The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1899-04-14
The Opponents OF Supt. Varney
Get Control of the School
g Board.
BY a Vote of A to 3 They De-
cline to Reflect Him for An
So other Year. o..
elimination Of a Fight That y Has
Long Been Waged on the
~ Head of Schools.

~ The adjourned meeting OF tne scnool
board Wednesday evening, while out
wardly the personifcation of calmness,
was one of the,most important held for
several months, and in fact took action
nj that means much to the schools for the
coming year. In short it sprung SEN
) sation upon the city by declining to re-
elect Supt. A. w. Varney for the next
school year. s Of .,.s ~. 4, - = !.
All the members of the board were
present except DIR. Webster who is abb
sent from the city. After the other
business of the board had been trans
Is acted, except allowing the bills, Supt.
.Varney said that he had a matter
which he wished to bring to the atten'
ton of the board. He held in his hand
a bunch of letters, which he had receiv-
ed at various times since the first of the
year, the last one being received yester-
day morning. These letters were from
educators around the state, and stated
that they had heard lM4lr, XHsa1r1neey was go
ing to leave Mankato,, or that the board
was going to let him down, and they
D desired to know the truth of the
rumors, as some of the, writer's wished
to become candidates for the place if
he did not remain, while the others
wished to inform him of what was go
ing on. Two or three educa-
tors asked him as in the letters
what was the trouble with Mankato
. and why the lack of harmony that
seems to prevail between the, board of
education and it's superintendent. At
ter presenting this matter Mr.. Yarney
asked that that the board take the ques
ton up and decide at once whether it
wished to retain him or not, as posi-
tions in the best schools are now open
and would likely be taken up before tine
meeting of the board in May, at which
time it elects teachers The board
agreed that it ought to decide the mat
ter in justice to Mr.. Varney, ,and pro-
Al ceeded to do so, but it seemed to have
az little difidence in so doing in the
open, and so followed the custom of the
United States senate and went into exc
cutiVe session and wrestled with the
question for nearly half an hour behind
closed doors AS near as can be learned
several ballots were taken, with the re-
suit that Mr. Varney was turned down
by'a vote of 4 to 8.
What charges were made against him
is a matter not made known, further
than that two or three of the members
of the board had it in for him, and
their desires finally prevailed. 1t has
been known for long time that har-
mony is something that does not pre-
vail between the superintendent and
the board. There have been instances
in matters of discipline where Mr.
'Varney has not had the support which
ought to have been given him for the
good of the schools. Mr., Varney has
Eade splendid superintendent, and
during his two years administration has
brought the schools to very high grade
and the Free Press believes that the
failure to retain him is a most unfortu-
nate thing for the future interests of
the schools. He has worked most faith
fully and conscientiously and the
schools were never in better shape than
they are today. He is fine disciplin.
arian, believes in the utmost thorough.
ness in ali school work and demands
the best there is in the teachers under
him. This is right and meets the ap.
sproval of the people in general.
This lack, of harmony between the
board and school superintendent in
Mankato is not new feature, but has
existed for sometime in the past. 1t is
most unfortunate thing and will re-
suit n great injury to our educational
interests if change is not brought
about 1t is to be hoped that the board
will exercise great care in the selection
of new superintendent, and will then
stand back of him solidly in his admin.
istration of affairs Frequent changes
of superintendencyscan only have de-
moralizing effect upon the schools il
persisted in. Where a man is doing ex
cellent work some of his minor faults
can well be overlooked,
Other Matters.