PROBLEM 107

DESIGNATING THE NAME OF A HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING

Problem: The Board of Education in the city of Olmstead, N. K., is having a new high school building erected. The contractor for the general contract work of this building has laid the foundations. The first story is now in the process of erection. The Board felt it desirable to have an official ceremony at the laying of the cornerstone. Speakers were invited to attend, the ceremony was announced through the press, and citizens were urged to be present. At a meeting of the Board of Education, the building was named the McCawley High School in honor of one of the foremost citizens of the community who had also been a member of the Board of Education for a period of years. This action of the Board aroused the opposition of a secret organization, the membership of which was not publicly known.

Shortly after this action of the Board, each member of the Board and the superintendent of schools received a copy of the letter shown below:

Mr. J. C. Jones,

November 10, 1925

Member of the Public School Board of Olmstead, N. K.

DEAR SIR:

The people of Olmstead are paying heavily in taxes for the erection of modern school buildings and for the maintenance and proper conduct of high-class schools, a community coöperative affair, as it were, something that belongs to us all jointly, and by no means a private affair, not even an oligarchy. Our city Board of Aldermen are authorized to entrust the oversight thereof into the hands of a board of education, a kind of a board of directors for the people, and you being a member of said board of education so authorized, we, citizens and taxpayers of the city of Olmstead, not with any

desire to interfere in any way with the management of said schools, preferring to aid and coöperate with you, desire to enter a most emphatic protest against the apparent intent on the board's part to name this, our high school, something other than the "Olmstead High School."

We, as a body of native-born Americans, in hearty accord with our Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of our nation, our laws and our form of government which obtains its only authority from the consent of the governed, regard our officials as trusted public servants, and, while we respect your private opinions and personal wishes, we submit that this is a matter in which the entire citizenship is interested and that at least 90 per cent of same are opposed to the probability of our athletic teams going over the state explaining that they are not from Brown's Junction, or Prescott Center, which would not be necessary should they proudly wear the initials, "O. H. S.," as at present; we know that we are within our rights and respectfully request that you name this building, as it should be named, the "Olmstead High School," or delay your cornerstone-laying until this matter can be amicably arranged.

It may be permissible for a private school, or college, to sell its good name for a fabulous sum, wherein patrons have the right to decide whether or not it shall have their support, but in this case you have no right to dispose of such a valuable asset for money or other reasons; it is not your property nor your privilege to do so, but it is your pleasure, we hope, to merely do the will of those whom you serve, the sovereign citizens and taxpayers of Olmstead, who have given you temporary supervision over their school affairs. We, therefore, as citizens and taxpayers, not subjects, but sovereigns in our own right, heirs of our forefathers who fought, bled, and died that popular government might be our and our children's heritage, do not petition, but demand, that, if this building be named at all, it be named the Olmstead High School, in which demand we expect to emulate their example until it is so named. You, therefore, being a member of the said Olmstead School Board, are a proper person to whom we should make our wishes known, which supplies the reason for this communication being addressed to you. Cordially and respectfully submitted, OLMSTEAD CHAPTER NO. 30.

This letter was received on the morning of the day of the proposed laying of the cornerstone. To conform to the wishes of this minority group, the Board would have been compelled to postpone the ceremonies until the time when the Board

could take further action with reference to this communication.

The rumor spread about the community that an attempt would be made, on the part of the secret organization, to prevent the ceremony in case their communicated wishes were not followed.

Assignment

1. If you were superintendent of schools and were asked by the Board of Education to make a recommendation regarding their action, what proposal would you make upon the receipt of such a letter?

2. What is the policy which should be pursued in the naming of public school buildings?

3. Is it clear that the Board of Education has curtailed any of the rights of citizens in their action as seems to be indicated by the writer of this letter?

PROBLEM 108

PRESENTING A HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAM TO THE CITIZENS

Problem: The Board of Education of Washington, N. K., in conference with the superintendent of schools, had decided to present to the voters a proposition for the erection of a new high school building. The date for the bond election was set by the Board of Education. An eight-page folder was prepared in which the proposition was laid before the voters. This pamphlet contained floor plans for the new structure which had already been prepared by the architect engaged by the Board of Education.

The pamphlet, as issued to the citizens, contained the proposed school program, an elevation of the new building, floor plans showing the rooms on each floor level, and a notice of the qualifications required by voters. The section in the pamphlet dealing with the proposed program read as follows:

TO THE CITIZENS OF WASHINGTON, N. K.:

September 22, 1924

The members of your School Board realize that their duty is to serve the community to the best of their ability, in an honest and efficient manner, and that any good work accomplished is through the efforts and assistance not only of the voters, but also through the support of the Parent-Teacher Associations, the community at large, the faithful teachers, the children of the grade schools, and young women and men of the high school.

For several years in the past, our teachers and pupils have been greatly inconvenienced on account of the lack of school accommodations sufficient to carry on the work as required by the State Department of Education. The kindergarten has been discontinued because of lack of room. The Jefferson School building is insanitary and unsafe. It is one of the worst fire traps in the state.