Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1957-08-08
By Dorothy Walesli
Staff Reporter

ONE WEEK AFTER stepping into his new
office, the new county school superintendent to-
day must realize in full measure the tremendous
scope of administering the county's 60,00Opupil
school system.
What are some of the many problems that
challenge DR.. c. Taylor Whittier recently of ST.
Petersburg Fla?
At the beginning, DR. Whittier is faced with
an elected school board whose members have re-
Gently endured much public castigaton the
dropping of his predecessor and who very
conscious that their record win be weighed by
the voters next year.
Without trampling too hard on tender and
overexposed feelings he must Immediately draw
clear lines between administrative prerogative and
the rights of the board to set policy.
At the same time, the head of the school sys-
tenn has to work with community that is noted
for its highly organized special interest groups,
particularly the parents and teachers, as well as
a number Of small pressure groups
THE DIFFERENCES that have sprung up
in recent years over curriculum and other pro
fessional responsibilities have to be resolved The
community must be unified to stand behind DR..
Whittier's basic educational philosophy but the
keen public interest which causes open discussion
must not be discouraged.
Because the size of the job makes zone man"
\.
up his staff but in assigning responsibilities he
will find necessary to give exact definitions of
who does what and when.
This is bare sketch of the overall picture
puzzle that the new superintendent is now busily
piecing together
There are in addition a number of problems
peculiar to Montgomery.
In a school system that has a regular jump
of 5000 in enrolment each year, one problem that
is always present is adequate space. DR.. Whittier
has experienced this on a smaller scale in his
previous job.
He already knows how to walk the tight
rope between taxpayers frantic over rising school
costs and parents in panic over halliday sessions.
ALSO MONTGOMERY has a good record in
this respect having spent $35y000000 since 1854
for school construction. 1t wouldn't do for him to
turn his back for one minute this problem but
over-complacency doesn't seem to be one of Dr.
Winters attributes,
However school buildings and educational
PHILOSOPHERS are secondary in importance as far
this educational leader is concerned Good teach
ers have top priority in his estimate of the needs
of the county children.
What win che superintendent find when he
considers the 200 teachers needed for the next
school year? -
New to the system will be $50 OF them be-
cause of turnover and additional enrolment This
rate of turnover just about matches the national
average but in qualifications, Montgomery teach
ers are tagging behind the State with 1868 percent
not certified as compared to 223 percent of the
teachers in Maryland as a whole, not certified
Class size and work load are about average
for the State but here the need is to revise the
state laws to exclude special area teachers and
principals in determining the teacher-child ratio
for state financial assistance.
WITH A LARGE nl1nhnr of neNu taanlorc
and unqualified teachers, the supervisory staff
assumes increased importance. Numerically, SUI.
pervision in the county is adequate but there are
still nine teaching principals in the elementary