The Duluth rip-saw. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1917-19??, 1923-06-23
PRINCIPAL QUITS BECAUSE
OF BEN1IEY'S BRUTAL WAY
Miss Hegdah, Principal Congdon Park School, Il
Denied Reasonable Request After Ten Years
of Faithful Service In the Schools.

1 culed, insnlted and treated roughly.
Grieyed. Inundated and disheart.
ened by her treatment, she showed
4 her high grade of womanhood b.
resigning her position. She was one
OF the younger principals, too, and
Supt. Bentley wants 'em young.
There are numerous Incidents In
. Supt. Bentley,s educational work
that prove that he viii treat 0
| woman an roughly and brutal1y a.
he will man. perhaps moro 20,
despite several years residence "a
Kentucky, whers boorish and brutal
treatment OF women II not oftsn
tolerated. sL1
When j. II. Bentley was principal
Kentucky, q case OF discipline came
up, in which Q prominent lady be-
lieved that a boy had not received
just treatment. Being o mother
and having been q very successful
teacher before becaming o wife,
she deter lined to visit Mr.. Bentley
and talk matters over with him.
She saw to it, however, that another
lady OF prominence and repute 40
eompanied her.
when we met Mr.. Bentley and
told him our mission, said that
cultured Kentucky lady, "he bscams
cenyulsed with passion. His face
was liyid with anger and he was
SO enraged TINT he could not speak.
After a few moments, however, he
regained control OF himself and He
discussed the matter somewhat, but
with indifferent satisfaction to u.s."
Concluding her story Of that in.
teryiew with the autocratic and hot
headed educator and being asked
her estimate OF Mr.. Bentleys chief
characteristics, that teacher, wife
and mother succinctly replied:
Mr.. Bentley is buffer, boor
and lily bred"
Supt. Bentley is as persistent and
determined as the proverbial cat
with nine lives. II he fails in one
way, he viii try another. Kick him
out Of the front door and he win
try to crawl back through the rear
door. He even will fit his story OF o
matter in different ways to several
men whom he meets. One OF his
first big tumbles in Duluth was
due to the fact that q comparison
Of notes showed that various yer-
siens Of the same matter were Civ
en- to q number OF prominent busi-
ness men.
s The previous issue Of the Rip
saw told how principal told teach.
ers that it did not make much az.
ference whether or not they con-
tributed to fund to buy Miss
Carey farewell present, fer Supt.
Bentley would have her back ~
work next year. in spite Of nepot-
ism and objections Of certain direc-
tors, in the exercise OF their .statu-
tory rights.
It safely may be taken for grant
ed that Supt. Bentley IL working
overtime to get Miss Cary back 40
supervisor Of art, thereby pleasing
bis benefactress. Madam directress
Barnes. Of Duluth and New York,
and trfumphing over members o3
the board who not only have acted
entirely within their rights but,
presumably, done the school system
a real service.
It Is not impossible that Supt.
Bentley inspired futile movement
in behalf OF Miss Carey not long
ago. A communication, addressed
to pinch-hitter Crassweller, by Yfr-
tue OF his position as president of
the board Of education, was sent
out to all the teachers In all the
schools. worded as follows. viz:
I'VE. the undersigned teachers OF
the Duluth public schools, wish to
publicly express our appreciation
of the help Miss Gertrude Carey
has been to us in our teaching, az
we'll as for the work she. herself,
has done for the Duluth schools.
eve also desire to enter pro-
test against the statement made By
a member Of the beard, as pub
Iished in the News Tribune, April
rs, that Miss Carey las caused dis
harmony, which fact we know tobe
untrue; we also consider that the
discharge of a teacher OF over 30
years service, without specific
charges or q hearing, IL o precedent
which we cannot refrain from enter
ing severe protest against" a
The Rip4saw IS informed that 80
few teachers responded to the Pc
tition that It was called in ana
shelyed.
The mention of "disharmony"
was slap at director Coole. He Is
q member of the committee on
schools and teachers. hence circu-
Iation of that petition smacked OF
characterization, IL not lese majeste.
as it would have been considered,
il Supt. Bentley had been concern
ed, instead OF director Coole. Mr.
Coele, too, is duly elected servant
of the people, while Miss Carey and
Supt. Bentley held their positions
by appointment, purely and simply
a hired man and hired woman.
The law says that q blood rela-
tive of school director cannot
hold q school position except by
unanimous consent OF the board.
Messrs. sClough. Coole and Knight
were within their statutory right
when they objected to the re-eni-
ployment OF Miss Carey. There was
neither cause nor excuse to make
charges or hold q hearing. II the
precedent established was bad, then
the educational stool1pigeons OF