Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1955-09-29

unfamiliar ring to the present
population.
Although we have now an
elected school board that holds
regular open meetings, budgets
and buildings have certainly been
uppermost in our minds in 1855.
The PTA Council was or
ganized in March 1914 through
the leadership of Mrs. Thomas
w. Pyle of Bethesda and wife
of our present Assistant Super,
intendent of Schools. AS State
Officer of the Congress Of
Parents and Teachers, Mrs. Pyle
knew the value of the councils
which then existed in three or
four counties in Maryland.
For some years previous to the
council there had been no or
ganized relationship between the
80 local PTA groups. A heter,
ogeneous County Federation had
been organized some % years
earlier that had been composed
of PTAs, Parents Leagues and
various Community Leagues.
The federation's big flaw had
been that with only local connec-
tons it was ineffective on any
thing but the county level. This
weakness was recognized by a
number of its leaders including
Mrs. Pyle, Mrs. Frank Smith,
Mrs. Lloyd Beers, Mrs. Claude
Mitchell, and Mr. and Mrs. Will
liam Steiner, all of Silver
Spring and Mrs. Herman Wilson
from Rockville, and Mrs. Adela
Donaldson of Kensington.
The federation was run by the
rules and regulations of the
Maryland Congress of PTAs
which was the ultimate goal of
these leaders. 1t took a lot of
groundwork and education on the
part of these people to bring
recognition in the county of the
necessity of working with out
side groups.
Finally in 1914, Mrs. Pyle and
her friends were able to bring
together representatives from
Is local PTA units in the H.
brary of the new Richard
Montgomery High School in
Rockville. The new council
was decided upon and a tenn
y pOrary organization was set
up. At that time, there was "A
total of 80 units i'm the county
and Statewide membership in
PTAs reached only $4,000.
The new council began with
4,50O members during a period
of wartime shortages of building
and staff and a slowly increas.
ing enrolment in the schools.
Within a year or two of its birth,
the period of rapid expansion
began that has continued to the
present with no end in sight.
The first regular meeting of
the council, after the election of
Howard Noyes of Kensington as
president, was held at Woodside
in Silver Spring in September
1914. The initial program includ-
ed safety and pre-school clinics
as we'll as the important steps
of consolidation.
Under Leslie Able of Rock.
vile, president from '45-'47, the
council began to make itself
known. Its membership grew to
include 33 schools with 10000
members. Only eight schools
r with small enrolment were not
included. 1t constituted one.
fourth of the State PTA member.
ship, proportion it still holds
today, with 76 units and $4,000
members.
It's consistent policy of stand
ing for the big and important
issues probably has resulted ir
its attraction for so many people
in the county. This may also ac
count for the fact that the
Montgomery Council had always
had an unusually high percent
age of men.
Its first and most successful
fight was to get a School
Board accountable to and re-
preventative of the people in
the county. At that time the
board was appointed by the
Governor and its meetings
were usually closed to the
public.
In its first year, it helped
secure the appointment of
local PTA president, Mrs. Eliza
beth Hauck, to the board but in
1916, two appointments were
made without consideration OF
the councils recommendations
This led to special committee
under Mrs. David Stowe to study
the method of choice of schoo
board members. The Stowe re
port recommended an elected
board and included a draft oil
specific legislation to this end,
> This report was studied ant
widely discussed by local PTAs
throughout the county. The draft
of a bill was ratified bv the