The Ordway new era., 1918-05-10
AFTERMATH OF
SCHOOL ELECTIONS


district, but the school election
in Ordway on Monday Of this
week became very much the In.
terest of at least one nOn-resi-
dent. We have in mind the
unusual activity displayed by w.
f. Daily, a resident of the Numa
district, and not q resident of
District No. 12, I'm which he so
painstakingly worked and en-
deavOred to dictate what should
be done.
Mr.. Dalby Is the present coun-
ty superintendent. He was In
terestcd, seemingly, far more In
what might be the outcome Of
the election in the Ordway dis
trict than he was in the Numa
district in which he resides. Why
this was the case Mr.. Daily well
knows and others have a sur
mise. Mr.. Dalby possibly desires
very much to have the superin-
tendency of the schools In Ord
way following his term OF office
as county superintendent, which
term expires next January. That,
IL being the case, gives Mr.. Dalby
a very good reason for being so
deeply interested In the election
only stands to reason that to
have Mr.. Sandifur retained as
superintendent for another
school year would be more to
the benefit of such n plan than
to take any chances which would
cause change this year, for n
successor secured Mt this time,
wouId In all probability, have
two or three terms II not more.
1t is said that school elections
can cause more hard feelings
than any other kind of an cleo
ton. We regret this but there
Is considerable truth in the
statement. 1t should not be
thus, and would not be except
for the fact that so many un.
truths come out.
In the school election here on
Monday several charges were
made against Mrs. ID. f. Bart
lett, one of the candidates, which
were absolutely without founda-
tion and were doubtless started
elected. The origin of the un-
truthful charges Is generally
known, bnt many who supported
Mr.. Mitchell and who passed the
statements along as to what Mrs.
Bartlett intended to do and not
to do, did so innOcently beIiev-
ing them to be true. They had
taken these false statements to
be correct and should not be held
responsible except for the fact
that 1t Is always we'll to "be sure
you're right, then go ahead"
However,, those who started tho
statements deserve all the cen-
sure that they have been given
and perhaps more.
One of the statements made
against Mrs. Bartlett was that
she was for q reduction in the
number of months Of school in
Ordway and those in the school
district residing in the rural
communities were given to be-
lieve that she was also for cut
ting down materially on the
schools in their sections. This
was absolutely false. Other
charges were to tho effect that
she favored doing away with the
domestic science and music de-
partments. These statements,
too, were false. At least the
feelings following the election
would have been better. and II is
to be regretted that such condi-
tions existed.
On top of the ill-feeling exist
ing comes the charge that Miss
Esther Kelley, one Of the teach
ers, Is disIOyal and she has been
given notice that her offer of
continued position in the school
has been withdrawn. She IL
therefore fired. Why? What
constitutes disloyalty? Is IL to
be taken that when a school
teacher gets job under the
school board in Ordway they
must sign over their right OF
franchise, otherwise be termed
dislOyal and be removed from the
schools?
In all fairness II the two mem-
bers Of the school board who
voted to withdraw the offer made
her Of a position in the schools
for next year can explain why
Miss Kelley is deemed disloyal
and cOnclusively prove that she
Is disloyal, then the people are
with them. Until then Miss
Kelley deserves the support Of
the community.
OF what does Miss Kelley's
she been disloyal in her work as
q teacher, or is the charge pre-
ferred because she failed to sup
port Mr.. Mast and Mr.. Herman
and MFR. Dalby's choice for =
place on the school board? The
written statements Of school au-
thorities, published on first page
of this issue, settles the first in