:-y-:? 
 
Class. 
 Book. 
 
 
59th Congress, ) SENATE. ( Document 
 
 non. ' \ 1 No. 19. ' 
 
 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF THE DISTRICT OF 
 
 COLUMBIA. 
 
 *^ ' Mr. Gallinger presented the following 
 
 PETITION TO CONGRESS FROM THE CITIZENS' COMMITTEE ON 
 PUBLIC SCHOOL AFFAIRS, SHOWING THE OPERATION OF THE 
 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SINCE 
 JULY 2, 1906. 
 
 December 6, 1906.— Referred to the Committee on the District of Columbia and 
 
 ordered to be printed. 
 
 To the Honorcible the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
 United States of America in Congress assembled: 
 The Citizens' Committee on Public School Affairs, representing 
 the sentiments of the great mass of citizens and patrons interested 
 in the educational system of the District of Columbia, plead the 
 privilege of setting before your august body certain considerations 
 and facts growing out of certain legislation enacted by the last 
 session of Congress (59th Cong., 1st sess.), providing for the reor- 
 ganization of the board of education and for the increase of the 
 salaries of the teachers and the executive officers of the schools of 
 the District of Columbia, and of certain unjust and unlawful acts 
 of the board of education and the superintendent of schools affecting 
 injuriously the livelihood and reputation of some of the most worthy 
 teachers and the efficienc.y of the educational system of the District, 
 and respectfulh' petition you to remedy the grievances herein set 
 forth by such investigation and action as your wisdom and sense of 
 justice and fair play will dictate. 
 
 DESIGN or THE LAW. 
 
 The law passed at the last session of Congress, entitled "An act 
 to fix and regulate the salaries of teachers, school officers, and other 
 employees of the board of education of the District of Columbia " 
 and approved June 20, 1906, was a broad and statesmanlike effort 
 to iDroperly compensate the great bodj^ of earnest and faithful 
 teachers of the District for the services they were rendering and 
 thus " to bring the school system of the District to a state of effi- 
 ciency commensurate with what the public school system of the 
 national capital ought to be." The law was clearly designed to 
 
2 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIAv^^ 
 
 benefit and thereby to encourage the efforts of all teachers and officers 
 in the system, and certainly not t;o work injury to any of them, 
 either in the loss of position or in a reduction of salary. In the 
 House of Representatives, Mr. Morrell, in submitting the report 
 from the Committee on the District of Columbia, said: 
 
 While at first, in " view of the testimony submitted, the committee was of 
 the opinion that radical reform in the school system was necessary, yet as 
 the hearings advanced and the committee became better acquainted with the 
 school system as it now maintains, the conclusion was reached that the 
 organization and teaching system should not be disrupted, but should be 
 retaiiled. at least for the present, as now constituted with the few alteorations 
 contained in the bill in regard to management. (H. K^t. No. 3395^ 59th 
 Cong., 1st sess.) - ' , 
 
 In the Senate, Mr. Burkett, in submitting the report from the 
 CJommittee on the District of Columbia, said: 
 
 It will be noticed that this does not decrease the number of employees nor 
 remove anyone, but changes names, somewhat and gives ttie responsibility of ^ 
 the high schools to the assistant superintendent, and gives the place that 
 was held by the director of high schools the name of director of intermediate 
 instructor. (S. Rept. No, 3974, 59th Couij., 1st Fess.) 
 
 In the debates upon the bill in the Senate, Senator Burkett, on 
 June 8, 1906, explained the purpose of the law as follows: 
 
 The recommendation of the committee will not do away with anybody's jolJ. 
 * * * Every person \A'ho drew a salary last year will draw a larger salary 
 this year than ever before in the school svsteni under this bill. (Cong. Rec. 
 p. 8306.). 
 
 They will have their jobs, and by virtue of the <f act that this bill raises the 
 salaries, they will have their salaries raised. I will guarantee the Senator 
 (Spooner) there is not a soul who will lose his job by this bill. (Cong. Rec, 
 p. 8307.) 
 
