Glass_LA2ail_ BookJSj^JLBX. X "Histr'-ot a|. CoUvT\b>a . "Bodvd ol^^dlw-caV'on, RESULTS of an Investigation, author- ized by the Board of Education, into the Educational and Administrative Efficiency of Roscoe Conkling Bruce, Assistant Superintendent (1 907-1 91 9) of "X the Colored Schools of the District of Columbia. c'-^'q-j 9^ «v The Majority Report of the Special Committee on the Bruce case which follows is issued with the hearty approval of the Board of Education of the District of Columbia. We believe that the care shown by the Special Committee and the soundness of its conclusions will be apparent to every reasonable citizen of Washington. After mature deliberation we find ourselves in no doubt concerning the upright character of the Assistant Superintendent of Colored Schools. Respecting his educational and administrative fitness — for the position he has held for twelve years — we. are reassured, and do hereby announce our determination to do all that is possible to give scope to his plans as director of the colored schools, and to protect his good name. October 22, 1919. John Van Schaick, Jr., President of the Board of Education. 0. Of ii>. JAN If 1920 MAJORITY REPORT. Washington, D. C, October 8, 1919. To the Board of Education of the District of Columbia, Ladies and Gentlemen : 1. At your meeting held on July 30, 1919, 'the following resolutions were formulated and duly passed : Resolved: That a committee of the Board of Education — three in num- ber — be named by the President of the Board of Education to take promptly such steps as they may deem necessary to investigate the question of the administrative and educational efficiency of Roscoe C. Bruce, Assistant Superintendent of public schools of the District. Resolved: That the aforesaid committee of three be authorized to make a careful report to the Board on its linding-s, with such recommendations as they see fit to make. The committee as named at the meeting consisted of H. Bar- rett Learned, Chairman, Fountain Peyton, and Mrs. Coralie F. Cook. 2. In stating to you the mode of reaching our conclusions and the conclusions themselves, and in offering a single recom- mendation (in paragraph 25 following) , we do so with full recog- nition of the responsibility resting upon the Board either in ac- cepting our conclusions and recommendation as they stand, or in making such alterations or modifications as the Board may consider to be wise. I 3. Letters requesting their appearance before your special committee on definite days were sent to forty-eight men and women, most of whom were known to have or to have had more or less intimate relations to the school organization of the Dis- trict. No hard and fast lines, however, were drawn : the com- mittee, acting deliberately, sought for persons who, it had rea- son to believe, could be counted on for specific knowledge con- cerning a variety of matters pertaining to educational and ad- ministrative organization, and who were likely to have intelli- 3 gent impressions, whether favorable or unfavorable, as to the character and v^ork over the past thirteen years of Roscoe C. Bruce. Inasmuch as the Parents' League appeared to be inter- ested in the vv^elfare of the public schools, it was easily decided to ask the president of the League to name five representative members — only four of whom, as it happened, appeared before the special committee. Including Mr. Bruce, thirty-four (34) out of forty-eight persons came before the committee voluntarily and gave testimony. Of the additional fourteen asked to come, four declined; five or six others were so far away that they in- formed the committee that they could not appear without under- going great inconvenience; the remainder sent no responses. The entire committee took part in the questioning of thirty-three witnesses. Mr. Fountain Peyton, opposed to inviting the As- sistant Superintendent to come before the committee for the purpose of answering questions relating to facts diflScult, if not impossible, otherwise to obtain, withdrew at the last — on August 13 — when it w^s decided as in the interests of truth to summon Mr. Bruce. 4. Your special committee held nine sessions, every session lasting on an average about two hours. Sessions began on Mon- day afternoon, August 4; others followed on August 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, and 14. The testimony obtained and taken down stenographically for record amounted to about 739 pages. About 40 pages of additional material in the shape of correspondence or reports that might have a bearing upon your judgment as to the relative weight of the testimony, were inserted as an ap- pendix. 