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Show Cliristenseii Merely Obeyed Command of Power Higher Up, She Declares. H TEACHERS ARE GRIEVED H AT HER DISMISSAL Her Work in Salt Lake Schools Praised by .Noted Educators From Abroad. V "You may be assured that I no not hold any III feeling toward Superintendent H Chrisicnsen for his part in my being dls- S misred from tr.o services of the city PHj schools ns -supervisor of kindergartens PPJ and prlnmry smiles." :'nld MJ. s Rosalie PPJ Pnllcck to a Tribune report vv last night. BH "lie only curried out mandatory Instruo- PPJ! funis from a power much liishcr than PPJI hlmsiir. nml which he utterly was un- PPJI ahle to contradict. 1 am sure at thin PPJI minute that he foels wnr.e over my sum- JS mnry dismissal than I. and I am Just as PPJ sure thai he did not want to play the 9S arl he did. Ho. like others to whom PPJj certain duties- are nrsljjned. obeys wlth- PPJi o;U asking questions:. "The prlnc'pals of I he Salt Lake PPJ schools and the teachers are afraid to open their mouths. This has become fl more anpnrent In the last few years. PH When T came here ten yenrs ago the IS principals wete fighters for what they believed to he the best methods for the PHfl suc"; tt the schools. Now they do not PPJI njro theli voices because ihcy aro afraid PPJl lo .iay a word, .fust as Mr. Chrlstensen PPJl I-: nfrald to cllsobev orders from above. PPJI t;,o strictly Mormon vote of the board PPJI Out resulted In my dismissal is proof of PPJI what t fa v." PPJj "But what of the alleged friction be- PPJI tween yon and the icnchers under your PPJ suporvlslrn I list L was dlseusred so freely PPJ at the meeting of the school board the PPJ other r.K'ht?" was asked. No Friction. She Declares. H "All tl'at talk of friction is a his; Joke. PPJ a farce and is one of the really amusing PPJj side lights on the board meeting. Let PPJj ine tell you about this friction. Tt is PPJj simply one of I lie trumped up excuses for PPJI the consolation of the superintendent. PPJI Whv, onlv today I was appro-iehcd by a PPJI pood elt:r.en of Halt Lake whoso dnugh- PPJ lev Is o::e of the teacher I am charged PPJ vilh so severely criticising as to cause. PPJ the so-called frleilon. In the presence or PPJ his daughter this man said he considered PPJ the actions of the board as- a poor piece PPJ of business for the good of the schools. PPJ Ilia daughter with teal's In her eyes told PPJ mo that she had received help from me PPJ that had enabled her to hold her place. PPJ She was nnvthlng but glad to hear of PBl the refusal of the board to reappoint me. PPJI Den'l you think she would consider :t PPJj as good as a vstcatlon to know that she PBfl would he under a new supervisor if there PBS liad been nil this friction? PPJ "Let me tell you of another similar PPJ case. I do not want to tell these things BBS because they sound too personal and I J certainly do not wsint to apiear conceit- J el. but In fairness to myself I feel that J the public should know these tacts a j well as in fairness to the teachers who J have worked under me. Another teacher, J n young glil who owes her place lo mo J the one above all others (hat I have PBfl been compcileil to criticise and correct J called mc over the telephone and with J i-ohbir.g told inn that she wanted to know J where I Intended to locale that she might J seek a position there. She- came into the J city schools in the primary departments. J Jater sheVvas transferred to the gram- rrnir grades and was sent hack to my J department, having failed to qualify for J work in the grammar department. Teachers Deride Charges. BBS "1 undertook to so direct her work as BBBJI to make her a success. At this time 1 she is due os" the highly proficient pri- 1 n:ary teachers in the primary grades, j Docs that sound like friction? Her work is satisfactoiy eminently to Mr. Christen-son. Christen-son. as It is lo the. patrons of her school. 1 f could mulllply thcuc cases. In a quiet way the nearly three hundred teachers In my department -are laughing at the ab-tiuiHty ab-tiuiHty of these charges. But they dare not openly e.vpiess tliemselvcs and I ao not. blame them. j "As to my work as supervisor being ; unsatisfactory and not up lo the stand- j ard of prollciency that marked the first j few years of my service, that equally i is- as untcnabh- as the other charge. If I was so Incompetent why did Superln-tendon: Superln-tendon: Chrlstenseu delegate me to list books for study for next year? "Why did lie allow' my work' to pass without crlli-cism crlli-cism ;i 1 1 the past year? And why were there so few necessary consultations be-tween be-tween mo and the superintendent? In my own way I have tried to help the schools of Sajl Lake to. a higher plane. T am not afraid to let my work stand on its own merits with the best educators of the country as judges. "All this talk of friction and incom- H petency woutd never have come up if the plans of the 'powers that be had not iniscurried. Members of the school board, j the superintendent and the real source of the demand for. my dismissal did not H expect the mailer to turn out. the way It has. The offer of a. year's leave of absence with half pay was the bait I didn't take. Frustrated the Plot. "I km w Lhe trick they expected lo turn ami 1 simply compelled Lhem lo show their hand and they could not back down. A year is? a long time and one year easily could have been extended to several, giving ample time to work out the plans the 'higher authority' determined to work "When .1 didn't take the proffer what Hl cu'd they do ether than what they have H done? j "It was up to Btipcrintciideut Christcn- Hl acn then to follow out his instructions to H get rid of me and the board was com- Hl polled to .act as it did the vote- explnius H thevholo, situation. The Mormon mem- bci-H of the board put. the finishing touches to the phins. What an act of mag- Hl rianlniity on the part' of a Mormon school to give me a' ycar'& leave of absence. Ily heal h required It, they thought. How my friends would look with favor on the school board In granting mc that B year's vacation. To me It was too clear H to need any extraordinary mind to grasp. H It made no difference to me. however, and I did not propose to allow my friends 1o be deceived. Now the whole scheme