Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1915-02-05
Normal Board ShouId he Abolished

Normal Board should BE Abolished.
OMAHA. Feb. 4--To the Editor of The
Bee: The only argument necessary to
show why the state Normal board should
be abolished Is short review of what
they have done during the last bien-
MUM. They began by discharging DIR.
Thomas as president Of the Kearney nor
NAL, as they said for the good Of the
school. They never filed any charges
simply because they had none TO file,
Had they been honest they would have
given the real reason and said it was be-
cause t. ]. Majors was unfriendly to
Thomas ana also because he was not
masters club. and Caviness, a member
OF the board, is also "A meplber of the
club and the tool of this same gang.
Under the guise Of making the work
more businesslike, Majors and Caviness
fixed up a resolution forbidding the pres
ident Of each school to have any voice
in the selection of Janitors. care of build
ing and grounds, the purchase of furni-
ture and supplies. the expenditure of any
funds or the handling of any cash funds
or fees. Notwithstanding the statutes
clearly make all this the presidents duty.
These matters were all placed into the
hands OF the registrar and the local COM
mitteeman. As soon as this was fixed
Majors Immediately discharged the head
janitor az Peru and put into the place
made vacant q tenant from one of his
farms, although the man discharged was
admitted to be entirely satisfactory.
DelKell was chairman OF the teachers
committee and had his daughter elected
as = member Of the chadron faculty,
later he had r. C. King and r. l. Elliott
OF his office force elected TO positions in
the Kearney faculty.
The president OF the board. because he
was a member OF the executive commit
tee. succeeded in selling the normal
schools about 5000 worth OF furniture.
With but only part Of the money in sight
the board let contract for an $4,000
training school at Peru. to be known as
the T. J. Majors Training school. This
building contains in It's plans fine gym
nasium and pool, Notwithstanding the
fact that the Peru normal already has
one OF the best gymnasiums in the state.
1t would seem that the other normal
schools shoula have at least one gymna-
stun each before Peru gets two.
The voters OF the state emphaticaIy
condemned the action OF the Normal
board by eleoting Thomas TO the state
! superintendency, yet the members OF the
board who ousted Thomas show their lit
tleness BY keeping him off OF the teach
/ ers' committee. which has always been
headed by the state superintendent. The
expense Of the board also shows
IL to be quite luxury, being about s4000
for the biennius. The travelling expenses
OF Caviness stone is equal TO IL not greater
than that OF any one OF the presidents.
although he Is not permitted under the
statutes TO collect anything except actual
expenses while at board meetings The
foregoing Is but a sample Of this board 1
doings
At one time ten teachers were dis
charged and no other reason was as
signed than that the teachers were not
needed. some Of these teachers had been
IN the employ OF the state Tor fifteen
years. The board should now be dis
charged Ia the same way
4 d. b JOHNSON.