5. While a decided majority of the witnesses showed no in- clination to criticize adversely the school administration or the Assistant Superintendent, you should observe that the commit- tee gave rather more time and space in the record to those in- clined for any reason to criticize or find fault with Mr. Bruce. Moreover, it should be stated once and for all that the committee lost no opportunity to follow up remarks from any of the wit- nesses which reflected upon the character of the man at the head of the colored schools. Educational and administrative work, to be effective and sound in any school organization, must be predi- cated on the character of the director of such work. 4 II 6. In the light of the testimony, your committee discovers no ground for statements emanating from a variety of sources / which would implicate the Assistant Superintendent as guilty of ! serious breaches of morality. We find no sound reasons for be- I lieving that he gambles, plays the races, or is a drinking man. _ 7. The testimony concerning the so-called Relay accident, which occurred on the night of April 21-22, 1915, is such that no careful scrutiny of the main facts of that unlucky ride nepd leave the circumstances any longer in the nature of suspicious. Simply stated, a public official at a late hour of the night, or very early in the morning, carrying friends, who had helped him to celebrate a birthday, from Washington to Baltimore, met with an automobile accident and was seriously hurt. Gossip arose; those hostile to the man did not hesitate to malign him ; and ap- parently he made no public statement in his own defense. The fact that he did not do so was probably due to the slow and pro- longed process of recovery, and dependence upon the judgment — mistaken, we think — of friends. Although our testimony con- cerning the accident is belated, it is sufficient henceforth to free him from criticism on this score. \ 8. Charges of untruthfulness and an inclination to misstate- ment and prevarication which are made from time to time in the course of the testimony — to some extent by those otherwise favorable to the Assistant Superintendent — involve as a rule petty dissatisfaction and disagreement with his conclusions. The law has placed him in a position where final decision must rest occasionally with higher authorities — he cannot himself be decisive. Always to know what to do for an applicant for a position is not an easy matter. Mr. Bruce has not always been alert or quite open, we think, in stating his inability to decide an issue. Mistakes have been made on his part; and now and again some degree of injustice through his failure to make simple direct statements may have been done. He would strengthen himself in the eyes of his subordinates, we think, if naturally he could be a little less diplomatic in speech. The balance of evidence, however, is clearly in his favor as a man of right and fair intentions. 9. While we are not specially concerned with past history, it seems fair to recall at this point the fact that former Superin- tendent William M. Davidson came to Washington duly urged at the outset to make a study of Mr. Bruce's fitness for the posi- tion. After examining the matter over a series of months, Dr. Davidson gave the Assistant Superintendent a good rating, and with the assistance of the Board of Education cleared up several troublesome spots. The rumor that still seems to have life — to the effect that Dr. Davidson once asked for Mr. Bruce's resig- nation — may be set down on the authority of Dr. Davidson him- self as a "rank fabrication." So far as we are aware, no super- intendent of schools has ever had occasion, during the twelve years of Mr. Bruce's incumbency of his position, to make any such request. 10. The foregoing paragraphs (6, 7, 8, and 9) are concerned with Mr. Bruce's character as a man. Such testimony from a wide range of witnesses as could be obtained substantiates our conclusion that Mr. Bruce is a^man of good character/ We turn at this point to the results of our investigation into his educa- tion and the problem of his educational efficiency. Ill 11. Trained for two years (1896-1898) at Phillips' Academy at Exeter, New Hampshire, a fitting school then under the di- rection of the late Harlan P. Amen, Bruce was one of the editors of "The Exonian." For the four following years (1898-1902), he was at Harvard University. There he was rated as a stu- dent fitted on graduation to become a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, composed only of a limited number of the more distinguished scholars. He received his A. B. degree in 1902, hnagna cum laude. Teachers and classmates in both institu- tions held him in high esteem. Not a few letters in our posses- sion or scanned by the committee reveal the opinion up to the current year that R. C. Bruce was and is a man of ability. Among these letters note may be made of those from ex-Presi- dent Charles W. Eliot, Professors Paul Hanus, George Pierce Baker, Frank W. Taussig, and Thomas Nixon Carver — no one of whom is likely to speak loosely when vouchsafing opinions. All the men just named, excepting President Eliot, knew Bruce in the classroom. 