Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-12-09

44lc 6ChT bDc uOcS uOC OelleVe
tntendent under the law"
County School Supt. Forbes H
Norris ordered the transfer last
month Of Mrs. Hazel H. Phillips
IS, who had taught the fourth
grade at Chevy Chase Elemen-
tary for ~ years and Is described
by PTA leaders as a teacher Of
competence"
There is no question Of DR.
Norris right to make transfers.
Mrs. Scharf said. I'm the case
OF dismissals or salary cuts, the
teacher has the right of appeal
to the School Board, but trans
fers are completely administra-
tive"
Transfer Is Legal
Charles w. Prettyman, counsel
to the county School Board, said
that from a purely legal point
of view, there is nothing q
teacher can do about a transfer
or an assignment she considers
unjust"
"As a practical matter, Of
course" he added, "a teacher
can complain anywhere he or
she wants and bring whatever
pressure is available to get the
superintendent to change his
mind, but there is no question
that the county school superin-
tendent in Maryland has the
general legal right to assign his
teachers wherever he wishes"
This view was supported by
Miss Henrietta Howard, chair
man of the ethics committee Of
the Montgomery County Teach
ers' Association. to which Mrs.
Phillips has appealed for aid in
getting reinstated at Chevy
Chase Elementary.
Miss Howard, a teacher at
Belt Junior High School in
Wheaton. said the contract that
every teacher has with the coun-
ty school department gives the
superintendent the full right Of
assignment and transfer.
Manner Of Transfer Hit
Reinstatement of Mrs. Phil
lips, however, is only one of the
goals Of the protesting Chevy
Chase parents. Many of them
feel that the manner in which
the transfer was handled is an
even more serious matter.
Mrs. Phillips, a 35-year vet
eran Of the Montgomery school
system, said she was called to-
Rockville on November IS. She
said Assistant Supt. James L..
Prince, acting in DR.. Norris abb
sence, told her she was being
transferred because I had been
upSetting the administration of
the school,"
Mrs. Phillips said there was
no threat Of dismissal made byI
DR.. Prince. as was alleged Thurs
day night in a Chevy Chase Ele-
School PTA executive
committee report to the County
Council of PTAs, which stated
that Mrs. Phillips was given 24I
hours to resign or be transferred. ."
Mrs. Phillips said the trans
Ter notice came as q complete
shock" She said she never went /
back to the Chevy Chase school.
but reported. as ordered, to Park
wood School on November 26
She stayed there only q week. |
however, before she was trans
ferred again to the Pleasant Viewt
Elementary School in Kensing-
ton, where she reported last
Explanation Is Demanded
Mrs. Phillips said that when
DR.. Norris returned from his re-
cruiting trip, she asked and vas
granted an audience with him
on November %. At this confer
ence, she demanded an explana-
ton Of why she had been sud-
denly transferred.
She said DR.. Norris told her
there had been several incl
dents that led up to the trans
Ter. but he wouldn't 60 into any
detail, except for that incident
last February. which I thought
was all settled"
Last February, Mrs. Phillips
vent to Rockville to protest the
assignment by the principal of
an additional child to her class.
She accepted the extra student
On orders Of DR.. Norris.
Mrs. Phillips expressed the
personal belief that "the HAL
owen thing" probably brought
On the transfer. This involved
IN objection registered by Mrs.
when the principal de-
;ided to move the schools an