New Britain herald., 1919-04-14
TAXPAYERS LEAGUE
 ASKING QUESTIONS
ASsailS School Board for Alleged
 Lack Of Courtesy

Through It's chairman, P. $. Me ,Mahon, the Taxpayers and Rentpay- CTS association asks some pertinent questions Of the school board. and openly critcises certain members of that board for their conduct at the Hast meeting of the committee. The board Is criticized for mot alone a lack of discipline but a want of com mon decency and ordinary politeness and courtesy"
 The communication, signed by Chairman McMahon, for the TaXpay CTS association follows:
 "Neither edifying nor gratifying was the press account of the meet ing of the school board last Friday. 1t speaks no better for the board than the vandalism of certain members of the High school class of 1920 a week ago. Why should the public look for discipline in the schools when there is such a lack of it in the school board? Not alone a lack of discipline but a want of common decency and ordinary politeness and courtesy. Is tit 10 be wondered at that the school board has fallen into such. disrepute and merits the condemnation of every self-respecting man when one mem Der is openly and grossly insulted by another, and for what? Because he dareS introduce resolution which would change and revise the bylaws of the board so that a few seif-con stituted memb would be shorn of some of their autocratic powers by 1enlarging the number on the two most important committees; the com mittee on teachers and the committee on finance. These are the two most important committees, the one having the hiring and the discharging of teachers as well as the fixing of their salaries, the other the spending of half-million of the peoples money and because 8 member of the board had the temerty to rise Up in the presence of that august and honorable body and ask these committees be made more representative and not so SelectiVe as in the past, though backed by the people four to one he is insult ed and humiliated by one who should know better, one from whom the pub lie have a right to expect more if for no other reason than because of the position he holds as head of the school board.
 When the chairman threw down the resolution presented by Dr. Mar
 
 lie on the table that was the place for it, he meant in all probability the waste basket, he threw an insult and a defiance in tho face of the people, and unless the tone and temper of the people are misjudged they will re- S'sent it in no uncertain way at the proper time and place. It is about time that certain. members of tho board realize that they are but Serv ants of the people responsible and re- sponsive to them, not their self-con stttuted dictators above and beyond the people who put them into office because they had confidence in their ability and integrity to act in their in terest though at times 1t would seem as if that confidence had been mis- placed or wantonly abused.
 ''Nor gratifying was the report in as much as it showed a deficit, of some SPA, 900 taking the boards own figures although in welI-informed cir clas the amount Is said to run much higher. This is a nice legacy the school board has bequeathed to the people who stood for economy in city affairs when they voted the 21 mill rate. It means an additional one- half or one mill tax to be met out of CiiiS SSals applopflhtloh, uuI IIlen iC only goes to show how the people have been fooled and hoodwinked all along. Tn the report Is an item Of more than s5,000 for coal over and above the SIS, 900 appropriated when the estimates were made.\ This seems ludicrous when you consider the mild, open winter we have had and the ex- perience of those who have been running furnaces. We wonder If it would be permissible to ask this hon. orable board if the $23, ,000 for fuel includes the wood that was burned without leaving oneself liable for libel or will this be another dead horse to bob up later"