Evening star., 1951-12-21
Personnel Committee
Orders QUESTIONABLE
On Corning Burned

W corning burned
The Board of Education's con-
Goversial QUESTIONABLE, sent to
school officials to help evaluate
School Supt. Hobart M. Corning, ;,
has been destroyed by fire" on
orders of its Personnel Committee.
c. Melvin Sharpe, School Board
president. revealed this end to the
QUESTIONABLE late yesterday in a
statement explaining the status
Of the boards efforts to decide
whether DR.. Corning should be re-
appointed.
Mr.. Sharpe admitted the ques-
tionnaire had been coded so that
those answering it could be identi-
fed by the Personnel Committee.
Instructions accompanying the
approximately. so questionnaires
sent to Subordinates of the school
superintendent said the Is ques-
tions could be answered an
anonymously.
Corning Status Undecided.
Whether DR.. Corning is to be
reappointed superintendent of the
city schools still is undecided.
The Board of Education sched-
uled special meeting last Satur-
day to make the decision. The
meeting was called off because of
the bad weather and will not be
held now until after the first Of
the year.
The personnel committee. which
thought up the QUESTIONABLE, has
completed its evaluation of DR..
Corning. A report will be presented
to the full board whenever the
special meeting is held. The re-
port does not recommend that DR..
Corning be hired or fired.
Mr.. Sharpe said the question
naires were received and COM
piled by the secretary of the Board
of Education but that no board
member had actually seen a filled
out QUESTIONABLE or the code en-
abling the answers to be connected
with the sender.
Code Key Destroyed.
The secretary, Mrs. Elise z.
Watkins. carried out the work at
the order of the personnel COM
mittee and also burned the ques-
tionnaires and the key to the code.
The determination to use code
was made by the personnel COM
mittee, Mr.. Sharpe said.
He added that after news Of the
questionnaires leaked out, and
criticism started pouring in, the
committee decided to abandon
their use and ordered them burn
ed.
The text of Mr.. Sharpe's state
ment follows:
Following the precedent set by
my predecessor as president Of the
Board of Education, I recently
asked the personnel committee of
the Board of Education to set
themselves to the task of review
ing and evaluating the services of
the present superintendent of
schools during his present term
of Office. which expires in March.
1852.
Inasmuch as the personnel COM
mittee, under the law, is the only
committee Of the Board of Edu-
cation that can sit in executive
session on personnel matters with
out the public or the press being
in attendance. I had no other
alternative in the situation.
az Members Questioned. 4,
Just prior to the meeting hour
of regular session of the board.
Informally talked with all men,
bers of the board regarding the !
matter of appointing the person.
mel committee for this purpose. I
questioned the members of the
personnel committee at that time
whether they could, with fair.
open minds and equity, assay
their task, based only on the facts
and substantial evidence, as they
might develop in their appointed
task. I was assured by all men,
bers of that committee. in the
presence of. all other members of
the board, that they would retain
an open mind and a sense of COM
plete fairness If the task were as
signed to them.
There followed further discus
sion among the members of the
board, and there was open-minded
questioning by certain board
members present regarding the
situation: but it was agreed by all
present that the committee should
be assigned the task of reviewing
and evaluating the present super
intendent's record during his pres
ent term.
No Definite Plan Indicated.
No definite plan or method was
indicated for the guidance of the
committee, except that the effort
should be based on substantial
evidence and facts alone that
might be involved in such review
and evaluation of the superin-
tendent's record during his last
21a years in Office. Strong ad-
monition against inclusion of per-
sonal opinions, or the assumption
that the task assigned was one of
investigation" was made by the
president of the board and bore
the semblance of entire agreement
LOST.