6 12. Interested chiefly in the hunianities, Bruce studied at Har- vard economics, philosophy (including ethics and psychology), French, German, English, history, and during his final year educational theory, practice, and the history of education. He gave no attention to mathematics, to science, or to the classics. Like many another Harvard graduate brought up during the period when the elective system was in full swing, he was per- mitted to choose the larger portion of his studies in accordance with personal taste or whim. In the light of maturer reflection the early neglect of science — of such subjects as chemistry, physics, biology, and geology — he has had reason to regret. During his ,third year at college he decided to turn his attention to education as a profession^. This decision was made partly through the counsel and influence of the late Booker T. Washing- ton. Before graduation Bruce had visited Hampton Inst.itute, schools for colored children at Atlanta, and Tuskegee. LAbout the time of graduating from Harvard he was off'ered the position of organizer and director of the academic department at Tus- kegee, where he came directly under Mr. Washington's guidance^ [ 13. Bruce spent a period of four years (1902-1906) at Tus- kegee. There he directed a department, to some extent teaching various subjects in the classroom during day, night, and summer sessions. He lectured frequently, organized the work, and inci- dentally won the confidence and regard of Mr. Washington, who Was disposed to promote his interests either at Tuskegee or elseM^here. In June, , 1903, Jie was married- 14. These years at Tuskegee gave Bruce his, first experience in studying the social, industrial, and educational problems of his race. It is true that he had had no advanced training in educa- tion at college — he holds no Ph.D. degree, the customary mark of a specialized writer or scholar. He has had no training in a normal school. What he appears to have Sone was to accept a variety of experiences in educational work at Tuskegee in ac- cordance with the circumstances of his position, gaining from such experiences what he could gain, and having the peculiar advantage near his start of coming into close relation and friendly contact with one of the most conspicuous and able lead- ers of his people. Inevitably during these years he got away from the standards of traditional classical modes of educational thought and practices — his mind was aroused along lines of 7 industrial and vocational training. Could he have had, it may be asked, a better basis at that time in his career for later educa- tional and administrative work? 15. When he came somewhat unexpectedly to Washington in the autumn of 1906 to accept a supervising principalship, he was in his twenty-eighth year. He came reluctantly — to some extent in order to obtain sundry advantages here for his family. Ap- pointed in 1907 by Superintendent W. E. Chancellor as Assistant Superintendent of the colored schools, he has helped in the direct- ing of education in Washington for twelve years. What, it may be asked, has been characteristic of his educational policy? 16. The answer to this question should be based upon an ex- amination, such as we have made, of Mr. Bruce's annual state- ments already in print as well as upon such information or im- pressions as the testimony yields. The key-note to that policy is to be found in the effort tto emphasize industrial and business training. In this connection Mr. Bruce has sought to convert the Armstrong Manual Training School into a technical high school. He has been insistent in his demand that at least one industrial course should be required of every pupil in the Dunbar High School. Two vocational schools, for boys and girls re- spectively, were established on the basis of his recommendation with the approval of the Superintendent of Schools and the Board of Education. When, by reason of the demand for labor which the war situation brought about, the numbers of trade pupils were seriously reduced, the two vocational schools w^ere re-adjusted so as to permit the incorporation of pre- vocational classes. Thus the way was opened to boys and girls at an earlier age to gain the benefits of industrial training, whatever work in later years they might have to do. 17. Results in edflcational policies reveal themselves slowly. It was not an easy task for the Assistant Superintendent to ob- tain promptly either equipment or teachers adequately trained to handle the limited equipment. The noticeable reduction in the number of pupils in vocational work during the last five years is not peculiar to Washington — the fact has been observed else- where. Teachers trained in the older methods are not quick or ready to adopt recent methods. And parents, unable to detect easily or promptly the advantages which they had hoped to see, 8 are prone to condemn the schooLs and the authorities behind them. Nevertheless we believe that Mr. Bruce has worked sys- tematically along lines of industrial training and education that are in accord with the more progressive ideals of the day. His plan has aided many a boy and girl to become useful members of society. 