Evening star., 1949-12-12
Corning Dispute
Over Magazine
Fans BoardFight
Cannon Backs Bon
By Superintendent
On Red Periodical

The failure Of School Supt. Ho.
bart M. Corning to inform MEM
bers of the Board of Education
that the Soviet Informa ton Bulle-
tin had been banned from school
libraries here apparently has
brought a long -smoldering juris-
dictional dispute to the surface.
DR.. James A. Cannon, vice presi-
dent of the board. yesterday came
to the defense of DR.. Corning.
terming his action perfectly
proper"
DR.. Cannon also sharply crit
icized c. Melvin Sharpe, board
president. for his public spank
ing" of DR.. Corning for not bring
ing the matter to the attention Of
the school board. He said that
Mr.. Sharpe was entirely "out Of
order" in reprimanding DR.. Corn
ing publicly.
Supported in Corning Defense.
He was supported in his defense
of DR.. Corning by Mrs. Philip Sid
ney Smith. board member. Mrs.
Smith said DR.. Corning was per-
fectly within his rights as it was
an administrative problem. Fur
thermore, Mrs. Smith added. it
was his responsibility to reject
any publication that the school
board had not included on it's ap-
proved list of textbooks and PERI
odicals for use in the schools.
A third board member, John II.
Wilson, said he felt DR.. Corning
was correct in keeping the maga-
zine out of the school libraries.
He said the board rule was that
nothing went into the libraries
and classes unless it was on the
approved list of publications and
it was DR.. Corning's duty to fol-
low the rule.
Other board members took the
stand that the least Dr.. Corning
could have done was inform the
school board of his actions.
Last week it was revealed that
the Soviet Information Bulletin,
which is published twice month
by the Russian Embassy here, had
been arriving at the District high
schools addressed to the school
libraries. DR.. Corning told the
principals to intercept the mag
azine and since then they have
been collecting in the Office Of
Norman j. Nelson, first assistant
superintendent.
Question Arising More Often.
The question of where DR.. Corn-
ing's administrative responsibility
ends and the school boards policy
making begins is one that has been
coming to the front more and more
often in recent months.
One board member, who did not
want to be quoted, said this may
force a Showdown" to get tho
matter settled.
Earlier this year. DR.. George q.
Strayer of Columbia University,
who conducted a survey of school
needs in the District, took the
Board of Education to task for
devoting too much time to mat
ters that DR.. Strayer considered
in the province of the school SUI
perintendent. DR.. Strayer blamed
this on what he called over
Jealous attention to small matters
which left little time for policy.
On the matter of the Soviet In
formation Bulletin. Board Menu
bers Albert E. Steinem, DR.. Phillip
r. johnson. Mrs. E. c. Magde.
burger. Adelbert w. Lee and Mrs.
James c. Williams all agreed that
the least DR.. Corning could have
done was bringing to the atten-
ton of the board the matter.
which they all considered ex-
tremely important and controver-
sial.
| Mr.. Sharpe. when he first heard
Of the magazine banning from
the story in The Star on Friday,
Immediately called for full re-
port from DR.. Corning.
The next meeting of the Board
of Education is scheduled for De.
cember 81. At that time DR..
Corning will be asked to explain
the entire matter.