Isidore H. Fox of Dorchester, representing a large Jewish constituency in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, speaking before the legislative Committee on Cities, who are considering a bill to abolish the special school house commission, declared that race prejudice and the desire on the part of the Boston School Committee to “pay political obligations,” was the reason why the school committee desires to abolish the commission. He charged thatt most of the appointments made by the committee were men of Celtic origin. He read a list of appointments recently made.
Representative Fox criticized the Boston school committee for failure to appoint a Jewish attendance officer, in spite of the fact that a Jewish woman passed the civil service examination and proved her ability in every other way.
Mr. Fox accused the Boston committee, chosen by popular vote, of “manipulating their vote in such a way as to avoid appointment of a person of the Jewish race to such a postion.” He further declared that they could have appointed a person who speaks Yiddish and who was first on the list certified by the civil service commission. He launched an attack on the school board and stated that he represented a district “which has been unfairly treated.”
The failure of the Boston school committee to appoint a Jewish attendance officer has long been the subject of agitation here. The “Jewish Advocate” recently attacked the Boston School Committee for ignoring the wishes of the Jewish community. Mrs. Jennie Loitman Barron is the only Jewish member of the School Committee. Among those who listened to the attack made by Fox was President A. Lawrence Lowell of Harvard, who was an interested spectator at the hearing. Boston labor organizations were among those recorded in opposition to the school house bill.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
