North Carolina Newspapers

Page TWO THE PILOT—Southern Pines, North Carolina THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1963 ■LOT SMALL UNITS LACK ECONOMY, EFFICIENCY School Roadblock: District Mergers Grains of Sand Southern Pines North Carolina taking over The Pilot no changea are eontemplated. "1 “ .S tf ht paper. We will try to make a little money fjr all concerned. ^ ^ ^ ^ an occasion to use our mni treat everybody alike.” — James Boyd, May 23, 1941. laKe a mue money an influence for the public good we will try to do i . Government Should Represent People It is only about a month until citizens 'of North Carolina vote on the State Con stitutional amendment, known as the “Little Federal” plan, that would decrease the House from 120 members to 100 and increase Senate membership from 50 to 70. The Pilot is opposed to the amendment for what is the best of all possible rea- sonsi wc bGli6ve in and want to strength en and preserve representative govern- —and what we want to see repre- sented in the General Assembly is people, not areas of land or special interests. The Little Federal amendment would so apportion the membership of the House that representatives of only 19 per cent of the people of North Carolina could control that body. That is not right. The amendment’s plans for the Senate would permit a variance of as much as 50 per cent between the number of people represented by one senator and by anoth er. That is not right. Rapidly growing counties would be denied their present privilege of acquir ing more House representation by allot ment of one of the 20 “swing” seats that would be abolished under the Little Federal plan. That is not r^ht. Nothng that the North Carolina Farm Bureau—the proposed amendment s maj or organized backer—or any other group of proponents can say will alter the central issue: legislative bodies exist to represent people and to represent them as fully and fairly as possible. The Farm Bureau opposition is sur prising. That organization prides itself on its democratic methods—sifting the opin ions and desires of its members from county grass roots toward its state and national organization headquarters. Yet Farm Bureau support of the proposed amendment has many earmarks of a de cision imposed from the top on the rank and file. , „ t • Thousands of Tar Heel farmers live in populous or growing aroas that would be unfairly represented if the amendment is approved to assuage the fears of legisla tors from counties that are standing still or losing population. W^e have a notion that a considerable number of the state’s farmers—who are as generally fair-minded as any other segment of the state’s population—will refuse to accept Farm Bureau dictation from on high in the voting January 14. Off Again, On Again Legal Snafn ^ ■ traffic light intersection, was then desig nated. Yet here come the State people themselves to assert that 20 miles per much too slow for that street! After many persons, in the past few weeks, have been arrested for transgress ing a newly instituted and most unrealis tic 20 miles per hour speed limit on b. W. Broad St., the town council approved at its regular meeting this week a new “State Highway Traffic Engineering Department study” that will put the limit on this long, wide stretch of street right back where it used to be and ought to be—35 miles per hour. This sudden reversal will not bring back to those who have been arrested the considerable amounts they have paid out in fines and court costs, nor the time lost in attending court, nor, quite understand ably, will it raise their opinion of policy making in town hall. We were told when the 20-zone was established that State law requires 20 miles per hour in a business section, as that area of S. W. Broad St., from Massa chusetts Ave. to the Morganton Road hour is The traffic engineering study approved by the council covers all state-maintained, state-controlled streets within the town, of which S. Y/. Broad is one. Having been approved by the council, the study is going back to the State whose per sonnel will write the applicable ordin ances, return them to the town to be enacted, and then the signs on S. W. Broad St. will be changed back to 35 miles per hour. What will happen until the new ordi nance becomes effective, we don t know, but we recommend, in the name of civic sanity, that the “speed watch” that has trapped so many drivers on that street lately be kept off it until the 35 limit is restored. A Post-Assassination Irony One of the numerous tragic ifonies ap- narent after President Kennedy s death that he was allegedly killed by a mentally ill young man less than a month after the President had signed into law a bill that marks for this nation a trernen- dous step forward in the treatment of mental sickness and ’retardation. Mr. Kennedy, it is well known, took a snecial interest in mental health. In a i^essage to Congress last February, he had said; “We need a new type of health facility, one which will return mental care to the mainstream of American medicine and at the same time up grade mental health services . . • Located in the patient’s own environ ment and community, the center would make possible a better under standing of his needs, a more cordial atmosphere for his recovery ^^and a continuum of treatment . . • The bill Mr. Kennedy signed October Top Priority Resolution r. , .fj Mnnrp Coun- 31 was the Mental Retardation Facilities and Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act, making available funds for construction of facilities for ment of both the retarded and the mentally ill; for temporary assistance m staffing the new centers; and also funds for research in the field of rnental retard ation and a program for training teachers of the mentally handicapped. Because of the foresight and efforts of its Mental Health Association, Moore County