Charles Ernest Chadsey

Chase began his teaching career working in a high school in Durango, Colorado.[2] He came to serve as the district's superintendent.[5] He, thereafter, spent five years as superintendent of Denver Public Schools.[2] He resigned his job in Denver in 1912 in order to serve as superintendent in Detroit.[2]

After serving five years as superintendent in Denver, Chadsey was appointed superintendent of Detroit Public Schools at an August 9, 1912 meeting of the Detroit Board of Education after the board had voted to end Wales C. Martindale's fifteen years as superintendent. Chadsey was voted in by 10–1, with a single member of the board instead voting for Dubuque, Iowa school superintendent James H. Harris. No board members that had opposed Martindale's ouster were in attendance, in an apparent failed effort at preventing a quorum. Harris had previously been favored for the job by the members of the board in attendance until Chadsey appeared before the board that night to personally apply for the job.[6]

In Detroit, his methods attracted national interest.[2]

In 1919, after the death of superintendent of Chicago Public Schools John Shoop, Chadsey was appointed superintendent. He left his post as superintendent of schools for Detroit to assume the role of Chicago's superintendent in March.[7] The Chicago Board of Education had hired Chadsey with an unprecedented $18,000 annual salary.[2] This very large salary attracted significant public discussion.[5]

On April 2, less than month after Chadsey had started in the position, mayor William Hale Thompson asked that he resign.[2] Thompson had publicly taken issue with Chadsey having not been hired from within the ranks of the school district, remarking,

Chadsey may be a great educator, but it is not fair to our great educational system to go outside of the city for a superintendent. It is not treating our people squarely to lay down the principle that we are incapable of building our own teachers to fill any positions the schools afford.[2]

In late April 1919, being reelected mayor in the Chicago mayoral election earlier that month, Thompson had the majority of Board of Education that was aligned with him strip Chadsey of his powers and duties and replaced him with a "successor". Thompson also had the Chicago police lock Chadsey out of his office at the headquarters building of the school board after Chadsey refused to cooperate.[5][7][8] Supporters of Chadsey brought about quo warranto proceedings seeking to compel his reinstatement by the Board of Education. On November 9, 1919, Circuit Court of Cook County Judge Kickham Scanlan ordered Mortenson removed and Chadsey reinstated with his authority as superintendent.[5][7] However, Chadsey resigned on November 29, 1919, complaining that the Chicago Board of Education had refused to cooperate with his leadership as the school district's superintendent, and declaring that he did not intend to act as a figurehead superintendent.[5] He only been able to act as superintendent for mere weeks of his tenure due to the actions of Thompson and the Board of Education. Some members of the Board of Education were ultimately convicted of conspiracy for Chadsey's ouster and were sentenced by a judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County.[7][8][9]

After leaving Chicago Public Schools, Chadsey taught at the University of Chicago. His career ended at University of Illinois College of Education at Urbana-Champaign where he served as dean until his death at age 59.[2]