Show ad THE CITIZENS AND TAX PAYERS OF BOX ELOER ELDER CO r the board of education ot of box elder eider county lias already published what they consider tobe the history of 0 the high school controversy it Is no more than right and just that the citizens and nd taxpayers of this county should know theother the other sid side e of 0 the question day and smith there therefore foie sub jut ant the following history ot of tile the case fo for your serious and the trouble trouble as far as we are concerned began when we entered the fichtol a year ago last september and we me axe correctly informed that tile the trouble has exis existed tor the last three years there are two sides to tile the cori controversy tro versy the principal on the one land hand and the faculty on the other for evidence before we entered the school we ae refer pur read readers es to J IV hoopes miss delta cole Co leMr aar ethelbert lar larson son miss hazel stevens and mr air thomas reese we shall be concerned with facts as we isnow them the board of education explained there was a lack of 0 harmony between the principal and and other members of of the la culty though tile board should have said all members ot of the faculty yet the reason why there has always been a lack of harmony is more more important than lack of harmony itself the reason is that the principal for some reason or other has had never yet seen fit to take his faculty into his confidence make them liis his workers coworkers co and a part of the warp and woof ot of the school system As evidence of this fact all school activities including the moral social physical and linail j cial had been appointed without any ally reference to the feelings and judgments of any members of the faculty facility for instance entertainments and other things were announced and decided upon without their knowledge and frere carried into effect without their j consent in order that these ac activities tivit cs might be carried out students were dismissed I 1 I 1 from th their c ir classes and laboratory I 1 tory periods without the approval of tile the teachers in cli charge arge I 1 this monarchal form of government overn inept 4 went on until about the middle of t the alf second second semester at which time tie the 1 t faculty decided they could stand it no longer they therefore concluded that it would be for the best interest of the school and for the best good of education in general that the principal and faculty operate cooperate co as a unit ac cpr 0 in a regular faculty meeting the princlar prin ciar I 1 i was as bersu persuaded ded to cooper jalo et o ith the faculty and promised to give the faculty all legislative powers in the next faculty meeting rules ans and regulations of the school catalogue and course of study daily program i commencement exercises and lecture course were mentioned specifically I 1 in n spite of what had taken place in these faculty meetings the monarchal form of government still continued for the faculty was ignored upon all the above legislative functions with the single exception of the lecture course upon a friday just the open 1 ing of school last september the principal called the faculty together in this meeting he placed a daily program upon the blackboard slid and asked if there were any corrections the program pro was not a good one and changes did not make it any better in view ot of this fact it was suggested suggest edby by one of the members of 0 the faculty that each member make out a program of his own and that another meeting be called lor for the purpose of arranging a better program the suggestion was ignored by the principal and his own program went into effect against the will 0 of the faculty that a better program could have been arranged Is shown by I 1 j the he act that there are students in fit the school who are am compelled to take eng j losli II sh C and D english C being j tory ory to english D that there are oth j ers who are compelled to take algebra b and trigonometry algebra b being preparatory to trigonometry trigno metry that others are forced to take a class at 8 in the morning and at the noon i hour and do not have an intermission j during the entire day that the class j in physical science Is forced to unite in tue the physical science laboratory due to a conflict with chemical science there is a class demonstration room that was intended for the classes both in physical and chemical scid science nce most hours of the day this demonstration loom is vacant an appeal was made b by one of the members of the faculty for a aeration of the program but with the result that this member was reprimanded in very severely affairs began to reach a very high pitch the principal began to rule with an iron hand lie ile permitted some of the departments of the school to have so BO much money with which to buy books but refused the same privilege to a other departments it became more evident than ithan ever that what the principal said the faculty facility had to do members sil of the faculty plead with the principal that he might let them know what was going on in fit the school and that they might become a vital part of the school put their shoulders to the helm and help boost for the cause of education but with no avail it has bar always been the earnest desire of the faculty that the principal of tile the school take it 0 over cr and make it a part of himself ksell and thus bring about harmony and i progress the last which broke the camels back was nas in fit connection with the lecture course over and above objections made by the principal the faculty voted that a mass meeting of the students be called upon a monday before the appearance of the central grand concert company for the purpose ot of turning the lecture course over into their hands arousing enthusiasm advertising the course and making the students directly interested by giving them all over and above actual expenses the hour for holding the meeting was not decided upon in fri days ays faculty meeting but the pal expressed himself not only upon this occasion but upon other occasions that student body mass meetings held after 3 were not advisable monday rolled round the forenoon rapidly passed away at recess lecessi the principal met one of the faculty members and asked what he had done with reference to the mass meeting upon which the faculty member replied he had done nothing the principal remarked you seemed to be sex so extremely anxious about it t I 1 thou thought glit that you would have done something in a word avord the faculty mam member er was given to understand that it if anything was done he had to do it realizing that the bass mass meeting was essential for the greatest financial success of the lecture course lie the faculty member proceeded to look up the student body president found him explained what the decision of the faculty was and in connection with another member ot of the faculty expressed themselves to the effect that 2 would be an excellent time for the meeting the president was directed to the principal for the purpose of arranging if possible a meeting at the above mentioned time ile he was given to understand by the principal that no meeting could be held bold except otter after 3 in direct opposition to his own policy the faculty lilt y members knew nothing of this decision accordingly at the noon hour all the members of the faculty decided that the best time to hold the meeting in order to make it a success was at 2 and one of the pem members bors was instructed to ask the principal to be in harmony with them the meeting was held nt at 2 and the member of the faculty facility who carried the decision to the principal was called before county supt bupt valentine mr J W peters the brigham member of the school board and mr nefi neff principal and dismissed from the school the same evening the other members of the faculty were called before the same officials they exonerated one rated