The Washington times., 1920-02-19
BOARD VOTES TO
LET TAURSTON GO
Educators Ballot 7 to I In Favor
Of 0usting Superintendent
At End of Term.
Continued from First Page.)

Continued from First PageD
ton on Tuesday. 1t is generally be-
lieved that no member OF the board
had the slightest belief that Mr..
Thurston would be DESTROYS OF max
ing the letter public.
When the board Officially" met in
the Franklin School yesterday Mr.
Thurston was absent from his regular
seat. However the board was mott
fled by Harry o. Hine. secretary that
the superinte ndent had a communira-
ton to the board. which he desired
10 be officially recorded In the min
utes OF the meeting. The following
letter. filed by Mr.. Thurston with MT.
Hine, was read by the Secretary,
Mr.. Ernest L. Thurston, Superin-
tendent OF Schools ID. c.
Dear Mr.. Thurston: An. Informal
conference, OF some members of the
board OF education shows that . sub
stantisl majority OF the board Will
not be able to vote for your re-ele;-
ton in June.
Formal action Is not taken at this
time because II In the desire or the
members In question not to embarrass
in any way effort on your part 10 es-
tablish another connection. 1t seems
right to us to let you know before the
meeting OF the department OF superin-
tendepts in Cleveland next week.
II desire to add my own good wishes
for your future success. Yours very
sincerely.
John VAN sCHAICK, Jr..
Pres. Board OF Education"
Supplemental statement.
This letter was supplemented by the
following statement from Mr.. Thurs
ton: q, .
This action was taken without ad-
vance warning, without a statement
OF reasons. and without any confer
ence with the superintendent.
AT later date / shall wish to
make a statement. For the present i
ask that this letter be entered on the
the community to which the schools
belong. and which have served
faithfully in various educational ca
pacities for over twenty-five years,
may have the knowledge of the pro-
posed change to which II Ia entitled"
While it has been known for sew
eral months that some members Of
the Board of Education opposed Mr..
Thurston as superintendent, II was
hardly thought likely that an ex:
preston of views would be made at
this critical time, when the school
system. through lack OF space and
shortage in teaching force, is in dan
ger of disrupture.
Many ProKressive Changes.
For the past several months Mr..
Thurston has been working night and
day in an effort to ind feasible
plan to accommodate D. 900 students,
when there are facilities to teach
only $4,000. So far Mr.. Thurston has
been able to care for every person
DESTROYS OF entering the schools here.
1t was Mr.. Thurston who was in
strumental in the establishment Of
Junior High School. new project.
which apparently has met with ap-
prevail in this city. 1t was Mr.. Thurs
ton who 'modernized the Park View
School by placing that grammar
school at platoon plan.
That Mr.. Thurston had not the
slightest intimation of any such &C
ton by members Of the board was
evidenced by the statement he sub
mitted to the board yesterday.
Mr.. .Thurston has been connected
with the school system OF Washing
ton since the fall of 1894. serving in
various capacities, ranging from
teacher to superintendent He was
promoted from assistant superin-
tendent to superintendent on Decem-
Der 20, 1913, succeeding DR.. William
NJ Davidson, who resigned to be-
come head of the Pittsburgh school
system. Mr.. Thursday was reelected
superintendent the following June
and again named for the post in
June. 1917. His present term expires
June 80, next.
Graduate OF &. W. U.
He was born at Fall River, Mass.
February 10, 1873. coming to Wash
ineton to live in 1887. and was gradu-
ated from Central High School in
1850. in the same class with Stephen
f. Kramer. assistant superintendent
Of schools. and Emory Wilson, prin-
cipal of Central High. He took a
degree. OF electrical engineering at
George Washington University in
1898, then Columbian University. and
for about twelve years delivered lee
lures at the university on that sub