Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-06-12
SCHOOLS
Continued From Page B.


Even bright children vary in
their aptitudes and in their
interests. the superintendent
noted-"A student may be fas-
cinated by the classics and not
by physical science"
This years new 72-minute
classes. heightened from the
previous 81 minutes by cutting
out study periods and adding
five minutes at both ends of
the school day, have raised
some challenges.
1t means providing more d.
versity Of offerings for num-
Der of pupils, and that the
library, normally available for
use in study periods, has to be
open after school and on Sat-
urdayS.
We've been doing a lot of
work on our libraries" Mr..
Williams continued. AS a mat
ter Of fact, the system had just
brought its libraries up to the
State-recommended five books
per pupil when the State rather
perversely upped the figure to
eight. But Mr.. Williams is not
diSheartened.
1--WE are making significant
progress toward the new recon-
mended minimum" he reported.
I'VE have spent about SIS, 1000
of the $4,000 needed"
Second Language Lab
Alexandria is still at work
pulling up reading ability, and
expanding on the gains it has
made there. The systems "a
pupil mobile language labora-
tory has been so successful that
the school board has author
lied another 30-pupil unit for
next year. Motivation for Ian
guage instruction seemed high
this year, Mr.. Williams said.
This was also the case in
AleXandria's program for re-
tarded children, he reported.
Il can hardly tell you how
it is different from other years."
he said, but it seemed to me
more vital this year, and the
results more gratifying. We had
nine classes, Is to class, and
that is two or three more than
the year before"
Continuing are studies of
merit rating for teacher pay
and one on report cards. Mr..
Williams thinks that in the
case of merit pay, unless there
is an evaluation medium that
has the confidence and accept
ance of teachers, the system is
not likely to be successful. AS
for report cards, which combine
the traditional A to F grading
with manuscript comments, so
far the study has come up with
no radically different concepts.
you'll never have a report
card that is entirely salts
factory" Mr.. Williams pre-
dicted.
Planning this year will re-
suit in departnentalization-
subject-separated teaching-of
the seventh grade next year.
The school administration has
come to the conclusion that
offering home economics to the
girls and shop to the boys
doesn't allow enough elective
choice.
By departmentalizing, the
schools can offer a variety of
electives, such as French, art,
music and supplemental teve-
vision work.
Mr.. Williams Is proud of his
school cafeterias, and appar-
emily with good reason. One
of his problems back in 1888
was to install cafeteriaS to feed
depression hungry youngsters.
The system now carries $4,000
worth of lunches for INDECENT
students. The cafeterias run in
the black, without tax funds
except for equipment and the
cafeteria directors salary.
This year, the cafeteriaS re-
duced the price of meals from
80 to Is cents, as an expert
ment, and increased volume.
School officials are hopeful
the operation still will support
itself.
Alexandria has not had much
increase in pupil population for
the last three years. But there
is a lot of building in the west
ern section of the city.
"High-rise apartments going
up" Mr.. Williams unused, "a
lot of building. And our ex-
perience has been that they
mostly get filled up"
Tomorrow Prince Georges
County.