the dismissed member whereupon he was called back given to understand der stand by county supt bupt valentine and J IV peters that they were wrong in fit their decision sorry for borwhat what they had done and asked hint him to resume his work in the school the faculty and principal went back bach under the condit condition iod that they were to get together and define executive and legislative powers and that each were to do everything in their power to bring about harmony tile faculty maintain that they did everything jn in their power to get together but thit that the principal would not meet them halt half way the monarchal forin of government was more in evidence than ever before the result wai wag not as desired sired and in spite of plea pleadings dingi of members of the faculty harmony could not the lie accomplished there was but ond oab who had the power to bring about harmony T the he secretary of the faculty was instructed to gritl a letter to the president oi of the board of education asking for a meeting of the entire board with the alie entire faculty at this meeting the faculty presented the following ultimatum which had been suggested by the brigham city member of the school board and forced upon the faculty by the attitude of the principal either you must dismiss the live five and retain the one or dismiss the one and retain the five As a result of this meeting the principal gave up all his powers and submitted to the scheme proposed by the board that the faculty have complete administration of the affairs of the school each bach member of the faculty expressed himself that tile scheme was impracticable and that it could never work what the school needed was a leader hut but notel notwithstanding th standing this fact contrary to their own judgment but out of consideration for the feelings of the board boa adf they decided to go back bach and make we me more effort for liardon harmony the scheme was futile the chair man of the faculty wils was passive things became the school was rapidly going to pieces something hadt had to be done the conditions were mentioned to the brigham member of the board but nothing was done by any member of the board to relieve the situation however the claim Is made in the last issue of the box elder eider news that members of the board and the county superintendent worked with the teachers individually and urged them to put aside personal feelings for the good of the high school so far as is th the e present writers of this article are c concerned oil ce r the above statement is not true and moreover wo we want the alie public to know that as far as we are concerned personal feelings re elings has never entered the controversy the phrase personal feelings has not been mentioned to either cither Aless rs day or smith by the county superintendent during the entire conflict in view of this state of oc affairs knowing that the progress of the school was at stake the following petition was presented after after having given your plan a fair and impartial trial we have reached the conclusion that it is a failure and that our school Is in a critical condition we are convinced that the school Is going to pieces and in justice to ourselves in justice to the boys and girls of the school and in justl justice oe to the supporters of the institution wie me urge that you get a new principal at your earliest convenience signed florence florenc compton W P day ina stratford it II E smith delta cole in connection with this petition wo quote the following from tile the dox box elder news in spite of tile the pleadings pleading ot of the supt bupt some ot of the teachers insisted on presenting a petition to the board of education asking for the removal of the principal goth both in spirit and in form tile the above quota continued Continue a on page abree TO THE CITIZENS MD AND TAX PAYERS OF BOX ELOER ELDER GO CO continued filin page two tion lion is misleading the county superintendent in plead to have the petition stopped and furthermore the petition was authorized formulated and signed by all five members ot of the faculty immediately after the petition was NAZIS directed to the board certain officials ot of that body had private consultations with certain men members iDers of the faculty just what promises were ill made ade in these consultations we leave our readers to judge shortly after this iless rs day and smith called upon mr air peters and asked him it if the board had received the petition lie ile answered in the affirmative lie he was then asked if the petition had bad been acted upon to which lie he replied that he be had nothing to give out at present but was sorry to say that certain changes were going to take place in the faculty this mind you after lie he had told us that he e was convinced that the stand we had taken was right and tho the princ principal ilal was in the wrong thursday december ath nearly I 1 three weeks ago miss compton and day and smith were informed ithac that they were wanted at the board of education rooms miss liss C re resignation was accepted day and smith were interviewed and asked what they thought of afie the high school whether they would operate cooperate co with a new principal and their attitude toward mr fr neff they answered these questions to the effect that they thought box elder county to be one of the richest counties in the state and nd that there was as no reason why the box elder high school could not be one of the best high schools in the state of utah ulan that a new principal was the very thing they had been working for and that he should receive their loyal support from every point of view that so far as mr air neff was concerned his ideas of school government had not been the same as theirs iu in the past and that they did not know whether they could get on with him or not but that since his department part ment would not come in conflict with theirs there was no reason why there should be a clash ile he would be a teacher in the same sense that they would be teachers ill fr day told the board that it if we were going to be dismissed he should like to be given notice in advance and they gave him the assurance that this would be be the the case when Aless rs day and smith left the board rooms they were given to understand that their work was satisfactory from every view point and that they would be kept in the school upon a wednesday night dec supt bupt valentine met with day and smith and the following conversation ensued boys said valentine 1 I have a pretty fair index of what is going on oil in the board and if I 1 were you fellows fello Avs I 1 should resign of course I 1 am not an official representative of the board just now ilas has mr neff resigned inquired mr smith yes was the reply well we ave have done nothing to warrant our resignation nor yet our I 1 dismissal was the answer note that sir air neff did not resign from tile the school the next lay day thursday dec the board called a meeting of all the students to ho be held at 3 p in all members of the faculty were excluded from this meeting school was closed down tor for the holidays and day and smith were dismissed without one word of warning and without I 1 having an opportunity to defend the course which they represented in conclusion the trouble ha has been of long standing it lies much deeper than to be entered about any particular occasion the controversy has hair al was been between the principal and hla his faculty harmony could have been brought about by tile the person mho had the power and by that person only by virtue of the tact fact that all five members of the faculty liae haie taken every step that any one lias has taken by virtue of the fact that Aless rs day and smith wore avore and always have been perfectly willing billing to cooperate with a n new ew principal and by of the fact that all think the same concerning sir aar neff does it seem at it all logical to dismiss these two |