Evening star., 1955-11-11
CuntreH Backs
Honsen's Stund
On Budget Move
By JAMES DEANE

Assistant School Supt. Lawson
~. Cantrell said today he win
fatty oppose stripping District
junior high schools of any teach
ers as proposed in the District
budget for next year.
Mr.. Cantrell said he agrees
fully with report this week by
Assistant Supt. Carl r. Hansen
strongly criticizing teacher
slashing plans.
AS DR.. Hansen warned regard
ing senior high schools, Mr.. Cam
trell said any reduction in junior
high teachers would curtail
course offerings and impair
standards.
He also Joined DR.. Hansen In
criticizing the present method
OF budgeting teacher require
ments on class-size averages. He
said this method should be dis
carded and a more realistic one
found.
Cutback Of so Planned
The school budget submitted
to the Commissioners for next
year with approval Of the
Board of Education and Supt.
Hobart M. Corning-commits
the city's secondary schools to
q slash Of so teachers in the next
three years. DR.. Hansen, who
has charge of high schools, told
DR.. Corning three days ago any
high school slash, however, Is
Iindefensible. y
Mr.. Cantrell, who supervises
Junior highs, taking a similar
position today declared that his
% schools actually need so adj
ditional teachers. to reduce over.
size classes. This does not count
10 need for more special teachers
for slow and backward students.
he said.
Mr.. Cantrell said the retarded
pupil problem is critical. Recent
achievement tests have disclosed
that hundreds Of children are
years behind in reading and
other basic subjects, but there
are not enough teachers to give
them essential speed-up instruc-
tion, he said.
Classes Too Big, He Says
More than 1.400-or over II
per cent-of the city's Junior
high classes have enrollments
in the 40s. far above the proper
teaching standard, he said.
More than half Of the special
CLASSES for retarded students are
oversize. he added. posing an
even more serious problem than
in the regular classrooms.
Teaching STATS for District
schools are budgeted on the basis
|of standard pupil-teacher ratios
|of Is to ! for senior highs, % to
i for junior highs and SO to I
for elementary schools. The
school system sets no class-sizo
naaximums, however. Class en-.
rollments are all added together
and divided by the standard
figure. with teachers being
budgeted on the basis of the
resulting average.
In secondary schools, these
averages are completely unreal
istic as far as actual class sizes
go, Mr.. Cantrell pointed out. The
averages cover up the fact that
shop classes, for example, are far
smaller than those in English
because the shops won't hold any
more. As a result, basic academic
classes have to be oversize in
order to compensate for the
many that are smaller.
Demands Seen Growing
''This method was set UP over
80 years ago." Mr.. Cantrell
pointed out. There's been a tre-
mendous change in the needs Of
children and ways of meeting
them since then. Slow learners
used to drop out of school. Now
practically all of them stay
through Junior nigh.
Nov it takes more teachers
and more individual work to ed
ucate these children. The old
method has got to be aban-
doned."
The Board Of Education has
approved a new elementary
standard of 80 pupils and has
rewritten the secondary rules to
leave shops and other special
classes out of the averages. But
the Commissioners recently re-
fused to start hiring additional
elementary teachers on the new
basis, and school officials haven't
yet agreed on how to apply the
new secondary formula.
Devising New Standards
Mr.. Cantrell said new specific
standards, already be-
ing worked on by high school
principals. might be needed in
Junior highs as well. But he
has not yet decided tust how
they should be worked out, he
said.
DR.. Hansen said yesterday he
expects rs to remain the stand
ard for regular high school
classes.
DR.. Hansen warned in his re-
port that high schools would
have to cut back not only ON
subject offerings but on other
activities If any teacher reduc-
ion is ordered. He said this
night include such things as
ichool newspapers. yearbooks
md sports.
Mr.. Cantrell said the same
hing would happen in the jun.
or highs.
Army Mess HoII Burns