Evening star., 1942-12-07
Action Planned
To Improve
Defense Schools
Solory Discrepancy
In Current Program
Draws Opposition
BY MARION WADE DOYLE.

District school officials are goine
to confer Immediately with the
United States Once of Education
and the District Commissioners te
improve the defense training pro.
gram in Washington" Chairman
Randolph OF the House District
Committee announced this after.
noon.
After a conference with Supt. Of
Schools Frank w. Ballou and foul
District school superintendents a,
the House Office Building thi.
morning, Chairman Randolph sale
the necessary steps" to change the
present defense training program
will be taken at my request
Mr.. Randolph did not comment or
an earlier suggestion of his that the
defense program be entirely re-
moved from the jurisdiction OF
school officials and put under the
Commissioners, preferring simply tc
indicate that n agent of the Com
missioners would be present at ensu-
Ing conferences about the classes.
CItcS MAJOT ODJcCtlOH.
One of his chief objections to the
conduct of the program by school
officials, Mr.. Randolph said, is the
discrepancy between the salaries
they are paying their national de-
fense training instructors and wages
being paid to similarly skilled work
men in Washington industry.
The member of Congress also
thinks that the method of obtaining
equipment and material is "cumber-
somes and goes through too many
hands,.
In conclusion, he said, "a more
determined effort must be made to
secure instructors. because this is
definitely a war program and can
not be treated with any peacetime
approach"
Mr.. Randolph said that one'of the
suggestions made this morning by
G. ]. Hardy of the United States
Office of Education was that the
24-hour-a-d day program at the Old
Harbor Garage and five District
schools be increased from six days
q week to seven.
Plan Functions Improperly.
After he had issued statement
at the end of the conference for both
himself and the school officials,
Chairman Randolph said that his
personal opinion was that the pro-
gram had not been functioning as
it should, He said Lawson j.
Cantrell, assistant superintendent Of
schools, directly responsible for the
program, will be the person calling
the immediate conferences Of school
officials, Office of Education rep
resentatives and an agent of the
Commissioners.
Asked if the conferences were to
be held soon, Mr.. Randolph smiled
and commented, Il used the word
Immediately
Todays developments followed re-
lease of letter MI. Randolph had
written to the Commissioners, charg-
ing that the Army, Navy and airlines
are dissatisfied with the number of
trainees being turned out by the
program here. The Board of Edu-
cation has also not spent as much
money as it could have on the
classes, Mr.. Randolph's letter said.
William D. Wallace. supervisor of
the program, had told The Star
the program would be more success
full if District officials did not insist
on paying defense training the low
wages of District teachers instead
of the prevailing industrial rates
that the once of Education had
ruled should be paid.
The law itself, as issued by the
United States Office of Education
provides for either teaching or in
dustrial wages to be paid to national
defense training instructors.
Instructors employed for this
program" the law reads, shall be
paid the going wage of teacher
or industrial worker in the State or
local community to which they are
assigned"
Explains Interpretation.
Mr.. Cantrell explained this morn
Ing that his Office had interpreted
this law to mean that defense train
Ing instructors should be paid as
much as high school teachers of lib
eral arts. His defense training in
structors are paid $40 a day. the
same rate paid to the average Dis
trict high school teacher. This rate
Is little higher, Mr.. Cantrell added,
than the rate paid to vocational in
structors in the vocational schools
of the system.
The provisions for two types of
wages, either industrial or teaching
salary, was made by the United
States Office of Education to pre-
vent high school teachers f1ocking
from the regular schools to the ma
;ional defense program. it was eX-
plained by l.. S. Hawkins, director
of the war production training pro-
gram of the United States Office Of
Education.
To keep vocational instructors from
leaving other parts of the system
TO join the new program, he said.
the Office ruled that former teacher
should be paid what he was getting
before he became an instructor in
the defense training program. On
the other hand, Mr.. Hawkins in
terpreted, if skilled workman in
industry offered to teach the classes.
he should be paid what he got in the
industrial plane.
Only a few of the instructors in
the defense training program here
came from other educational insti-
tutions, a school ofiicial said. Most
ef them did come from industrial
plants and factories.
In answer to Mr.. Randolph's s
charge that school officials had not
svailed themselves of the full fund
of money available for the program,
Mr.. Cantrell said his Office had
asked for as much as 1t needed to
pay instructors the wages he be-
iieved they were supposed to have
paid.
He plans to ask the ONCE of
Education for more money to buy
equipment, he said, but he is strug-
Cling first to get priority rating on
the supplies.
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