School Committee Refuses To Reconsider Appointees

Despite the vocal opposition of 150 parents bearing the signatures of 5600 supporters, the Cambridge School Committee last night refused to reconsider appointments of three new assistant superintendents.

The three new appointees are all longtime members of the Cambridge School System. Mrs. Lorraine Butler, chairman of the Save Our Schools Committee which organized the campaign against the appointments said that the School Committee should have considered people from outside the system "especially younger people" for the $19,000 per year jobs.

The committee listened to objections, but refused even to consider a proposal to rescind the appointments. Committee member Francis Duehey, assistant dean of the Ed School, said that though he suported many of the parents' objections, he was not going to ask for a vote. "A motion to overturn the appointments would only embarrass three good men," Duehey said.

End of Campaign

Mrs. Butler said last night that the School Committee's action on Tuesday was the end of the campaign. "We were beaten on this issue," she said, "but we have a lot of people in this city talking about the education of their children, and what we are going to do next fall is elect a School Committee which will be more responsive to the wishes of the community."

The parents might carry the fight to the City Council, but Mrs. Butler said last night that this would only serve to drag the personalities of the appointees into the fight. "I am not against the men appointed personally," she said, "but I felt more candidates should have been considered."

The controversy over the appointments has been going on since January. It centers around whether preferential treatment should be given to employees of the school system when making appointments to executive positions. At a school committee meeting in February, Mrs. Butler said that she thought Cambridge should make an effort to find the best people for executive posts regardless of whether they have worked in Cambridge before or not.