Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-12-08

81 l
ALEXANDER II. STUART,
Reelected superintendent of the public
| schools.
School boys and girls! Did any one Of
you ever think of the board Of education
as body of real live people who laugh
uproariously at jokes? Or have you
thought of the board as a stiff, formal,
mechanical something that reminds you
of a machine to turn out hard rules, and
| occasionally takes the form of men and
women, who visit the schools in stiff ar
ray on the day that teacher is nervous? ?
If you have thought this latter thought,
get it out of your minds, for the meeting
Of this same body yesterday afternoon
shows that these folks who work hard
for nothing are simply human after all.
In the first place they were all In good
humor because they went to the meeting
primed and ready to re-elect as superin-
| tendent of schools for three years Alex
| ander T. Stuart. And in the second place
they had a real good Christmas laugh
over the grave question of what consti-
| tutes the day before Christmas
| Now the rules say that the Christmas
| holidays shall include the day before
tChristmas and shall take in the day after
4 Christmas.
Hard Matter to Decide.
"Ahem," said a solemn member of the
board, what is the day before Christ
mas? This year Christmas falls on Sum
day, if my calendar is correct? (You see,
children. the board never takes anything
for granted. 1t has to be shown.)
Well" said. another member, ut
seems to me in that event that the day
before Christmas Is Saturday"
But Saturday is already a holiday"
And then a silence fell, and for a mo-
nent 1t looked as if $4,000 craving young
year. One woman member said that when
she went to school they didn't have SO
| many holidays, and that they all worked
very hard in those days. Whereupon
| the spirit of Christmas sighed. because
| it looked as if the holidays would be cut
short -
| Some one started to quote 1.-THE night
before Christmas. when all through the
| house not a creature was stirring, not
even mouse" but finding that the, clas-
sic bit had no real bearing on the SUBJ
| ject, this was abandoned. Then it was
that Henry P. Blair, who says he never
really grew up at all, took the rule book
in his hand and said that the day before
/
cember %.
Friday Will Be Holiday.
Really. he said. as a lawyer. he would
give that as his opinion. Whereupon
| they all laughed loud and long. the
spirit of Christmas smiled and became
glad again, and burst into a ripple of
laughter as William B. Hoover, head of
many important committees on the board,
and full of business, reminded himself OF
the days when he used to go to school
and count on his fingers the days before
the holiday. He made = motion that
the day before Christmas be adjudged to
fall on Friday, December %, so that the
$1,000 school children are all going to
have that day thrown in extra this year.
However, there was some other business
done. The board went on record as OPP
posing the activities OF certain moving
picture show managers who are giving
| free tickets to school children for ad-
vertising purposes. Not that the board
| merits or dement's of moving pictures.
but 1t does want parents to know that
when the children come home an hour or
two late it is not the teachers doing at
all, and the teachers positively do not
distribute these tickets.
| Supt. Stuart recommended that COM
pulsory enlistment in the high school
cadet corps be changed to voluntary
|
| believe this change will produce better
spirit among the boys.
Prizes offered for Essays.
1t was reported that Walter stilson
Hutchins, president OF the Washington
Humane Society, had offered $50 in
prizes for essays on the subject Of HUI
mainly to Animals" Half OF this prize
| is derived from legacy made by John
b. Taylor. August q. 1883. Supt. Stuart
reported that Parents days" had been
established in every school in the District
now.
A committee on hygiene and sanitation
was appointed. The members are Mrs
Mussey. Mrs. Hoeke and Mrs. Terrell. \
| Supt. Stuart was reelected without any
fuss or. feathers. Capt. Oyster put the
proposition briefly before the board, and
the matter was unanimous and bare OF
oratory.
| Red Cross Christmas seals will be
placed on sale in the schools by authort-
cation Of the board. The request came
from Theodore North Mclaughlin of the
| American Red Cross.
| The board received formal notice
from the Commissioners that the new
Normal School building should be named
for James Ormond Wilson, formerly su-
perintendent Of schools in the District.
Changes in the Schools.
Changes in the schools are as follows:
| Appointments-Miss c. c. Williams.
teacher fifth grade Force School. Miss
v. p Lewis, teacher first grade, Monroe
| School j. F. Vent, janitor, Phelps
| School Mrs. Georgianna Stewart, jani-
tress, Ivy City School. Miss Mary Nc.
| Intyre, teacher first grade. WOODBURY.
School. Miss E. g.. Weston. teaches
| eighth grade. Pierce School. Miss Carrie
Duhn. teacher first grade. Gage School.
| Miss Josephine Humphrey. caretaker.
| Congress Heights Manual Training and
| Cooking schools. J. r. Pumphrey, jani-
| tor Congress Heights School, Miss
/ Margaret Richie, teacher first grade,
| Van Ness School. Reuben Finkeistein.
! night teacher, Jefferson School. d. M.
/ Reidy, janitor. lexington School. Miss
| A. L. Evans. kindergarten assistant.
/ Stevens School.
Promotions-Miss A. r. Garrels, first to
second grade. WOODBURY. School to John
| Eaton School: Miss e. 8. Lawton,. first
| to third grade, Monroe to Petworth
School; Miss G. E. oHara, teacher first