 The remarks of Senator Carter on June 9, 1906, in discussing an 
 amendment which he offered to the fourth section of the bill, shows 
 unmistakably the intention that the teachers then in the service 
 were to be continued in their positions. 
 
 Senator Carter said : 
 
 Mr. President, the Senator has stated the reasons which impel me to offer 
 the amendment, although he is mistaken with reference to the limitation pro- 
 vided in the amendment itself. I understood the fact to be that teachers here- 
 after hired will be employed at $1,000 per year. We will have the anomalous 
 condition of teachers of more than five years' experience — and I am told in the 
 list of 72 there are j'bout 10 such — who are now receiving $700 per annum, 
 being compelled to work for $850 the coming year, whereas the teacher hired 
 next Sei)tember. of like experience, will be receiving $1,000. 
 
 I can readily perceive that a teacher might quickly evade the law by re- 
 signing and being reappointed, but it is desirable that such subterfuge should 
 not be rendered necessary as to experienced teachers. (Cong. Rec, P. 8401.) 
 
 In spite, however^ of the foregoing expressions of the intent of the 
 law by the framers thereof and the express and explicit provision of 
 the law itself, to wit : 
 
 That no teacher or officer in the service of the public schools of the District 
 of Columbia at tli^ time of the passage of this act shall, by the operation of this 
 act, be required to take any examination, either mental or physical, to be con- 
 tini^pd in the service — 
 
 DEC 111906 
 D.ofO. 
 
PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 3 
 
 the new board of education which was appointed July 2^ 1906, de- 
 terniined upon the fiction that all of the teachers who were in the 
 service at the time of the passage of the act had to be " reappointed " 
 by them. And thereupon individual members, as events seem to 
 prove, drew up their lists of those whom they desired " reappointed " 
 and their black lists of those whom they did not desire '' reappointed." 
 The new superintendent of schools, who was chosen by the board 
 of education on August 11, 1906, although an entire stranger to the 
 Washington school community, adopted upon his arrival here, or soon 
 thereafter, the fiction previously determined upon by the board. . Yet 
 in a letter published in the Evening Star on September 15 he stated 
 the :^olloAVing: 
 
 By far the greatest diffictilty arose from the fact that no one yet knows posi- 
 tively by judicial opinion whether the great body of teachers were or were not 
 continued in office. For myself I believe that they were continued by mere 
 virtue of the^ legislation. I hold this opinion mainly because the legislation 
 does not state the contrary, but there are phrases and clauses in the law which 
 make this opinion questionable. 
 
 In 'this connection we beg respectfully to call yotir attention to the 
 folloT^ng facts: 
 
 (1) The gre^it body of teachers who were in the service of the pub- 
 "^lic schools of the District at the time of the passage of the new law 
 
 governing the schools had been in the employ of the schools for a 
 number of 3^ears. 
 
 (2) The board of education which was appointed July 2 did not 
 comprise a single member of the former board. It is not believed that 
 a single member of the new board had a wide or intimate knowledge 
 of the teaching force or of school conditions. Several of the members, 
 however, had previous to their appointment shown hostility to certain 
 teachers and officers then in the service. 
 
 (3) The superintendent of schools, who was chosen about a month 
 prior to the opening of the schools, was at the time of his appointment 
 a total stranger to the Washington school system and therefore un- 
 acquainted with the great body of teachers upon whose official life he 
 presumed to pass immediate judgment. 
 
