Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1963-03-14
Teachers
Political
Role Eyed
By Ray Waller
Sentinel Reporter

An amendment TO the
school board personnel pol
icy that would completely
curtail political activity by
teachers while on the county
payroll was offered for con-
sideration at the meeting OF
the Board of Education
Tuesday.
Henry j. Noyes, Rockville at
torney, appeared before the
school board and proposed an
eight-point amendment that
would require any teacher who
wanted to run for office to OBJ
tain a leave of absence without
salary.
The teacher.candidate would
have to obtain his leave whei
he announced his intention to
file office, and if elected, would
have to obtain his leave when
If the candidate were defeated,
he would be restored to his for
mer job Immediately.
The employee would be i'm
mediately and permanently dis
missed if he organized groups
of teachers or students for sup.
port; solicited funds for the
election from this group, or
made any campaign appear
ances before student, P-TA or
any other organization COM
posed predominantly of school
board personnel.
Following the election, the
teacher-candidate would have to
file a statement with the board
of education itemiZing any
money received for students or
board of education personnel.
Noyes' amendment brought a
sharp rebuke from Superinten-
dent of Schools c. Taylor Whit
tier. who said that teachers are
state employees, and as such,
fall under the state personnel
policies. Noyes disagreed, say
ing that as long as the county
paid their salaries, the teach
ers should be considered county
employees and governed under
the Charter requirements.
He quoted the section in the
charter which requires that any
county emplOye who partici-
pates in political activity shall
forfeit his job.
THE teachers should also
come under this law. They
should make a choice either to
be teachers or politicians. We
don't want any part-time teach
er-politicians," Moves added. He
added that a person could not
conduct a campaign in the eve
ming hours without it interior
ing with his work during the
day.
Whittier agreed that there
should be no conflict In activiti-
ties, but that teachers have
long been Disseminated against,
and that an interest in politics
has been one of the reasons for
their gains in recent years.
A school board policy adopted
In 1860 provides that a teacher
can obtain a leave of absence
for a campaign or tenure in
office if elected. Richard M.
Abel last year drew fire from
Noyes when he was reassigned
from a teaching position to an
administrative job at school
board headquarters six weeks
before the November election.
Abel, a Democrat, was a candi-
date for the House of Delegates
as was Noyes, a Republican.
Both lost in the general cleo
ton.
In other business Tuesday,
the school board requested
Price Warehouse & Co., audi
tors, to make a report on
methods which could be used to
keep a better control on school
equipment inventory. The firm
has worked with the board of
education for 10 years auditing
various segments of the system.
A representative of the firm
told the board members that an
accurate list had been kept each
year of items which were not
accounted for at the end of the
school year, and that efforts
to trace missing property were
as extensive as possible.