Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 1992 Battle Over the Chicago Schools: The Superintendency of William Mcandrew Arthur Norman Tarvardian Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation Tarvardian, Arthur Norman, "Battle Over the Chicago Schools: The Superintendency of William Mcandrew" (1992). Dissertations. 3242. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/3242 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1992 Arthur Norman Tarvardian LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO BATTLE OVER THE CHICAGO SCHOOLS: THE SUPERINTENDENCY OF WILLIAM MCANDREW A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND POLICY STUDIES BY ARTHUR NORMAN TARVARDIAN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS MAY 1992 Copyright by Arthur Norman Tarvardian, 1992 All rights reserved. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author wishes to acknowledge the members of the dissertation committee who directed and assisted this work. My sincere gratitude to Dr. Gerald Lee Gutek, Director, Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies and of History; to Dr. Joan K. Smith, Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy studies; and, to Dr. Max A. Bailey, Associate Professor of Administration and Supervision, for their valued contributions. My deepest appreciation and gratitude to my dearest wife Pauline Margaret Abraham Tarvardian, Ph.D., my companion and colleague, whose insights and encouragement sustained me; and to my loving children, John, Paul and Madeleine, for their love, cheer, candor, and patience. Finally, I would like to dedicate this work to the memory of my mother, Anna Harutunian Tarvardian. ii VITA The author, Arthur Norman Tarvardian, was born in Chicago Illinois. Mr. Tarvardian attended the Chicago public schools. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree from Loyola University of Chicago, with a major in history. The author holds a Masters Degree conferred by De Paul University, with a major in English, and another Masters Degree conferred by Loyola University of Chicago, with a major in administration and supervision. Mr. Tarvardian has been employed by the Chicago Public Schools since 1966. He is married to Pauline Margaret Abraham Tarvardian, Ph.D., and has three children, John Abraham, A.B. Xavier University of Ohio; Paul Arthur, A.B. Loyola University of Chicago; and, Madeleine Anne, A.B. Boston University. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii VITA . iii CHAPTER I. EVOLUTION OF THE OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1 Introduction . 1 Historical Perspective....................... 2 The Growth of Chicago........................ 8 Advent of the Chicgo Public Schools ..••..•... 11 The Office of the Superintendent of Schools .. 17 Defining the Superintendent's Role: 1854-1898 20 The Harper Report - 1898 ••.•••••••••••.•••..• 34 The Creation of a Strong Superintendency .•... 40 The Otis Bill - 1917 ••••...•••.•••.••••••.••• 43 II. POLITICAL MANIPULATION OF THE SCHOOLS: 1915-1923 . 53 The Mayoralty of William Hale Thompson ...•... 53 Genealogy . 53 Early Life . 57 Entry into Politics . • . 58 Mayoral Primary of 1915 .••.•••...•••.•••••... 68 Mayoral Election of 1915 ••...••..••••.••••... 72 Precedent for Political Intervention .•....•... 75 Political Domination of the Superintendency .. 77 Competing Board of Education •...••...•...•... 79 Ouster of Charles E. Chadsey •...•••.•...•.... 88 III. THE ERA OF REFORM 102 The Mayoralty of William E. Dever 1923-1927 •. 103 Genealogy . 103 Entry into Politics • • . • . • . 104 Dever's Political Emergence •................. 106 Dever School Board Appointments .•............ 116 IV. THE SUPERINTENDENCY OF WILLIAM MCANDREW ...... 120 Background 120 iv Educational Philosophy ••••••••••••••••••••..• 127 Close Supervision • • • • • • • • . • • • • • • • • . • • • • • • . • • • 129 -Efficiency in the Schools •••••••••••••.•••••• 133 Full Utilization of the School Plant ••••••••. 136 The Platoon School • • • • • • • . • • • • • • • • . • • • • • • . • • • 139 ··• Junior High Schools • • • . • • • • • • • • • • • • • . • • • • • • . 142 Teachers' Councils ••••..•••••••••••••.••••••. 146 V. THE SEEDS OF REVOLT ••••••••••••••••••••.•••.• 161 Strife Over Junior High Schools •••••.•••••.•• 162 Advent of the Platoon Schools ••••••••••.••••• 182 Demise of the Teachers' Councils ••.•••..•.••. 188 The Battle is Engaged •.••••.••••••••••.•••..• 190 VI. THE FALL FROM GRACE ••••••..•••••••••••.•••.•• 203 The Election Campaign of 1923 •••••.•••..