The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-03-12

TO the patrons of the Fargo schools:
AT the March 5 melting of the school
BOARD petitions were filed with it, in
SUBSTANCE. requesting the board to re-
not to re-engage Mr.. Hoover as super
i~ntendent n to either re-engage him
or at least defer contracting with an
other superintendent until after the
sChooI election April Is, when three
places on the board will be filled. The
BOARD secretary states that these sew
eral petitions bear almost $500 sigma
lures; that is between one-sixth and
one-seYenth of all the people of Fargo
nave signed the petitions, and the num-
per or signatures IN the petition is al
most equal to- one-half the lumber of
persons who are entitled to vote on
school questions. These petitions were
referred to the School Betterment COM
mittee. Many of the sfgners of these
petitions have explained to individual
members of the board that they signed
them unwilltngly or through m~isrepre-
sensations and without knowledge of
the facts and that the petition did not
express their wishes. Numerous in
stances of fragrant Misrepresentation
have been called to our attention.
Nevertheless, the petition has been fill
ed and it is signed by a considerable
portion OF the persons interested in
our schools. 1t is, therefore, entitled
to respectful consideration. We think
1t is due to the signers of the petit
ton, as well as to those who have not
signed and also to the people of this
community, that we should publicly
state as clearly as may be just what
has been done by the majority Of the
board, the reasons which prompted
them in making their decision, a state
ment of the inadequacy of the present
superintendency, a statement of the
kind of SUPPLEMENTARY which In our
judgment the schools require to make
statement of the attitude OF the ma
tority OF the board as to retaining Mr..
Hoover after his present term
pireS.
at the outset that the only question
at issue between the members of the
board relates to the supertntendency.
The teaching force is not involved.
Second, there has been no purpose or
attempt on the part of the majority of
the board to discharge Mr.. Hoover be-
fore the completion of his contract
which expires Aug. ], next. Third,
that the superintendent is hired year
by year and the usual time for engag-
ing the superintendent is Feb. I.
Fourth, that the question of re-engag-
ing MI. Hoover or securing another su-
pe"rintendent was considered at the
Jan. 5 meeting of the board, at which
all members OF the board were present,
and Mr.. Hoover was privately and
without publicity notified of the
boards decision thirty days in advance
of the time when the question of elect
ing a superintendent would come UP.
Firth, that the majority of the board,
out of regard for the welfare of our
schools and also to, Mr.. Hoover, have
thu far RETAINED from making public
statement of their reasons for not re-
engaging him other h a the general
statement that in their Judgment a
change was required for the good OF
the schools. IT.. ~
The situation now forced upon us,
and our duty to the community n to
ourselves, will not permit US longer
to be controlled by motives of deiica-
the proceedings taken by the Teachers
n School Betterment committees on
the subject of the experimenting
which was published on Feb. s., the
correctness of which has not beer
challenged in any particular, and
which statement was as follows:
"To the patrons of the Fargo
schools: I..a..
'In view of the criticism that has
been made OF. the boards action In
making a change in the superinten-
dency of the schools and the mislead-
ing statements as to manner in which
we have proceeded, the members of the.
board who are responsible for the ac-
ton which has been taken, feel that 1t
is due to you as the patrons of the
schools, as well as themselves, to put
before YOU the facts correctly il. refer
enceg theret0s - th&t YOU may iuGge in
t~elligently4 Whether we have acted
unfairly, nlSadvisably, and from i'm
"Tfhere are about $500 pupils in our
city schools. We have a teaching force
of eighty-three, of whom sixty-six are
in the grades and seventeen in the high
school.
The school board consists of nine
members.