Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1958-04-03
A Communication -.
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am sure that Mrs John Sherman, chairman
of the Committee on Foreign Languages in Ele.
mentary Schools sponsored by the Montgomery
County Council of P.TAs, was surprised that not
everyone is yelling "hip-hip-hooray" for foreign
languages in elementary schools. Mrs. Sherman
and her committee are to be commended for the
fine job they have done in regard to after school
hours teaching of foreign languages on the ele-
mentary level to children of parents interested
in such an endeavor However, the Incorporate
ing of foreign languages in the curriculum of
the elementary schools for a relatively small
number of students to be paid for out of Board
of Education funds throws entirely different
light upon the situation, and this is what the
Montgomery County Council is opposed to at
this time
The FILES Committee has asked that re-
quest be put in the 19581959 school budget for
one coordinator to get the program started in
the schools The Board of Education set the
salary of the co-ordnator at approximately $4,000
annually. 1t seems that several elementary teach
ers are DESTROYS of taking the extra work of
training themselves for the teaching of foreign
language in schools These teachers will most
likely have had college training in foreign Ian
guages when they were working toward their
degree. All this seems very simple and of course
will take time to incorporate in the school sys-
tenn But where does it start and where does
it stop? Who is eligible and who is not? Where
is the space to be found in these schools to
hold these classes? I know personally of a
Speech Therapist who left Montgomery County
for job at the University of MARYLAND at less
salary because the teaching conditions for speech
therapy in the schools of this county was so
that she had actually space or room available
in the county schools to give proper instruction
to the pupils. The music and physical educa-
ton programs in the elementary schools are
still extremely difficult to be taught properly
at this time because of a lack of space and these
programs reach all the elementary students.
Frederick County, our neighbor to the west,
has raised its starting salary to $4,000 90 annually
for the coming year $4,000 over Montgomery
County Montgomery County has an obligation
to the long-standing fully experienced and quail
fled teachers in the system to do everything it
can to see that these teachers are paid for their
loyalty. Certified teachers must be employed
to gradually eliminate the startling number of
non-certified teachers i'm the county. We must
do our best to eliminate halliday sessions and
cut down on teacher loads per subject. Buildings
must be constructed and old ones maintained
The State Board of Education as well as
some of the Montgomery County educators have
had serious reservations as to incorporating this
program in the near future because they feel
the elementary schools are extremely overbur
dened as to curriculum and the teachers are
overworked as to lack of time and space for all
subjects.
am afraid many parents feel that the for
eign language program shall have to continue
for some time to be paid for by the parents on
an after school hours basis just as some parents
do for special music art and dancing lessons
for their children
Please be patient FILES Committee You
have only waited years. My own community
school waited 20 years for qualified commercial
teacher II years for qualified French teacher
20 years for kindergarten, and we are still
diligently working toward an accredited high
school, Other schools in the county have similar
problems and the immediate future does not look
too promising for fast cure. Unfortunately,
every bit of it costs money
Mrs Charles II. Jamson
Poolesville