 The result of this programme of " reappointing " all of the teachers 
 was that within less than a month 1,400 were " reappointed for one 
 year " at a single meeting of the board of education, leaving about 
 200 who were not " reappointed." These 200 souls who were thus 
 held up by a superintendent whom the most of them had never seen 
 had no means of knowing the cause of the sudden turn of affairs. 
 Many of them returned home immediately from their vacations. 
 They sought interviews with members of the board of education and 
 Avith the new superintendent. Some succeeded, others did not. The 
 superintendent was too " busy " to see them. Finally, by September 
 14, all were " reappointed," except six or seven among the best, the 
 most highly esteemed, and the most worthy teachers of the system, 
 who had given from twelve to forty years of faithful and distin- 
 guished services to the District schools. 
 
 Prior to the meeting of the board of education on September 14, 
 the legal adviser of that body gave as his opinion that the board's 
 course in assuming to " reappoint for one year " was contrary to the 
 law, as the law^ had automatically continued all the teachers in the 
 
4 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF THE DISTKICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 service. Those teachers who had not been " reappointed " were either 
 dismissed or were held to have resigned from the schools, on the 
 theory that because they had declined to signify their acceptance of 
 some fictitious position irregularly tendered them they had separated 
 themselves from the service. Thus on the 14th day of September the 
 following teachers were for the alleged *' good of the service " dis- 
 missed outright without charges and without a hearing : Mrs. Anna J. 
 Cooper, principal of the M Street High School ; Mr. John L. Love, a 
 teacher in the M Street High School, and Mr. James. B. Clark, super- 
 vising principal of the tenth division. Thev were dismissed on Sep- 
 tember 14, 1906, to take effect from and after June 30, 1906. Those 
 who were adjudged to have separated themselves from the service 
 for the reason above stated were Mr. M. M. F. Swartzell, principal- 
 of Eastern High School and Mr. J. R. Keane, supervising principal. 
 In the matter of the dismissal or the failure to continue these 
 teachers in the service of the public schools of the District of Colum- 
 bia, we beg to submit for your consideration the following: 
 
 (1) These teachers were dropped from the service without charges 
 or hearing just three days before the time for the opening of the 
 schools. 
 
 (2) They had spent the most of the summer vacation preparing 
 and planning their Avork for the school 3^ear and in performing such 
 duties as were assigned them from time to time. 
 
 (3) They were dropped from the service contrary to section 4 and 
 section 10 of public act Xo. 254. In at least two cases we are ready 
 to show that this violation of the Federal statute was prompted by 
 malice and was premeditated. 
 
 (4) They were dropped contrar}^ to the expressed wish of the 
 great body of citizens and patrons of the schools. 
 
 SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION INCOMPETENT. 
 
 Aside from the wrong and injustice done to these illegally deposed 
 teachers there are certain matters of grave import, involving irregu- 
 lar and illegal acts and political methods of the present school 
 administration, to which we beg further to call A^our attention. The 
 new administration has done many things in its short existence to 
 justify the charge of incompetence and to create a lack of public 
 confidence. It has thrown, by its bungling acts, the school system 
 into an unprecedented state of chaos. It has sought to deceive the 
 public by flagrant tamperings with the records of the meetings of 
 the board of education and of the appointments of teachers. In its 
 attempt to evade or override the law which was enacted in the inter- 
 est of the teachers it has caused the teachers to lose thousands of dol- 
 lars which Congress out of its generosity had granted them. 
 
 Its appointments of teachers have been characterized by gross 
 favoritism, nepotism, and political intrigue. Its departure from the 
 usual custom of appointing normal graduates to teacherships in one 
 branch of the system, besides working great injustice, has destroyed 
 the merit system and has tended to place a premium on favoritism, 
 sycophancy, and graft. It has allied itself with factionalism, thus 
 affecting seriously the morale of the teaching body. 
 
PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF THE DISTKICT OF COLUMBIA. 5 
 VIOLATIONS OF THE LAW. 
 
 The superintendent of schools and the board of education have 
 violated public act No. 254 in the following particulars : 
 
 (1) Section 2, which provides that meetings of the board of educa- 
 tion shall be open to the public. 
 
 (2) Section 3, as to the supervision of the assistant superintend- 
 ents. 
 
