Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-02-05
MonyLeeisIotors
Regard County
As 'Out-of-Step'


this week in Richmond on the
Moncure bill will renew a strug-
gle that has been going on since
Arlington residents voted Vir-
ginia's first elected county school
board into Office in l947.
A date for the hearing on the
bill has not been set, but there
are reports that the Senate and
House Privileges and Elections
Committees of the General As
sembly may conduct a Joint
public hearing on Thursday.
The measure. sponsored by
Delegate Frank P. Moncure Of
rural Stafford County, would end
popular election of the Arlington
School Board and make Airing
ton follow the usual method of
selection of school boards in Vir-I
GINA. In most other counties
of the State, members are APP
pointed by a school trustee cleo
toral board appointed by circuit
Judges who in turn are appointed
by the General Assembly.
legislators ire was reused by
the Arlington School Boards an
1ouncement, after Statewide ap-
prevail of the Gray Plan. that the
board intended to move toward
indignation in county schools
next fall, provided the General
Assembly and State Board Of
Education permitted such q
move.
Long-Developing Annoyance
Reaction In Richmond to the
announcement barred anew a
long-developing annoyance with
Arlington because OF repeated
requests for special legislation.
Over the years, the Northern
Virginia area has sought changes
in the laws on subjects disagree
able to many legislators.
The county has asked for
law to allow Federal employees
to serve on the County Board,
Arlington's governing body. Dur
ing debate on this issue in 1854,
some members of the Assembly
were shown sex education films
used In Arlington schools. Many
Of them expressed strong disap-
proval, and the county was for
hidden to show the films with
out State permission. The films
have not been shown since.
Arlington also has asked for
and received permission to go on
daylight saving time in summer
months. Rural delegates have OBJ
jected to this tampering with
Gods time"
The county in postwar years
favored rent control-a sore sub
ject with some legislators.
Although the feeling exists in
Richmond that Arlington is "out
of STEP" the County School
Board, in its announced integra-
ton plan, said 1t believed 1t was
preparing to act in accordance
with the Gray Plan. The board
made 1t clear there would be no
forced integration"-which peo-
ply In this area were told the
Gray Plan was designed to avoid.
Elections Common Elsewhere
Also, though Arlington has the
only elected school board in the
State, many county residents
come from States where this is
the usual method of selection.
According to National Education
Association research bulletins, a
1850 survey showed 81 per cent
Of city school districts have
elected school boards. A 1916
survey of non-city school dis
tricts in the Nation showed that
"a per cent of those polled used
the elective method.
But the idea is firmly planted
in the minds of some legislators
that Arlington is always de-
manding special consideration
and is loaded with "crackpots"-f
TO use Delegate Moncure's ref
erence in the 1854 debate.
This view is shared by some
Arlington residents who have
battled the present School
Board without success since It's
1947 victory. Candidates Of the
School Board Nominating Con-
vention. who have won each seat
that has been open since that
time, have had opposition in the
last two elections.
Follow Same Pattern
The arguments follow much
the same pattern as the i947
debate, when defenders Of the old
appointed board charged their
opponents were radicals who
would plunge the county into
debt with exorbitant bond issues,
They also raised the issue of a
new philosophy" which played
on the anti-Communist theme.
The new slate of candidates in
the Al election contended the
incumbents had failed to carry
out necessary improvements and
expansion. They charged that
the school administration was not
responsive to the will of the
people and that the system was
controlled as a political organ
tzation without regard for merit.
The political" charge now is
being hurled by supporters of
the Moncure bill. Mrs. Leone
Buchholz. member of the County
Board, said THE liberals have
used the elective board as a.
weapon for political purposes
The schools are just stepped in
politics" !