Evening star., 1948-09-12
Schools 10 Open
Tomorrow Amid
Controversies
Larger Enrolment
Expected in D. c.
And Two Counties

An0 TWO AOuntleS
DETAILED STORIES ON SCHOOL
events for the new term will b
found in Section E Of this issue
of The Star.
Public schools in the District,
Montgomery County and Arlington
County will open tomorrow with
controversies and problems brewing
in all three.
More than 10000 students are ex-
pected to report to the Arlington
schools for registration at am.
Glasses start Tuesday.
Both the District, with $4,000
pupils expected. and Montgomery
County. with about 81 900. are pre-
pared for larger enrollments than
last year.
Controversy Outlined.
In Montgomery County the hot
test controversy is underway. It In
wolves two matters. The battle of
the three RS started when the Pa
rents League for Curriculum Inn
provement charged the boys and
girls were getting too much pro-
gressive education" and not enough
training in reading, writing and
arithmetic. The County Board OF
Education, however, has stood firm
in its support of the present cur
riculum, voting confidence in the
curriculum and the teachers at a
meeting last week. The next move
appeared to be up to the league.
Charges that the school board ap-
proved use of Communist textbooks
in the schools have been leveled by
Franklin T. Miles, Bethesda law
yer who is a bitter critic OF the
board. Mr.. Miles previously has
taken pot shots at the District Board
OF Education, charging the same
thing.
Proof Demanded.
Mr.. Miles may be required to sub
stantiate under oath his charges
about Montgomery County text
books as a result of Friday forum
on school problems. DR.. Thomas G.
Pullen. superintendent of Maryland
schools, notified him of this at the
forum, telling him bluntly that he
expected full proof of the charges
under oath so he could forward
them to Gov. Lane.
Mr.. Miles later repeated his charge
and the matter stands there at the
moment.
A feature OF the opening day In
Montgomery will be a 15-minute
broadcast at 1915 am. over Station
WGAY, Silver Spring, in which
county officials will welcome the
students.
Radios to be Finished.
Arrangements have been made to
furnish all schools with radios for
the broadcast. -...
Participating in the program will
be Brooke Johns, president OF the
Board OF County Commissioners; H.
Stanley Stine, president of the
Board OF Education. and DR.. Edwin
w. Broome, superintendent OF
Schools.
In the District, a Board of Educa-
tion member, Adelbert w. Lee, has
announced he will challenge the
legality of the school board order
closing the Powell Junior High
School as junior high unit and
moving he Bell Vocational High
School into the building. Powell
students will be sent to Central
High School.
The order was approved by the
school board. at the request OF
School Supt. Hobart M. Corning,
during the summer by special poll.
Mr.. Lee was not in town at the time
and did not vote.
DIR. Corning Is Criticized.
DR.. Corning also has been criti-
cised by some school board MEM
bers for moving the Veterans High
School Center out of Central High
School\t the Mckinley High School
in order to make more room at
Central-but without telling the
school board about it.
| An approval of the transfer was
asked last week-after the move had
been made-and waits full board
approval on Wednesday. The trans
fer was made as an administrative
move to prepare for the opening of
schools, DR.. Corning said.
Arlington County has no par
ticular controversy going at the
moment although some parents have
been protesting the new elementary
school districts set up in the county.
/ The districts were created by the
County School Board in order to
equalize the pupil load In a number
of overcrowded schools. New chill
dren and first graders must attend
the school in the district in which
they live.
Problems Cited.
Some families, with one child all
ready in a school, now find they
must send other children to a diff
ferent school because they live in
District which eliminates use OF the
school the older child is attending.
/ Arlington must find a solution to
overcrowded schools-something, in
fact, which is common to all school
systems these days. Two new Junior
high school units have been estab-
hshed in the Thomas Nelson Page
and the Woodrow Wilson Elemen-
tary Schools to alleviate the situ-
alton somewhat.
~ kAL