Samuel Monroe Graves

Samuel Monroe Graves (September 11, 1878 – December 20, 1943) was an American educator who was the central figure in a widely reported, late 1930s effort to oust him as Superintendent of the Wellesley (Massachusetts) Public Schools.

They had two daughters, Rose Christine (1914-2010) and Margaret Helen (1924-2015), and four sons, Samuel Monroe Jr. (1915-1957), William Gerhart (1917-1965), Freeman Pierce (1920-2008), and Francis "Frank" Malcolm (1927-2001).

Following an uncontested February 1936 town election, the School Committee informed Graves they planned to hold a hearing on April 7, with the objective to oust the 22-year superintendent, to be effective on July 31.

In addition to the former Attorney General, many prominent people supported Graves, including Harvard Professor Payson Smith, who himself had been fired as State Commissioner of Education by Governor Curley.

[6] Following that vote, Graves brought a lawsuit to reverse his ouster without a proper hearing, and was defended by former Massachusetts Attorney General James M. Smith.

The Court did state that they were acting under laws enacted in 1934, that extended certain rights of employment to superintendents similar to those of civil servants and police officers.

"[9] State Supreme Court Justice Louis S. Cox accepted Putnam's findings, and ruled that the committee failed to have sufficient cause to remove Graves from office.

An article in The Boston Globe reads, "... according to rumor throughout the town, (the controversy) came about originally because two sets of parents became indignant over reprimands given to their children for poor scholastic standing and such infractions of rules such as smoking in the basement."

According to James Bresnahan, chairman of the advisory committee of the Isaac Sprague School Parent-Teachers Association, Graves was ousted because he refused to make racial and social discrimination against certain classes of children.

Bresnahan is quoted as saying, "I believe the reason the optional district plan was put into effect was to segregate certain children and others not well fixed socially and financially."

His health may have been weakened by stress caused by the personal and public ordeal, including having had limited income during the Great Depression.