18. It would be absurd to maintain that Mr. Bruce has origin- ated the vacation, the night, or the summer schools, or indeed any other of the recently approved projects connected with pub- lic education. All that a reasonable public should expect is that its educational directors should keep in close touch with im- provements which have been tested. There need be no doubt that Mr. Bruce has helped to awaken interest in the night schools ; he has encouraged on the part of teachers work in various summer schools ; he has strengthened interest in vaca- tion schools for boys and girls; he has been watchful over the developing significance of the so-called Junior High School ideal. All along, however, he has been dependent for even partial ac- complishments in these varying directions upon the understand- ing and sympathetic aid of superintendents and boards of edu- cation. 19. That Mr. Bruce has sought for well-trained teachers out- side the immediate scope of Washington's training schools, is, in the judgment of your committee, altogether to his credit. Necessarily this policy reduces somewhat the opportunities of those trained here to obtain places in these schools. The plan opens the way for differences of opinion in individual cases; and it raises numerous questions, not easy by any means to de- cide, regarding the whole policy of appointments and examina- tions for appointments. We shall content ourselves by suggest- ing that it merits the constant watchfulness of the Board of Education with a view to progress in the direction of just and fair provisions for as many locally trained and competent teach- ers as the system can take care of. 20. In concluding our consideration of this second phase of the investigation (paragraphs 11-19, inclusive), all the evidence available indicates that Mr. Bruce is a very well educated man, sufficiently equipped to have organized and sustained for the colored schools a progressive educational policy during twelve years. 9 IV 21. Your committee has been at some pains to study the entire period of Mr. Bruce's administration of the District Schools. It should be remembered in this connection that whatever rec- ommendations he has made, all such recommendations have been subject to the approval at one time or another of four Superin- tendents in close cooperation with Boards of Education whose personnel has changed as a rule to some extent once a year. Whatever recommendations and reflections he has made, in- volving changes or alterations of policy, and usually directly concerning the teaching force — we have in mind such subjects as the normal school, appointments, dismissals, transfers, im- provements in scholarship among teachers, alterations in sal- aries, the Junior High School opportunity, pre-vocational and vo- cational schools, etc. — are usually contingent upon the judg- ment of his superiors. This aspect of the situation is called at the outset to your attention with no intention on our part of reflecting upon any special Superintendent or upon any Board. 22. If during the last five years — since the great war began — there appears to have been more criticism of Mr. Bruce than there was previous to that time, the fact may be partly accounted for by reason of the comparatively slow improvement in profes- sional salaries — the all but stationary income of teachers during an epoch of rapid increase in the cost of living. But restlessness among teachers in the white schools has been rather more notice- able, we think, than among those in the colored schools. 23. A more notable factor underlying the colored school situa- tion is the narrow range in which ambitious teachers are placed. A comparatively wide range of opportunity lies open to the white teacher — as a rule he or she may abandon teaching and still be reasonably sure of obtaining congenial and lucrative employ- ment. Here in Washington the highest ambition of many a col- ored boy and girl — the acme of hope — is a position in the schools. The profession sets a stamp upon its followers, offers some de- gree of social prestige and of outlook. Doubtless there are other openings. Boys may become mechanics, clerks, or farmers; girls may become milliners or seamstresses; comparatively few, although an increasing number, are likely to find openings as stenographers. Some will obtain college degrees, return here 10 and enter the professions, or go elsewhere. The larger ma- jority will drop into various groups