The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-05-05
SPIRITED MEETING
 OF ENSLEY BOARD Question of School Superlnten-
 dent Comes Up CITIZENS MAKE SPEECHES M. A. Ponder Wants Minor School Teacher Removed For Harsh Treat
 men of ChiId-Personal
 and General News.
CITIZENS MAKE SPEECHES

Ensley, May 4.-(Special. 1.-The regular monthly meeting of the board of eduea-
 ton was held tfNs evening in the council chamber of the city hall Those present were N. W. Scott chairman; Mayor D. F. Sugg, pr. ". T. Hendon, W. B. Bridges, H s. Meade J. H. Sheldon, and J. Hoke Perkins. Superintendent Thomas R, Wal ker was also present and large number of citizens were present, as it was an- nounced an election would be held for su- perintendent of the public schools. It was stated that Prof. Walker, the pres ent incumbent, was asked to resign at a meeting held two weeks, and that his sue cessor would be elected tonight. This brought out a large number of citizens and patrons of the schools. Considerable time was taken up considering a com plaint filed against d teacher, and the principal of the Minor school by M. A. Ponder, patron of the school, regarding the treatment accorded a child of his at the hands of a teacher MT. Ponder was given the floor and made a passionate ap peal for the dismissal of the two teach CTS, and stated his child had been unmer-
 
 spoke in support of MT. Ponder's state- ment. This matter has been before the board for some time, and was referred to the committee on teachers, who tried to effect a settlement of the difficulty, but without effect. After the statements of those who favored the dismissal of the teachers, a number of patrons of the school spoke against the proposition and commended the work of the teachers of the Minor school in the highest terms. The matter was finally deferred to the next meeting of the board.
 The election of superintendent was then declared in order Prof, Thomas R. Walker was granted permisison to ad- dress the board before the election took place. He stated that as no charges had been filed against him or if they had he was ignorant of their nature, under the cirmustances he saw no reason why he should resign. He reviewed the work ac- complished during the period of his super intendency. He made a splendid showing for the work done and showed the schools to be in a high state of efficiency He had a large number of letters from the citizens of Ensley, and the patrons of the schools, which were highly compli- mentary, many of them asking his re, election to his present position lie was indorsed in no uncertain terms by prac- tically every member of the city council and city officials. Several citizens also addressed the board in his behalf and urged his election. A number of the let ters read by Prof. Walker suggested that politics should not be raised with the public schools. This brought spirited reply from Mayor Sugg, who positively denied that politics had anything to do with his position in the matter, and that he was influenced only by the good of the schools. A motion was made to defer the election for two weeks to allow time for applications for the position to be filed. The motion carried
 Chairman Scott announced the following committees: Buildings and grounds, H. $. Meade and J. H. Sheldon; supplies and expenses, Mayor Sugg and J. H. Per kins; teachers and text books, w. B.