Evening star., 1939-03-14
Seeks Elected and
Autonomous School Board.

To the Editor Of The Star:
AS chairman of the Local Suffrage
Committee of the Federation of Citizens
Associations, which, in its recent ap-
proval Of the principle of departmental
zation Of the executive functions of the
local government as suggested by the
Griffenhagen report, made an excep-
ton Of our school system, and as the
father of several children who have and
will, in part at least, come under the
influence of that system, have natu-
rally taken keen and sympathetic in
terest in the efforts being made by the
Board Of Education and its recently re-
signed member Ito keep the school sys-
tenn out of politics" But the more light
how this should be done, the more am I
convinced that, while recognizing on the
one hand that the public school system
has of necessity taken over in large
measure the God-given right of parents
to control the mental and moral educa-
ton of their children, what they seem
to be trying to do on the other hand Is
to keep the influence of those parents
out of the school system.
1t is claimed by the Board of Educa-
ton that "the moral and mental educa-
tion of children, at least theoretically,
is intrusted by providence to parents
and if that duty Is to be taken on by
the state it is still incumbent upon
parents insofar as it lies in their power
to see that the control is not too remote"
Yet the board advocates the retention
of the present method of appointing
its members, namely, by the judges of
the District Court of the United States
for the District of Columbia. Thus th-v
would keep our District school system
about as remote from the parents OF
District children as any school system
in the world, because it Is now an ex-
clusively Federal agency over which
neither the parents of District children
nor any other District citizens have any
control whatever. The judges Of the
District Court who appoint the men,
bers of the Board of Education are all
appointed by the Federal Government,
some of them are admittedly political
appointees, and some Of them are not
even citizens of the District. These
federally appointed members of the
Board of Education in turn appoint the
superintendent of schools. The people
of the District are therefore just as
remote from the Board of Education as
they are from the District Court.
The Board of Education further con-
tends that control and administration
of the public school system of the
District of Columbia are practically
identical with that which has prevailed
for more than half century in the
several States" Yet we find in an
account of meeting of the American
Association of School Administrators at
Cleveland on March 2 that resolu-
ton backed by the Education Associa-
ton Of the District of Columbia con-
demning politics in school control rec
ognized with pride that the American
system Of electing boards directly by the
people to control public education with
out interference from city councils and
commissions has been responsible for
large share of the independence of
schools and the educational achievements
of the country" Where, may I ask, is
the practical identity between the meth
cd of appointing members OF the Board
of Education by Federal judges and
the method of election by the people?
In this connection also We find In
the report published In 1898, entitled