of laborers. But what we wish to emphasize is this: competition among those desiring to teach in the colored schools of the District is and has been for years very intense. Sound as the spirit of competition may be, it affords a basis for much criticism if, by force of circumstances and for wise reasons, it is checked, hampered, or re-directed. No predecessor of Mr. Bruce was free from criticism, however undeserved. Much of the criticism levelled at Mr. Bruce has impressed your committee as readily to be accounted for along the line of such general factors as have been set forth. Some of it is essentially petty. Now and then Mr. Bruce may have over- looked the strict significance and importance of a principle as the proper guide to action when personal fancies were more or less impelling. But on the whole the evidence reveals that the period of twelve years has been marked by progress in adminis- trative effectiveness. 24. We shall not ignore a charge against the Assistant Super- intendent that is somewhat recurrent in the record. Sometimes made by witnesses inclined otherwise to be friendly to him, it usually occurred in connection with questions directed toward the determination of administrative fitness. It was expressed by those who appeared to have no motive to attack his char- acter. It was said that he lacked force. No doubt diplomacy under difficult circumstances of administrative direction has its rightful place. But at times direct, frank, and decisive language and action are the only justifiable mode of procedure. Instances occur in the record where it could be shown, we think, that Mr. Bruce, anxious to safeguard feelings, has been overcautious, slow, and quite too vague in making decisive statements. This fault on his part tended occasionally to arouse criticism and some degree of antagonism. That it became sufficiently pronounced to raise comm.ent has amounted to a misfortune to him, to the schools, and to the public whom he was appointed to serve. While in your committee's judgment the criticism has a partial basis in his character — his eagerness to please everybody — it should not prevent the Board from trying to remedy it. We believe that the Board can do so, for regarding his fine general ability we have no doubt. 11 25. The Assistant Superintendent has tried, we think, to live up to the spirit as well as to the letter of the Organic Act of 1906. Therein it is expressly provided that he shall have "sole charge of all teachers, classes, and schools in which colored chil- dren are taught" (sec. 3) . He is, however, subject — as we think that he should be — to the Superintendent of the entire system who, under the law, has final direction of educational policy, can recommend dismissal, and holds the qualified veto power. The phrase **sole charge" implies large responsibility. It is to some extent customary, we are informed, for vetoes of Mr. Bruce's recommendations to go unrecorded. We should like to suggest the advisability to the Board of having all vetoes duly placed on record in order hereafter to have brief but explicit evidence of such matters. Our single recommendation, made for the pur- pose of aiding toward better co-ordination of the work of the system, is to have the Assistant Superintendent of the colored schools asked regularly into Board sessions. Several of our most discerning witnesses approved of the plan. It would affoi^d Mr. Bruce opportunities of taking part in discussions and of bringing directly to the Board such recommendations as in his eyes seem to be of importance. It would not, we think, weaken the authority of the Superintendent. Had Mr. Bruce been privileged during the past year or so to sit with the Board, we venture to think that solution of problems of special interest to the colored schools and citizens would have been facilitated. V 26. The facts in the Moens case, so far as those facts can be known from existing scattered sources of written and recorded oral evidence — including essential portions of the trial proceed- ings — have been studied by your committee. The chief figure, H. M. Bernelot Moens, an unworthy citizen of Holland, would in all probability have been convicted — as he was on April 1, 1919 — had he never been given permission to enter the schools. This permission, however, was formally granted to him in October, 1916, and again in May, 1917, by Dr. John Van Schaick, Jr., then President of the Board of Education, on the basis of statements as to his standing as a man of character and as a scientist which came directly from the Dutch Minister resident in Washington at the Netherlands Legation. 