The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1916-06-06
kauai STIRRED Up
.0YERACT|ON0 F. THE
EDUCATION BOARD
Failure To, Reappoint Principal
Of the Waimea School Cause
Of Bitter Feelings

People on the island Of Kauai appear
to be deeply angcrcd by the action Of
the commissioners of public instruction,
which at its meeting early last week In
Honolulu failed to reuppoiut Mr.. and
Mrs Henry C.-riBrOwn, principal and
teacher respectively in the Waimea
school. The commission, instead Of re-
appointing the couple to the position
they have held the last five years,
chose Miss Eta Lee principal of Ma.
kaweli school, to succeed Mr.. Brown,
. A report from The Advertiser's IA.
Hai correspondent, printed below, SAYS
petitions are in circulation throughou
the Garden Island for the retention of
Mr.. and Mrs. Brown, and that feeling
is high against the dcpaI tmPnt of edu-
cation for what is regarded ms sum,
mary dismissal of the two instructors.
The commission = action was not in
the form Of dir'ct dismissal. al
though the effect seems to amount to
the same thing, and Kauai people have
heard that the cause is a charge OF in.
subordination, made against Mrs
Brown.
Asked for statement yesterday Su.
perintendent Kinney of the department
OF public instruction said:
"ThC Browns were not dismissed
They simply were not rraPpOinted. The
department feels that the action is
taken for its best interests.
Kauai Stirred Up
Whether. this explanation will up
pease the Garden Island people who are
championing the cause of the couple
remains to be seen. The report from
Kauai, under date Of June ;, says:
All Kauai Is much excited concern
ing the dismissal of Mr.. and Mrs.
Henry c. Brown by the department of
public instruction from the Waimea
government school on the charge of
Numerous petitions
are being circulated in their behalf
throughout, Kauai and feeling is run.
ming very high in regard to the matter.
Mr.. and Mrs. Brown have been teach
ers on Kauai for over five years and
Mr.. Brown is, at present the principal
of the Waimeas School, one of the larg.
est on the island. Their work, so far
as Kauai seems TO be concerned, has
been entirely satisfactory
No word .or sugdgstiop had been Civ
en- to either Mr.. ~ Mrs, Brown that
any dissatisfaction had been felt by
the department, and the first notifca,
tion they received was the list Of teach.
ers for the coming ysaF published this
week in the Garden Island. Their
names were not INCLUDED and Miss Et-
ia Lee, now principal of the Makaweh
School, is named az principal in place
of Mr.. Brown. No formal notice has
been received by them from headuuar-
tiers, nor any complaints issued against
them. The charges, such as they have
been learned, seem to be against Mrs.
Brown in the main and statement
written casually by her is held against
her.
Petitions In Circulation
To the Kauai citizens who have tax
en- the matter up, the action of the
department seems to have but little de.
Tense and the extreme penalty of dis
charge appears far to exceed the
cause. The children Of the school and
their parents are particularly distress
ed and are eagerly assisting in the dis
tributiOn Of the petitions. The ma ior.
ity Of the Waimra teachers have sign,
ed them as have most of the citizens
of the community, Some suggestion
has been made that the Kauai Cham
Der OF Commerce take up the matter
and the feeling that has been aroused
will be difficult to suppress unless AIDE.
quate explanation is offered by the de-
partmCnt.
Commissioner Eric Knudson is repre-
senting headquarters and "a committee
will wait upon him in regard to the
matter very shortly.
School Ranks High
The work done by the Waimea School
has ranked highly with the rest Of the
Kauai schools.
Particularly excellent work has been
done in the lines of domestic science
a nd manual arts. Under the personal di
rectiOn of Mrs. Brown, daily lunches
have been served to the children by the
older girls and needlework has been
sent to them from all parts of Kauai.
The boys have been particularly
successful In the line of practical
school carpentry. The friends of the
couple claim that they have been mis-.
sionaries as well as teachers and their
influence has been widely felt.
They have Il young daughter, and
have taken up homestead and have
planned to remain permanently on the
island. For this and other reasons the