Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-26
D. c. SCHOOL BOARD
IN DILEMMA OVER
LEARNED'S QUITTING
Lacks Officers, While Vice
Presidency Also Is
untitled.
SELECTION OF WOMAN
HEAD is DISAPPROVED
Continuance of Mrs. Philip Sidney
Smith Beyond Term in Posi-
ton is Questioned.

| with TWO woman nominees for its
vice presidency and at the same time a
conviction among several of It's prom
inent members that no woman should
be president, the District Board of Ed
ucsticn finds itself today with no Of
ficers whatever and the necessity Of do
ing something about it at its next meet
| ing.
The acute situation which confronts
the school board resulted from the sud
den resignation of DR.. Henry Barrett
Learned, president, who already has left
/ the Capital for California, where he will
be acting professor of history at Leland
Stanford University.
The fact that the board has no off,
GERS was revealed today when several
| members questioned the continuance
of Mrs. Philip Sidney Smith as vice
president beyond her expired term in
that Office. 1t was recalled that when
she was rsnominated for the vice pres
idency Mrs. Henry Grattan Doyle also
was put up for that office, although
she was not present at the meeting
1t then ives agreed that the election
| of the vice president would be post
pcned until the next full meeting of
the board. Although the board has
met twice this month, full attendance
has been lacking.
Board Has No Officers.
Hence, some School Board members
! pointed cut today the board Is without
any officers since DR.. Learned has &C
tually left the city, despite the fact
that the justices of the Supreme Court
Of the District may not yet have &C
cepted his resignation dated Septem-
| Der IL.
The question as to whether the vice
presidential nominees are, in effect,
candidates for the presidency was con-
| fused further today when at least two
members. one of them Mrs. Doyle her
self, voiced their disapproval Of a
woman president OF a board whose
members were predominantly men. In
response to queries from The Star, Mrs.
Doyle said that, in her opinion, the
board now has no vice president She
! said, further, that q man president
probably would be more fitting for a
board composed of six men and only
| three women"
Mrs. Doyle declared, further, that
whether the court appoints a successor
| for DR.. Learned before the School
Boards next meeting on October or
not, the board must take some steps to
choose a head. With only two oficers
in its neutrality-suspicious. and vice
4
upon DIR. Abram Simon, chairman of
the Finance Committee, the senior sub
body OF the board, to preside over the
next meeting, she said. DR.. Simon
formerly was president Of the School
Board and relinquished the chair only
when he resigned from the board sew
eral years ago. He was reappotnted,
! however, to succeed Isaac Cans, who
also resigned.
Henry Gnligan made virtually the
same reply.
Man Should Preside"
with all respect to the splendid
| women on the board" Mr.. Gilligan said,
Il feel that where there are six men
and three women, there ought to be
man president"
Mr.. Gnligan added that the question
of successor for DR.. Learned as presi-
dent of the School Board still Is ''the-
| oretical." Until the District Of Co
lumbia Supreme Court justices act on
DR.. Learned's letter, he commended, all
discussions of new president would
| remain theoretical
DR.. j. Hayden Johnson who has been
a member Of the School Board longer
than any other member, also took the
view that the boards future action
must depend upon the next move of
the District Supreme Court justices.
He asserted, however, that Mrs. Smith
| now has no officers at all.
Resignation Announced.
The letter in which DR.. Learned no
| titled the District of Columbia Supreme
Court justices of his wish to quit the
school board was made public late yes
terday.
DR.. Learned, an educator by profess
sion, explained that both financial and
professional reasons" made 1t important
Tor him to return to the faculty OF Le-
land Stanford University in California.
The letter follows in full:
Gentlemen: 1t is with some degree
of regret that I find it necessary at
this time to resign as member of the
Board OF Education of the District OF
Columbia. In June, 1881, I was re-
nominated to the board for a term Of
three years from July l.
Very recently, and Unexpectedly,
was asked to serve as acting professor
Of history at Stanford University, Cali
fornia, from October ], 1891, to April,
1882. Both financial and professional
reasons have made it important that
accept this position. have accordingly
done so, and am obliged to leave Wash
ington about September "a for period
of at least six months.
cit Is only fair to the citizens of the
District, to my fellow members of the
board and to the appointing power
that now give notice OF my wish to
retire. For nearly IL years, with an
interval from December, 1921, to July
l, 1925, have acted as a member of
the board. I surrender my place with
some degree of regret, for the work has
been in various ways stimulating and
iberalizing."
DR.. Learneds withdrawal from the
school board brings to a close a total
of 10 years and z months active serv-
ice to that body during 14-year period.
Appointed to the board first on July l,
1917, DR.. Learned served until Deem
Der 81, 1921. He was reappointed July
/, 1925, to succeed Julius 1. Peyser, and
he had continued In Office, through
successive reappointments every three
years, until his present severance of
connections. His last reappointment
was made by the District of Columbia
Supreme Court justices last July !, so
that his unexpired term extends to July
/, 1884. DR.. Learned was chosen presi-
dent of the board at its last reorgani-
zation meeting at the beginning of the
fiscal year, although he had acted as
president since the death in February
of this year of DR.. Charles Francis
Carusi, chancellor of National Univer-
sity, who had held the presidency of
the hoard