12 27. At a later time, suspicion having been aroused in the minds of several observant teachers, this foreigner's privilege to enter the schools was limited in scope through Mr. Bruce's ef- forts — the Miner Normal School was closed to him, and he was not to be admitted to any other school to examine children with- out a written order from the Superintendent. No written order, it should be added, was ever asked or thereafter issued. If he entered school buildings, he did so just as any American citizen might enter — possibly attending some social gatherings. He entered no classrooms, so far as we can discover. Up to the time of his arrest, on Friday, October 25, 1918, no parent is known to have made a complaint against this man to the school authorities. 28. For a year or so previous to his arrest, this foreigner had aroused the interest of the Bureau of Investigation in the De- partment of Justice. As it happened, the chairman of your com- mittee, then in the Bureau, had access to the facts of Moens's entire career in the United States and elsewhere. These included such incidents as could be obtained from Mr. Bruce's and the Superintendent's respective offices. At what was deemed the proper time by the Federal authorities, the Board of Education and the Superintendent of Schools were informed of all the facts and features in the evidence which could in any way concern them. 29. There was a third factor in the situation — the Federal District Attorney's office which ultimately brought Moens to trial on March 25, 1919, and prosecuted him. Together over many months Bureau officials, the District Attorney and his assistants, and the Board of Education cooperated with a view to convict this man. At no stage of the effort did any one of these three factors overlook the importance of working to protect the wel- fare of pupils, teachers, and the general public. 30. A single teacher had been guilty of the gravest indiscre- tion in permitting herself to become interested in the alleged scientific work of Moens. Doubtless she aided him in ways to some extent unknown to school authorities. Had these ways been known, it is improbable that they could have been justified. But that there was a group of "Moens teachers" — men or women in the schools knowingly aiding this man in wrong directions — 13 is, in the light of all the evidence, wholly unsubstantiated. No intimation to that effect has ever come from any reliable source. 31. From October, 1918, to the close of the trial on April 1, 1919, the Board of Education was fully aware of the importance of the case to the Federal authorities. Formulating its policy on the basis of careful advice and assured that the welfare of the schools would not be endangered by waiting, the Board decided to retain Charlotte E. Hunter for the time being. She was not suspended, nor was she asked to resign. Your committee finds no grounds for thinking that R. C. Bruce was derelict in his ad- ministrative duties in the matter. Keeping in mind the import- ance of aiding in the conviction of Moens, the Board assumed entire responsibility for its policy under the circumstances as just set forth. 32. Driven to the conviction early in May, 1919, that he should adopt a direct method of protest and effort against persons seek- ing to damage his reputation and character as a public official, the Assistant Superintendent took part in the formulation of the so-called "slush-fund" letter — a design originating from a group of teachers exasperated by violent attacks directed toward ma- ligning them and their superior officer. Some days before its existence was known to the public, this letter was brought to the attention of the Board of Education by Mr. Bruce himself. Promptly summoned into the presence of the Board, the Assist- ant Superintendent was carefully questioned regarding the whole matter and duly reprimanded by the Board for indiscretion. At once he ceased any effort to punish his enemies in what the Board considered a mistaken direction. At a later time, in June following, the Assistant Corporation Counsel gave an opinion, made public through the Board, to the effect that Mr. Bruce had violated no law in acting in the manner stated. 33. Taking advantage of the disturbed state of public feeling that resulted from the Moens trial, a combination known as the Parents' League came into being in March or early April, 1919. Soon after the chief culprit in the case had been dealt with by the court, and the single teacher unfortunately involved in the meshes of the case had left the public schools, this combination set about disposing of the Assistant Superintendent of Colored Schools. It encouraged popular gatherings and aroused these 14 gatherings into some degree of fury against the school authori- ties, in particular against R. C. Bruce, by voicing all sorts of ugly rumors. While justice may have been the object of some portion of the League, the methods adopted to reach that desir- able end could never meet v^^ith the approval of respectable and law-abiding citizens. 