Jasper County Democrat, Volume 18, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 July 1915 — COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION VOTE TO RETAIN SUPT. LAMSON [ARTICLE]

COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION VOTE TO RETAIN SUPT. LAMSON

Charges of the Rensselaer Republican Against Mr. Lamson Are Shown to Have Very Little if any Foundation.

At the meeting of the County Board of Education Monday afternoon to hear any evidence that the Rensselaer Republican might have to support the charges it had made against County Supt. Lamson, the “evidence” produced was of a very flimsy character and was exploded in most every instance by the facts in the case when they were brought to light. The hearing was public, and the county superintendent’s room was filled to suffocation with spectators who listened carefully to the proceedings. Mr. Healey, of the Republican, conducted his own presentation of the case, enthusiastically assisted by 'former county superintendent, L. H. Hamilton, who was twice defeated by Mr. Lamson for the office from which they were both seeking to have Lamson removed. B. D. Comer, former trustee of Union tp., was also quite prominent in the hearing.

strongly anti-Lamson, and this admission had its effecet with the audience. And so it Went on from one case to another and it was shown in some of the instances complained of in the Republican that Mr. Lamson did ndt examine the manuscripts himself in which the failures were made; that he had been assisted by former superintendent of the Rensselaer schools, I. N. Warren, and by the present superintendent. Mr. Dean, and also by Miss Ethel Perkins, a high school teacher and later deputy clerk in her fath-

Mr. Healey stated that he had first started his fight against Mi. Lamson because of a letter written by Mrs. Frank Schroer of Union tp., after which others had urged him on. Both he and Mr. Hamilton stated that they had long known of the strong opposition there was to Mr. Lamson, but they had said nothing about it until the present. Trustee Porter of Carpenter tp., got up and said he would like to know why it was that Mr. Healey and Mr. Hamilton, knowing the incompetency of Mr. Lamson so long and the opposition to his continuing in office, had waited until now to bring these charges; why had they nor taken it up with the old board of education instead of bringing it before the present board, who were all comparatively new in office and knew very little about any feeling or trouble that might exist? Among the people who were examined by Mr. Healey as to Mr. Lamson’s general unfitness for the office, were former Superintendent Hamilton, B. D. Comer, Mrs. John I. Gwin, J. W. Smith of Union tp., whose son, so the Republican had stated, and was very tearfully repeated by Mr. Comer, as having been driven to his grave because of County Supt. Lamson’s being unable to "pass” him, 0. E. Noland, a former teacher of Lee, John Bill, whose daughter had been employed in Mr. Lamson’s office, and perhaps a few others of minor mention. Mr. Noland made quite a little talk and stated that he had no personal feeling against Mr. Lamson, but he thought the schools of Jasper county were far behind those of White county under Mr. Lamson’s leadership. It developed on cross examination by Mr. Lamson that Mr. Noland had written a couple of letters after he had himself failed in examination before Mr. Lamson in one of which he characterized his failure as a rotten deal by Lamson, and when his papers were sent to the state superintendent, that he wrote Mr. Tillman, a former teacher in the Rensselaer high school, and asked him to use his influence with the editor of the Educators’ Journal and have said editor use his influence with the state superintendent to have his examination go through. In other words, to use personal influence to secure for him a license to which he was not entitled by the grading' of his manuscript. Mr. Noland admitted he had written such letters when they were shown him, Mr. Lamson having them on file. He also admitted that he was given a lower grading by the state superintendent than he had received in his failure before Mr. Lamson. In the case of Jesse Smith, whom it was charged had been sent to his grave because of failure to be granted a license by Mr. Lamson, the young man’s father stated that he did not think that the failure to pass the examination had anything to do with the boy’s death, that he had been in poor health for a year or two prior and it was as well that he did not get a school, that he did not seem to mind the failure very much himself. Mr. Smith was quite

er’s office in the court house. Mr. Lamson at the beginning of the investigation asked for the fullest inquiry and seemed willing and anxious to give any aid that he could in the matter. He introduced no evidence in defense except to show the facts in a number of the cases complained of. He stated that he had always tried to give our home teachers' the preference and to assist the new teachers in passing the examinations whenever he could; that he regretted as much as anybody the fact that it was necessary to import teachers from other counties, but said in refutation of the statements that had been made, that Newton county had few hr no imported teachers, that Supt. Schanlaub had informed him only a few days ago that fully 50 per cent of the taechers of Newton counfy last year were imported teachers; that he (Lamson) had always tried to get teachers through the normals when possible and only went to the teachers’ agencies as a last resort. That he had never been paid by any of the teachers or received from any of the agencies one penny of the commission which teachers who secure positions through such agencies are required, to pay to the agency. In one case at least in which Mr. Comer laid considerable stress on Mr. Lamson having “failed” the applicant, Mr. Hamilton stated tihat in justice to Mr. Lamson he must admit that Lamson was justified in turning the applicant down.; that the last couple of years under his regime lie had realized that the teacher was losing out and that he himself had strained a point or two to “pass” him. Ex-trustee Folger of Barkley tp., made a few remarks in defense of Mr. Lamson and said that he did not believe in lowering the standards required for teaching, which would be

the effect were applicants to be “passed” w’ho came nowhere near filling the requirements of the state board. \ The hearing was sort of a free-for-all discussion, and near its close, after Mr. Healey had seen that there was but little to his ‘‘evidence’’ and had said that he did not care to prolong the hearing further, Joe Long, the mail clerk, being granted permission, got up and made a splendid talk in which he said that he covid not understand the activity of Mr. Healey and Mr. Hamilton in seeking to oust Mr. Lamson from office; that he did not know whether their motive was mercinary or political, but was satisfied that it was one or the other. Mr. Long is an old school taecher himself, and said that while he did not wish to criticise our high schools, that he had a son to graduate this year while Mr. Healey and Mr. Hamilton each had a son graduate last year, and he did not believe that either of the three could make 40 per cent in the examination required, and that this would apply to 90 per cent of the graduates turned out of our high school. He said that the pupil after passing the grades to the high school was given a smattering of this and a smattering of that, and at the end of four years had forgotten practically everything he had learned in the grades. He was then expected to attend a normal for twelve weeks and be brightened up enough to secure a license. Not one in ten could do this, and the county superinetndent should not be blamed for the fact. He said that he regretted very much the attack that had been made by the Republican on Mr. Lamson and felt that the schools of Jasper county could not recover from the injury done by the Republican in several years. It was about 6:30 o’clock at the close of Mr. Long’s remarks and the spectators left the room. The board took a vote on the proposition of asking Mr. Lamson to resign, as requested by the Republican, and decidednot to do so.