Draft:Wales C. Martindale

Martindale served as a principal of three different public schools of Detroit Public Schools..{{cite journal |title=City Superintendents |journal=The Journal of Education |date=1899 |volume=50 |issue=22 (1256) |pages=374–380 |doi=10.1177/002205749905002211 |jstor=44051427 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44051427 |issn=0022-0574}}

In 1897, Martindale became superintendent of Detroit Public Schools. He served until 1912.{{cite web |title=Attorney Dies in Car Crash |url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14177058/wales-c.-martindale#view-photo=76928710 |via=Find A Grave |access-date=19 March 2025 |date=August 16, 1949}}

At the time of Martindale's tenure, Detroit experienced significant industrial growth.{{cite web |title=Detroit Schools, 19th Century |url=https://detroithistorical.org/learn/encyclopedia-of-detroit/detroit-schools-19th-century#:~:text=Martindale%20thought%20that%20schools%20should,of%20a%20growing%20industrial%20city. |website=Encyclopedia of Detroit (Detroit Historical Society) |access-date=15 April 2025}}

In 1908, Martindale traveled to Europe and observed technical schools there. This inspired him to soon after turn the Cass High School into a technical school.{{cite web |last1=Austin |first1=Dan |title=Cass Tech High School (old) |url=https://www.historicdetroit.org/buildings/cass-tech-high-school-old |website=Detroit Historical Society |access-date=15 April 2025}}

In 1909, the school board re-appointed Martindale for his fifth three-year term as superintendent, with a salary of $6,000. By this time, Detroit was the seventh-largest nation in the United States and was considered to have some of the best public schools in the nation, and more than 60,000 pupils. The Journal of Education credited Martindale heavily for the success of its schools.{{cite journal |title=Martindale of Detroit |journal=Journal of Education |date=July 22, 1909 |page=98 }}

In 1912, the Board of Education voted 10–8 in a single round of balloting on July 18, 1912 to select William McAndrew (an assistant superintendent of the New York City Board of Education) as the district’s superintendent, ousting Martindale after fifteen years in the post.{{cite journal |title=Chicago's New Superintendent |date=September 1923 |volume=I |issue=1 |pages=283–285 |journal= Michigan Education Journal }}{{cite news |title=Martindale Ousted From Board by 10 to 8; McAndrew Chosen |work=Detroit Free Press |date=July 12, 1912 }}:

• {{cite news |title=Martindale Ousted From Board by 10 to 8; McAndrew Chosen |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/118996334 |work=Detroit Free Press |access-date=February 12, 2021 |language=en |url-access=subscription |date=July 12, 1912 |page=1 |archive-date=January 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220107080742/http://www.newspapers.com/image/118996334/ |url-status=live }}
• {{cite news |title=Martindale Ousted From Board by 10 to 8, McAndrew Chosen |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/118996366 |work=Detroit Free Press |access-date=February 12, 2021 |language=en |page=2 |url-access=subscription |date=July 12, 1912 |archive-date=August 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815215421/http://www.newspapers.com/image/118996366/ |url-status=live }} McAndrew had been recommended by former president of the University of Michigan James Burrill Angell among others. The Detroit Board of Education anticipated that McAndrew, being from outside the city, could be uninvolved as superintendent in the city's political tumult.{{cite web |title=Detroit Calls McAndrew.; Elects New York Educator Superintendent of Schools. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1912/07/12/archives/detroit-calls-mcandrew-elects-new-york-educator-superintendent-of.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=10 January 2023 |date=12 July 1912}} However, McAndrew never served, instead declining the position.Tarvardian, p. 123 At the meeting where the Detroit Board of Education had voted to select McAndrew, they also voted to keep the superintendent's annual salary at the $6,000 that Martindale had been earning.{{cite web |title=Martindale Ousted from Board by 10 to 8, McAndrew Chosen |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/118996366 |via=Newspapers.com |publisher=Detroit Free Press |access-date=11 January 2023 |url-access=subscription |language=en |date=July 12, 1912}} This salary, seen as relatively low for McAndrew, was seen as one of the obstacles to Detroit securing McAndrew’s acceptance of the position, as was the discord within the the Detroit schools.{{cite web |title=The School Board Muddle |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/119002820 |via=Newspapers.com |publisher=Detroit Free Press |access-date=11 January 2023 |url-access=subscription |language=en |date=July 25, 1912}} After McAndrew declined the position, at an August 9, 1912 the board voted to end Martindale's tenure and to appoint Charles E. Chadsey as his successor. No board members that had opposed Martindale's ouster attended that meeting, in an apparent failed effort at preventing a quorum.{{cite web |title=Charles E. Chadsey, of Denver, Chosen Head of Detroit School System |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/835223084 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=The Detroit Times |access-date=23 July 2022 |language=en |url-access=subscription |date=August 10, 1912}}

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