Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-05-02
MOVE TO DISPLACE
HEAD OF LOCAL
SCHOOL SYSTEM


CONTINUED from First Page)
zens when convinced that they were
wrong.
40 The board took him out of a
position in which he was happy, and
which he now occupies. To throw him
out now would hurt him seriously In
his profession, and would be most IN
fair.
IL. II we make change we may do
worse. We may not be able to get
strong men to take the job.
Points Against Him.
I'm opposition to his reelection the
following things have been urged:
a. He is a man of mediocre ability.
80. He is q very poor administrator.
He lets things pile up on him, and
, many important things are hopelessly
side-tracked He gets lost in the de-
tails of his big job.
"S lie is naturally timid man.
afraid TO tackle anything very funda-
- He is so tied up locally that he
never will be able TO cut the dead
wood ont of the system.
IS. He lacks personal magnetlsm;
driving power anu tHc QuhAAl4S' - -
&c. His does not win the respect or
the confidence of the strong men IN
Congress; with whom we have 10 aeai;
~ II is true that large number OF
teachers are urging his reelection. but
teachers VIGOROUSLY prefer to endure
the ills they have than fly to those they
know not of ~,
deal with a situation the board itself Is
better fitted to handle.
High Tribute to the Superintendent.
In mt opinion. the question is
very difficult one. Mr.. Thurston is
neither popelessly incompetent. on the
one hama, nor so strikingly the best
man for the job, on the other hand, that
the acticn which we ought to take is
clear.
"He is absolutely upright, pure. free
from cntAngling alliances, honorable IN
: "He Is hard worker He tolls night
and dayt holidays and Sundays, all
through Ahe summer vacation, as well
as the rest of the year. He has gwen
painstak hg thought and attention to
his Job. ...,,
There iare difficulties IN the sltua
ton not of his making. 1t is one OF
the most difficult school positions In
the Uniteh States. There re two sys-
TENS. whate and colored. We have to
keep the support of a District govern
ment and OF the big. busy Congress,
which represents the whole of the
United Stktes Uader the superintend-
emit are NEARLY $4,000 children and
nearly 2.ti00 teachers. He has to deal
with something under 100000 parents
. and with 4 budget of between 100000
and 100000.
A Big Job.
mo mar, can possibly handle this big
Job unles.3 he is a good administrator.
He must lie a real executive. He must
be abreast of educational thought in
the county and distinguish between
new thingt which are valuable and ed
ucational fads.
Mr.. Thufston does so distinguish. His
ideas are lgood His weakness Is in
the admin Etration. He either tries to
do too NTH himself or else he lacks
competenta assistants. He either has
the basic Weakness of not trusting his
subordinates, or else he has nobody
upon whoh he can really depend.
should sayIthat he was a reserved kind
of man, Used to working alone and
one who Dies not find it easy to trust
other peoIte. Perhaps he IS learning
something lin this direction
Persona nv, / am fond of Mr.. Thurs
ton. / hav,s enjoyed working with him.
He has b,tn most courteous and CO.
operative /
Favorss Thurston Personally.
IF I foil pwed my personal inclina-
lions sho1 I'D say re-elect him at once.
with all the great and vital issues
involved iii this situation. 1 must not
take couns III OF my dread of doing
hard and elsagreeable job. 1 must ask
myself, w lat is the best thing for the
schools of Washington and not, What
is the futu4e OF any one individual in
II shoulds say that our duty is to
elect anoth5r man. that we should try
10 get a Zig. competent educational
executive; chat we should make the
change so az to do justice to Mr.. Thurs
ton and SALE his real gifts for con-
tinued use tllness in his profession.
either help fhim get another place or,
10 he is Hling. to use him in some
other capacity here.
Some }aults in the System.
The schools of Washington are not
as good as Hley ought to be- They are
not nearly - bad as some people think
Tested by NE live. up-to-date school
systems in various other sections of
our country athey are behind the. times
There Is no retirement law. There are
many old. feeble. worn-out teachers
whose preseAce means the sacrifice of
the childrena There is no adequate su-
peryision. S ine of the supervisory of
ficers ought1to be changed. The same
dislike TO ffve pain and to deprive
people we live of their jobs holds us
back.
We have n our system the teaching
principal WHO is discarded in other
/, places. She liant teach. telephone see
visitors. mate reports and supervise
all in the sArne day
Our meth Ids of promotion are ar
Chaic.
Salaries ID not attract the best peo-
pie from OTTER places. They average
very low. Cor fress has been much more
generous in buildings than in person.
mel
Among tif teachers. because of
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