appolntees to the de-
partment will be saved from dismissal.
An agitation is also being raised to save
the department of sewing from destruc.
ton This department, It is claimed, has
done vast amount of good in the poorer
districts in teaching the children Of poor