 (3) Section 6 : (a) As to the recommendation required in the mat- 
 ter of promoting teachers; (h) as to the method of promoting teach- 
 ers; (c) as to the examination requirement before the appointment of 
 teachers; (d) as to the constitution of the boards of examiners; (e) 
 as to the status of teachers in the service on June 20, 1906. 
 
 (4) Section 10, which prescribes the manner of the trial or investi- 
 gation of teachers. 
 
 An accurate record of the acts of the board of education and of the 
 acts and recommendations of the superintendent of schools, the rec- 
 ords in the office of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia or 
 the Comptroller of the Treasury, as well as the competent and trust- 
 worthy testimony of teachers and citizens, will establish the truth of 
 the foregoing. 
 
 These violations of the law were committed when the board of edu- 
 cation was not constituted as the law requires. Section 2 of the act 
 (Public — No. 254) provides : 
 
 That the control of the public schools of the District of Columbia is hereby 
 vested in a board of education to consist of nine members, all of whom shall 
 have been for five years immediately preceding their appointment bona fide 
 residents of the District of Columbia, and three of whom shall be women. 
 
 All of the unwise, unjust, and illegal acts of the board of education 
 of which we complain were committed when the board of education 
 consisted of only eight members, but two of whom were women, the 
 ninth member to qualify, who was the third woman, not being ap- 
 pointed until October 11, 1906. 
 
 NOT THE FAULT OF THE LAW. 
 
 The foregoing grievances are set forth by your petitioners in the 
 belief that your august body did not mean to stultify itself when it 
 passed the recent law in the interest of the teachers of Washington, 
 who at the time of its passage had served long and efficiently and 
 faithfully the public schools of the District, and also in the belief 
 that you intended thereby to raise the public school system of the 
 District to a plane of efficiency and character commensurate with the 
 needs and dignity of the capital city of the nation. We believe that 
 perfect obedience to both the letter and the spirit of the act "would 
 have accomplished your purpose and thereby avoided the confusion, 
 the unrest, and the feeling of outrage upon the school system which 
 pervades both the teaching body and the public. 
 
 In the spirit which moved the teachers of the District of Colum- 
 bia to petition you for relief on a former occasion, we, as citizens 
 and parents, lay before you these facts, " in the hope and faith 
 that your wisdom jvill see fit to make this city, bequeathed to your 
 
6 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 immediate care by the wisdom of the ^reat statesmen of the past, an 
 example of right dealing in that most important function of govern- 
 ment, the education of the children, who are the nation's chief 
 responsibility and the nation's chief hope." 
 
 KeV. S. L. CORROTHERS, 
 
 President, 
 Chas. E. Lane, 
 
 Secretary^ Ji.09 A street NE, 
 Rev. E. H. Hunter, 
 
 Treasurer, 
 James L. Neill, 
 
 Attorney at Law. 
 Ferdinand D. Lee, 
 
 llOIi- Tenth street. 
 Rev. T. J. Brown, 
 
 ll^ll Corcoran street. 
 W. L. Steward, 
 
 mis Seventeenth street N^Y . 
 Jas. L. Jasper, 
 
 1708 Seventeenth street NW . 
 Geo. S. Mabry, 
 
 mm T street N^Y . 
 Wilson Wood, 
 
 Spruce street NW. 
 G. D. WiLLMMs, M. D., 
 
 1821 Fifteenth street NW. 
 Geo. W. Jackson, 
 1126 Twenty-second street NW. 
 G. H. Richardson, M. D., 
 
 309 Eleventh street NE, 
 Thos. a. Johnson, 
 
 3229 Sherman avenue NW, 
 A. P. Albert, 
 
 1951 Third street NW, 
 Rev. D. E. Wiseman, 
 Pastor Church of Our Redeemer^ Lutheran. 
 Rev. W. D. Jarvis, 
 J Baptist, 
 
 O 
 
 ?BIVIy'07 
 
'>'■