School Appointments Issue to Be on Ballot

A controversy over 17 appointments by the Cambridge School Committee will be settled by local voters in the November election.

The Cambridge City Council decided by a 7-2 vote, with Mayor Edward J. Sullivan and Councillor Charles A. Watson dissenting, to place the question on a referendum. Sullivan and Watson had favored a special election April 4 to resolve the dispute.

The 17 School Department employees were appointed in executive session Dec. 11. Two committee members, Mrs. Catherine T. Ogden and Judson T. Shaplin '42, Associate Dean of the School of Education, opposing the appointments on grounds of irregularity. The school committee has refused to reverse its action, even in the face of a petition of protest signed by 11,023 citizens.

The Middlesex Superior Court has issued a temporary injunction, preventing the 17 persons from receiving salaries higher than those received in their former posts.