Mrs. Alice Wordell, lone picket

[ca. September 1961]

Fired teacher cries 'politics'. A 48-year-old Somerville widow and mother of five, cried "politics" today because she blames "politics" for the loss of her teaching job. Mrs. Alice Wordell of 131 Willow Adams lost her teaching job last year at the Hodgkins Kindergarten. Her placard reads, "Unemployed Teacher Qualified and Experienced." Mrs. Wordell said she has been a substitute teacher in the Somerville school system for four years. She said she taught a full year last year and was promised the same job again this year. But when she called asking about the job, she said she was told there were no vacancies. "My work is good and I'm qualified to teach all grades," she said. "However, just because I did not agree to help a politician in my ward my job was taken away from me. I think the whole thing is..." Dr. Leo C. Donaghue, Somerville superintendent of schools, said, "It's not true. The politician she mentioned never spoke to me about her. I recommended her only for the job because I thought she'd be a better job. A new woman who took her place has been a teacher for 20 years," the superintendent said.