B is laid bare. I am not disgruntled over l "Tjicre have been a number of changes Hl j'i a short time . along these lines. I l have seen It coming. Take the matter l of selecting the supervisor of the gram- j ' mar grades. C. X. Child. The prln- B cipals felt that they should at least have j the right to be consulted. Thoy held a. I meeting of protest, but to no avail. Mr. H Child was appointed on the rccommenda- ' D tioi of Suncrintetidcnt Ohrlstenscu. "The principals certainly were entitled H to have a say when the board took up H the selection of a man to till the place H of John S. Welch, known as a man held H In high esteem by educators of national H and Internationa I prominence. To select H a successor to Mr. Welch was no easy task, and yet the board went to Lchl 1 and brought in Mr. Child, who had had no D experience In superl'islou work. H "The principals were right In demaud- j ing one of their own number to (111 the H place, or If it must be tin outsider, some H one they could recommend. I have high 1 TCgard for Mr. Child and he is making 1 a good supervisor. At his own sollclta- H tlon. Mr. Child has been given many sug- H ' gestions bv me regarding his work and 1 I was made to feel by I he superintendent 1 that anv assistance I could offer the new H Etipcrvlsov would be appreciated. I am H not criticising Mr Child or his work, B pleaK understand, but am merely show- H inp the arbitrary methods of the board H and the alignment of the board when the I recommendation of the superintendent was handed in. "When It came lo lending assistance lo the new supervisor I was considered of good enough authority to offer suggestions sug-gestions which, let me say, were accepted accept-ed and followed. When educators from Australia visited Salt Lake they reported report-ed that their visit to the primary rrades of the Salt Lake schools repaid them for their visit to this country. If I had succeeded In aligning tho teachers against me so strongly as to impair my usefulness and threaten the whole system sys-tem of the primary grades, how mistaken those foreign educators must have been in their estimation of the work accomplished accom-plished In this flepartment over which I had supervision. "In the educational display at St. Louis the Salt Lake display of the adopted plan of coordlanational work In leaching geography and nature study wns declared by the foremost educators of the land to be the best work seen at the great display. Do not think me bragging brag-ging when 1 say I arranged that work-It work-It was my own system worked out. And all this after the time I was supposed to be backward in my work. In a way I have been wronged, but I can only laugh when J, think of the lengthy discussions dis-cussions at the board meeting over this and that, when all the time the majority of the board knew how the vote would stand and lhe discussions, had they lasted last-ed till doomsdav would not have altered a single vote of the majority. "How funny of Mr. Martin lo offer lo allow ine to resign. That part of the meeting to me was the funniest of it all. When I sec Mr. Martin I shall thank him for his attempted kindness in my bchnlf. I also shall tell him how impossible it would have been for me to take-advantage of lsls overgencrous disposition. Points Out Subterfuge. "Superintendent Christonsen's comment com-ment on the letter proposition was ill advised. His assertion that a matter of delicacy contained in my answer to his letter offering me the year's leave of absence was absurd. The only 'delicate subject' to my mind was the letter he directed to me and which he readily found and re:Kl to the school board. "My little note in rcphr to lsls letter lie might have quoted from memory. On receiving his ofTpr to accept the leave of absence I wrote him In this wise: " 'Your very recent letter at hand. It Is needless to say i( came as a surprise sur-prise to me. After considering it T beg leave to ssty that In my mind the matter mat-ter you suggest is not only an injustice to me but to the schools of the city and I think it should receive your reconsld-I reconsld-I oration. "Was that a delicate matter to present to the board? Was It so much more delicate than his asking me to take the leave of absence that It must needs be filed so carefully that even he could not lind it? I "I rtrmly believe the handiwork of tho ! Inlluenco that nnally succeeded in dispensing dis-pensing with my services has only begun. be-gun. My part is only h small part of a preconceived plan, and I Intend to return re-turn to Salt Lake after a short visit on tho coast to watch the outcome. "Some of tho members of the hoard voting to oust mc hn'e asked me ns to my future plans, intimating that they understood I was to accept a place on the coast. T like Salt Lako and have enjoyed my work here Immensely, sis well as my pleasant associations with the teachers. To me the last ten years have been plcnBant enough. I am not unmindful of the kind words I have heard since my.dlsmissal. Going to N. E. A. Conclave. "After attending the meeting of the National Educational association at San Francisco I shall visit friends on the coast. After that 1 shall return to Salt Lake. T assure you I have purchnsed a routid-trin ticket. I am a membor of the X E. A. and am to represent the chairman of tho Salt Lake committee of life patrpns' department of the association. associa-tion. "Perhaps I had bettor add that the plans of the board, through Superintendent Superintend-ent Chrlslensen whose Instructions arc plain, I believe are to make Mr. Child supervisor of the grades in addition to hts other dutios. at an increased salary, with the promotion to assistant superintendent superin-tendent not far away. I do not know who will be appointed to fill my place." Club women of Salt Lnke aro Indlg-1 Indlg-1 mint at the action of the hoard in sus- tnlnlns the recommendation of the superintendent and freely express their ! feelings In the matter. In the ten years I MIbs Pollock liar; been Identified with the schools of Salt Lake her work has been of unquestioned superiority and has made the primary grade vork of lhe schoolB of Salt Lake the admiration of school authorities in many of the larger eastern cities. Her methods hnve bi'cn adopted elsowherc aftor a visit to lhe schools' here, |