••••• 203 The 1927 Mayoral Primary ••••••••••••••..•••.. 206 Denouement • • • • . • • • • • . • • • • • • • • • . • • . • • 212 Epilogue . 222 BIBLIOGRAPHY . • • • . • . • • • • . • . • • . 224 V CHAPTER I EVOLUTION OF THE OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS INTRODUCTION On 9 January 1924, William McAndrew was elected the thirteenth superintendent of the Chicago public schools in the hope that he would restore confidence in a school system wearied by years of strife and scandal. Forty-four months later, the man whose selection was described as an act of inspiration, 1 was charged with insubordination, peremptorily suspended and subsequently tried by the board of education on a charge of insubordination. Al though McAndrew' s tenure represented a single era in the history of Chicago's schools, his conduct of the office and the events which precipitated his removal did not occur in historical isolation. Therefore, to give the events perspective, it was necessary to examine the genesis of the office of superintendent of schools, the evolution of the authority of superintendent of the Chicago public schools from professional manager to chief executive officer, the historical events which preceded his incumbency and the unique political and social mileau in which the perspectives, practices and policies McAndrew championed led inexorably to his ouster. 1Chicago Tribune, 11 January 1924. 2 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE When the Constitution of the United States was ratified in 1789, the common school had not developed, unified school districts had not evolved and the office of superintendent of schools had not been created. Most urban educational systems of the early nineteenth century had begun as loosely structured village schools with few students, a rudimentary curriculum and minimal operating expenses. The initial administration of these early urban schools represented a "legacy of village patterns of control"2 in which school governance was in the hands of legally elected boards of education which involved themselves in the operations of the schools. 3 As the nation's population increased, the number of schools and the complexity of operation also increased and the village control of schools functioned less effectively. When management responsibilities expanded to include the supervision of teachers, pupils, instruction and finances, school committees were formed to assist those charged with the administrative operation of the school. Accountable to those who had appointed them, the primary duties of these 2David B. Tyack, The One Best System (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1974), 28. 3Thomas McDowell Gilland, "The Origin and Development of the Power and Duties of the city School Superintendent" (Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1935), 264. 3 committees were to supervise and inspect the work of the schools at regular j_ntervals. With the growth of cities, this administrative structure also began to function less effectually, for as the number of schools increased, the visitations and inspections of schools took more time from the business interests of committee members than they were willing to invest. 4 Between 1790 and 1850, when the nation's population increased five-fold, the character of American life underwent striking change as the nation became increasingly urban. When the first census was conducted in 1790, fewer than 160,000 people, or 3. 9 percent of the population, lived in communities of 5,000 or more people. By 1820, when the population stood at 9.6 million, an increase of 145 percent in thirty years, city populations had burgeoned, increasing by more than 243 percent. 5 This period of unabated urban growth paralleled the development of manofacturing when waves of immigrants were drawn to the nation's cities by the availability of work. By 1850, the population of the United States had increased 140 percent, but the population of urban centers had increased by 410 percent. Although rural America grew by 139 percent in 4Ibid., 72, 264° 5The statistical History of the United States from Colonial Times to the Present (Stamford: np, 1965), 24. 4 the period 1790-1820, its rate of population growth had declined to 119 percent by 1850. 6 The administrative organization of schools which functioned effectively when the nation was sparsely settled could no longer meet the educational demands imposed by the rapid growth of cities during the first half of the nineteenth century. As school enrollments rose, school facilities became inadequate and the management of