Dr. Charles C. Mason and Claude Rosenstein

August 1, 2017

The Tulsa County School Board 1961–1962, from the left: Dr. Charles Mason, Mrs. Vigil O. Wood, Fenelon Boesche, Bud Barnett, Bill Butler, Mrs. J. Littleton Daniel, Carl Beesley, Villard Martin, Jr., C. H. Rosenstein. 

From C.H. Rosenstein: 70 Years in the "Thickets of the Law"

MAN OF THE BOOK:  Counsel for the Tulsa County School Board

For forty years, beginning in 1932, Claude Rosenstein represented the Tulsa Board of Education in litigation involving everything from taxation to desegregation. An influential Superintendent of Tulsa Public Schools, Dr. Charles Mason, reminisced about his over fifty years of "good fortune" to meet Claude Rosenstein whose counsel and advice added securtiy and well-being to the years of service they both were privileged to devote to the Tulsa Public Schools.  

Dr. Charles C. Mason was Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent for 25 years. In 1944, he became Assistant Superintendent of Schools, in charge of elementary education. About a year later, he became Tulsa Superintendent, a post he held 15 years longer than any other Tulsa Superintendent. While Superintendent, Tulsa grew from 44 schools and an enrollment of 30,000 students to 107 schools and 80,000 students. In 1974, a high school at 6350 S. Utica Ave. was named in Mason's honor and was the last high school Tulsa built. Unfortunately, the school closed after five years due to declining enrollment. 

While Dr. Mason was Superintendent, Tulsa built Washington, Memorial and Edison senior high schools and bought land for the first vocational technical high school in the state, as well as the Education Service Center administrative offices, a building named in his honor.