The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Philadelphia, concerned about possible anti-Semitism in the school administration, has launched a study to determine whether, over the past decade, there has been “a relationship between appointments and the ethnic identity of the appointee, and a correlation between the ethnic composition of school and the ethnic identity of appointees.” The president and executive director of the JCRC, Theodore R, Mann and Albert D. Chernin, advised Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mark R. Shedd by letter of their plans for the project. Although, Mann and Chernin noted, there has been “long-standing JCRC concern about the process for making appointments and promotions in the Philadelphia schools,” the immediate spur to their study was the recent case of Theodore Beck. The acting principal of South Philadelphia High School, he was turned down for the principalship. “In the light of his educational career, the recommendation of the screening committee, endorsements of faculty, parent and community bodies and student support. Mann and Chernin told Dr. Shedd, “the JCRC board found it difficult to comprehend why the principalship was dented to Mr. Beck.”
Chernin told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that while there was no proof of anti-Semitism in the Beck case, the JCRC survey would attempt to root out any such motives before the problem, if it exists, gets worse. The JTA contacted Dr. Shedd’s office but he could not be reached for comment. The two Jewish community leaders said their new study would be similar to the one the JCRC used several years ago that led to the end of the quota system in several professional schools of major universities in the Philadelphia area.” The JCRC, according to Mann and Chernin, has authorized the American Jewish Committee, one of its constituent members, to study separately “ethnic succession in the Philadelphia schools.” The entire project will be coordinated by a technical advisory committee of executives of six constituents-the AJCommittee, the American Jewish Congress, the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, Brith Sholom, the Jewish Labor Committee and the Workmen’s Circle.
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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.
