Evening star., 1909-07-02

mintstration of the assistant superin-
tendent of public schools, and feel that
| a man of greater Judgment, experience
| and competency should be appointed TO
preside over their schools"
| The charges are signed by N. b. Mar
shall, president, and James L. Neill.
secretary. of the citizens association.
Bruce Declines to Comment.
At the conclusion Of the board meet
| ing, Assistant Supt. Bruce was asked
| to make statement regarding the
charges.
.I feel that 1t would not be profess
sional for me to do that" he replied. l
have nothing to say"
The board took no action On the
| charges. To many present at the ooard
meeting, however. they were recalled
Supt Bruce that w. T. s. Jackson,
| principal of the M Street High School,
| be denoted to the rank Of high school
| teacher, was read.
| The board acted favorably on rec
| ommendation of Supt. A. T. Stuart that
| certain changes in the courses of study
| in the high schools, forwarded by their
| principals, should be referred to the
committee on high. manual training and
| normal schools
w. v. Cox, chairman Of the committee
| on ways and means, reported regarding
the balances of the appropriations for the
schools for the fiscal year ended the day
| before. These balances were shown to be
as, follows: Officers, $3.50; teachers,
SIS, 127 80; clerks and librarians. $50; Ion
gevity pay. $21,37O. 40: principals allow
ances, $1,428.5O; night schools, $15.75;
janitors, s669.26; care of small buildings,
81, ,s79: medical inspectors, $11S.O4; text
books and supplies, no balance; school
gardens, $68S4; rent Of buildings under
Compulsory education law, s2,O09.2O; con-
tingent expenses, 32697O acquisitions to
be drawn on this fund will practically use
it up); manual training, $9691 (this fund
| also will be practically all used: kinder
garten supplies. s12.34; textbooks and
| supplies, 81 cents; contingent expenses.
night schools, $123; equipment of McKin-
| ley Manual Training School addition,
s23.73: fuel, gas and electric lights.
$40, ,6O6O4; rents under compulsory educa-
ton law $S.942.9 .9S; flags, 25 cents; equip
ment of the Petworth addition, Gage ad-
dition, Langdon addition, Emery addi-
| ton, sewing school, cooking school, new
Mott School. kindergarten and manual
training shop. 1926; pianos, no balance;
s116sS: furniture for the new Bryan
School, S2.41: furniture for new Cooke
School, $3.50.
Attorney Writes Letter.
President Oyster presented a letter by
| which Stuart Mcnamara announced his
| resignation as assistant United States at
| torney and pointed out that it involved
| the severance of his relations as attorney
| for the board. He paid a tribute to the
| board for it's wisdom in handling the
schools and the board voted to reply in
terms highly complimentary to Mr.. Nc
| Namara. President Oyster was instruct
| ed to confer with United States Attorney
Baker before a successor to Mr. Nc
| Namara is designated. In his letter to
the president Of the board Mr.. Mcnamara
| said in part:
! II cannot, however, thus conclude this
| legal relation without communicating to
you the high regard which l have formed
for the unselfishness of yourself and fell
| low-members in your labors for the well
| fare of the schools. From my intimate
association with you have learned thor
| oughly how difficult are the tasks set to
your shoulders. and how ably you have
performed these, oftentimes with indiffer-
| ent pubic support, sometimes in the face
OF petty opposition and lack of intell-
gent cooperation of those charged to
some extent with the burden of the
| schools. When you assumed control of
| the schools they Were near to serious
disaster, owing to the revulsion\of COM
mon understanding, of routine admnis-
tration and the withdrawal of public SYM
pathy and the incoming of partisan hos
tlty. All these troubles your board has
smoothed away, and the schools are now
| fixed on firm basis, intrenched upon a
well defined law and enjoying the seren-
ity which is SO necessary for the teach
ers and the pupils as well. This labor
| you have discharged, not only with no
thought of public compensation, but also
with willingness to ignore the shafts
| of popular inSinuation in many instances
and always with serious personal loss of
your business or your leisure. 1t is need
less for me to state further how much I
appreciate this attitude of generous labor
for the common good: and l think the
city and the people at large now MAIN
tain the same sentiments which have in
believing that in the language of the old
| Latin poet which is inscribed to Sir
! CHRISTOPHER Wren over the door of ST
| Pauls, If you wish to see your monu-
ment, look around.
Board Makes Reply.
In reply. the board has written Mr.
Mcnamara:
4 This information is received with pro-
found regret. Appointed shortly after
: the organization of the present board
of education to render counsel and ad-
vice in its efforts to carry out wisely
and effectively the provisions of a new
and untried school law, your service has
been continuous and with an eyer-in-
| creastng appreciation Of the value of
| such service. In the earlier days of
your connection the frequent demands
made upon you required arduous and ex-
acting labor. often at great person al
sacrifice, yet every obligation laid upon
you was met, not only with signal abil-
ty. but likewise with becoming dignity
and rare tact. Full confidence has al
ways been placed i'll the many decisions
which YOU We're called on to render.
THE board gratefully notes the sra-