Evening journal., 1915-01-26
council CONTROL
OF school BOARD
THE NEWEST PLAN
Continued from First Page.

'HN "i''N"t N'f HSih"Huo VI oul pubit /
schools without sufficient appropria-
tion from City Council.
Therefore be IL resolved that the T,
City Solicitor be- and hereby is requested /
TO prepare a bill amending our city I
charter abolishing the Board of Public /
Education and placing the conduct OF
our schools into The hands of the said /
City Council and that the said CITY /.
Solicitor be requested and directed to :
present said bill TO the General Assem- .
bly, ON or before the Both day of Janu- +,
AIRY, 1915"
Frank r. Zebley introduced the reso-
mtions and IN so doing replied to some
Of the criticisms which have been made
OF the board. He declared that since he
had been member of the board the
only pay he received was fountain of
abuse, directly and indirectly. He said
he was a member OF the High School
Alumni Association. and Drs. Buckmas-
ter and Palmer as well aud stated that
when this ,act was mentioned 10 the
president Of the association, p. Warren
Green. the latter said:
"What has he lIebleyl ever doneY"
Mr.. Iebley said that he had done
his duty as he had sworn he would
and the taxpayers who had elected
him had not found fault with him. He
stated that he was in good standing
in the Alumni Association. as good
as It was possible to be. New by
laws we're adopted in 1907 which he
said have been absolutely discarded
and declared the association was
now working under no law. He said
A ~
were not personally criticising the
members of the board and he dcclar-
ed they would not have the courage
to publicly criticise individual mem
bers because it would be criticism
of the taxpayers of the wards that
elected the members, but in conversa-
tiOns throughout the city they did
crlticisc the board members. One
member Of the Alumni Association. he
said. asserted that there was a mem
ber of the board who could not read
or write
Mr.. Zebley said Vice president
Green had through a third party ar
ranged TO have a conference with
him three months ago and had asked
IL Harry c. Mahaffy. the alumni presi-
dent could be present This was to
be on certain Sunday al 10 o'clock.
Mr.. Zebley said he waited until
o'clock for Mr.. Mahaffy. but the two
men failed to appear He declared
the Alumni Association did nothing
but endeavor to tear down the good
work this and other boards had done.
Mr.. Iebley said the members of
the Board of Education we're abused
when they appeared before City Coun-
ell last week and that the statement
was made that they had built school
on a 3 by foot lot and the children
were compelled to play in the cellar,
where they were in danger of falling
into an open well which was an u
truth and the COuncilmcn knew it
was. He said the members Of the
board were expected TO make So do
the work of $40 and looked on as
embezzlers If they failed to do so.
DR.. II. G.. Buckmaster said the in-
vestigation the Alumni Association
claimed TO have made was farce;
that they simply sat down and took
Dame RumOr as their authority. He
thought II the alumni members had
attended the board meetings and Wis
tied the schools they would have come
back like men and admitted they were
misguided He thought it would be a
very good thing II they would inves-
tigate their own selves.
George Rommell said the board had
done the best Il could with the money
available and was unable to make
modern plumbing out of old plumb
ing He said that to make the changes
suggested by the Board of Health
would cost $4,000 or $4,000 and the
Board of Education did not have fif-
teen cents TO its credit to do the
work.
Edward f. Denny declared that il
the knocking kept up it would be
hard after awhile to get men to serve
on the board He said he was weary
of IT,
Colonel Morrow thought IL was bad
diplomacy TO introduce a resolution
OF this kind before the board and de-
clared 1t was up TO City Council to
help them out and that City Council
would likely help them out He said
the Alumni Association had a per.
feet right to criticise them. but should
give them the proper support. He
said the resolution was a slap at City
/, Council
Mr. zebley insisted that II was not
slap as City Council could try TO
run the schools on the money al
lowed. He said there had been so
much talk about the big miscellan-
eous account which was found to con-
tain only S63.
DR.. Thomas o. Cooper said that at
the conference with City Council, Col
onel Weller +. StOver had intimatcd
that the money had not been wisely
! spent or else the present conditions
would not exist. President of Couh-
Gil White had asked about the boards
bookkeeping, but outside OF this the
matter had really simmered down 10
one member. Colonel Stover, DR.
Cooper said, who as chairman OF the
finance committee of Council seemed
to be the city's financial agent anc
would be the proper person in whose
hands to place the conduct Of the
schools.
Dr. Cooper said the Board was do
ing their work so quietly that people
we're getting tired of it. He declared
il was the most important body in the
State. not barring the Legislature. Ho
said they never had any visitors
Those who criticize them never come
TO see them. The Alumni Association
he declared had left unanswered a
, letter addressed 10 it, by the Board. HC
defended the Board for purchasing
$500 worth of singing books, sayinl
I the old books had been in use fol
n years. He said the Board had sOtter
L. back i'm the finances BY increasing tn,