34. In May this combination presented to the Board of Educa- tion a petition, asking for the immediate removal of R. C. Bruce. The nature of the petition may be judged from the following analysis : * o. The petition carries just over 2,000 signatures. b. Many signatures liave been written by one and the same hand. c. Instances of three and four names from the same family group could be easily cited. d. Nine-tenths of the signatures are those of women and girls. e. Although the combination purports to be a "Parents' " League, the pe- tition carries many names of unmarried persons. /. A good many colored clergymen have been behind the movement. But such leading men as Bishop I. N. Ross, Rev. Walter H. Brooks, Rev. F. I. A. Bennett, Rev. Francis J. Grimke, Rev. Thomas J. Brown, Rev. Oscar L. Mitchell, Rev. W. J. Howard, and Rev. M. D. Norman have had nothing to do with the Parents' League in this matter. Claiming over and over again that it represented at least 20,000 citizens, and that its petition to the Board carried that number of names, it worked systematically against the school authorities. If any citizens have doubts as to whether the com- bination succeeded in its threats to reduce the numbers of colored children this autumn in the public schools, they may be informed that the September figures for 1919 reveal 16,168 pupils enrolled in the Tenth-Thirteenth Divisions as compared with 14,195 pu- pils just a year ago — a difference of 1,973 in the way of increase. Urged as an expression of public opinion, the petition appears, in the judgment of your committee, to be quite worthless. Fur- thermore, such testimony regarding the Parents' League as your committee has gained, gives clear indication that almost all of the colored citizens of Washington who have children in the public schools have sufficient confidence in the judgment of the Board of Education to accept as conclusive the Board's estimate of the character and the educational and administrative qualifications of R. C. Bruce. 15 35. In the course of its effort to reach sound conclusions based on extensive testimony and prolonged study of that testimony, your committee has kept in mind the fact that the public schools have been established by the people for the benefit of their chil- dren. Whatever the will of the people may be, that will con- cerning the schools should be expressed through the medium of your official voice. The Board of Education must be responsive to the people's wishes, for to the people it is responsible. The Board's authority cannot be delegated, nor can its conclusions be properly questioned except as provided by law. 36. In finding Roscoe C. Bruce fitted by education, training, and experience to serve as Assistant Superintendent of Schools, in approving his character as a man and — with slight qualifica- tions — his past work as director of education and school admin- istration in the colored schools of the District, we submit our conclusions to you without hesitation. We hope that, after con- sideration, you will give them the sanction of your final authority. Respectfully submitted, H. Barrett Learned, Chairman of Special Committee. CoRALiE Franklin Cook. Note: A Minority Report, prepared and read on October 22 by the third member of the Special Committee, Mr. Fountain Peyton, was duly filed with the secretary of the Board of Education. 16 IN THE MATTER OF THE INVESTIGATION 07 THF. EDUCATIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE EFFICIENCY OF MR. ROSCOE C. BRUCE, ASSISTANT SUPERINTEN- DENT IN CHARGE OF THE COLORED SCHOOLS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Board of eealed to the best judgment of the teachers as one that they could rely upon — as one they coiild depend upon to conserve their best interests. Mr. : I take it from those with whom I talked that he lacks that force of character that would appeal to the general community. Mr. Learned: Is he straightforward or indirect? Mr. : Those with whom I have talked and who have had intimate dealings with Mr. Bruce invariably say he is indirect. Mr. : I can say, I think truthfully, that ninety per cent cf the teachers in the public schools, the colored public schools, have not the confidence in their Assistant Superintendent that would guarantee the successful carrying on of the work of such a system as we have. Miss , Teacher (Page 614). Miss : I think there has been dissatisfaction with Mr. Bruce for some time under the surface. Mr. Learned : Is he a truthful man? Miss : I could not say he was from some experiences I have had with him. Mr. Peyton : How is Mr. Bruce regarded among the people and teachers for truth and veracity? 30 I^igg : I do not think hi» record is very good along those? lines from comments I have heard. Mr. Peyton: Have the teachers or have they not confidence in the administration of his office? j^jigg : Many of them have no confidence if I may believe what they have said to me at various times. 31 }(M'