last summer authorized and be gan successful operation of one of the new type mental treatment centers de scribed by Mr. Kennedy—and it is ex pected that the center here will benefit from federal funds authorized by the October 31 bill when its new building is constructed near Moore Memorial Hos pital. At how many points, we wonder, in what Walter Lippmann called the “futile and lonely and brooding existence” of this article was published, direc- Lee Harvey Oswald, the President’s ac- tor of the State’s nanart- cused assassin, could that pathologically hostile young man have been helped by skilled mental counsel or treatment? The article below, publish ed last April, is replrinted! here because of informatioji it contains important to a community like Southern Pines, having one of fte State's smaller school admin istrative units, and the views of State educators regarding such small units and their costs, although not all of the information is applicable here. Dr. Raymond Stone, who is quoted throughout, is one cif the State Board of Education staff members who has been helpful in con sultation on the proposed new Moore County Commu nity College. BY BILL WOMBLE (In the Raleigh News & Observer) Our State, striving mightly now to improve the educational op portunities of its youngsters, is hobbled by its reluctance to overhaul a school system rooted in narrow, provincial thinking. In a few places, the thinking has managed to outdistance the system. The result then has been well-rounded community school programs, efficient and economi cal. But until the system, which today sees as many as six su perintendents to, a single county, is modernized on a Statewide leveL progress probably will continue to be painfully slow. These are the conclusions drawn from the latest surveys by State specialists, whose duty it is to study North Carolina’s public schools and provide for State Board of Education and legislative action. Merger is the roadblock, as it has been for decades, to a net work of Tar Heel schools which have a potential equal to any in the nation, so the specialists say. Very Few Mergers There have been city-county ad ministrative mergers put through in recent years, but the number has been small, and the State still is handicapped by a hodge-podge that deprives countless thousands of children of opportunities af forded those who happen to live in privileged areas. The State didn’t plan it that way, of course. But that is the way it has worked out. Here is a partial picture: —There are now 173 school ad ministrative units in the State’s 100 counties. (This will be re duced by two this year). The largest, Mecklenburg County, which merged with the Charlotte system, has 62,960 stu dents; the smallest, the Town of Fremont, has 575 students. —Although 5,000 students are considered the minimum for ef fective operation, 95 units of those in this State have lass than this number. (Ten thousand stu dents is judged ideal). There are 49 administrative units with from 5,000 to 10,000 students: 18 range between 10,000 and 15.000; eight have from 15,000 to 20.000; and two from 20,000 to 25,000. Basic Factor Now, the “population” of school units is a basic, though by no means the only factor in deter mining an equalization of educa tional opportunities. This is point ed out by Dr. Raymond A. Stone, who has analyzed North Car olina’s situation in a recent study. Stone is assistant to Dr. I. E. Ready, director of the Depart ment of Curriculum Study and Research, State Board of Educa tion (Dr. Ready has become since However he retains the Curricu lum Study post.—Pilot Ed.) Merger of city-counly sys tems. Dr. Stone emphasized, is not necessarily a dollar- saver, when considered! on a Statewide basis, but it cer tainly does result in better use of school money. Admin istrative costs in many cases could be better spent on im proved instruction programs, , he said. Comparative costs on operating multiple units within a county and single units, show this: Johnston County’s schools, all under one superintendent and with 17,173 students, cost a total of $72,551 to administer in 1961- 62. The State’s share was $40,526 and local funds amounted to $32,025. Cherokee County, with only 4,187 students but three units rather than one, spent $60,185 on administration, of which $40,920 came from the State and the re mainder from the cotmty. Pasquotank County, which is even now considering a merger of Elizabeth City schools with those of the county, is another example of the high cost per pupil of division. Dr. Stone said. Its two units had 5,922 students and' their total cost was $51,160. new Depart ment of Community Colleges. Moore County Cited' Moore County had 9,245 stu dents and its over-all cost for three separate units was $71,323; Rockingham County, with four units and 16,717 students, spent a total of $114,013 in 1961-62. The lone county with six ad ministrative units — Robeson — cost the State and local taxpayers a total of $166,194 for administra tion during the last full term. The county had 26,202 students. (At least one of the small units, St. Pauls, is making a move to come into the county system). Mecklenburg’s huge single unit cost a total of $363,249 in 1961-62, of which $282,819 was furnished locally and the State contributed $80,430. There were 62,960 stu dents in the unit. These figures. Dr. Stome contends, clearly show that the State tfiscal policy for its schools definitely favors the smaller units, and, of course, at the expense of all others. This is because the State's money is allocated on a per-pupil basis, nearly uni formly across the State, and each unit, no matter its size, is entitled to its own super intendent and staff. Dr. Stone found that other factors affecting what he termed the “structural adequacy of an ad ministrative unit” varied widely throughout the State. He attempt ed to measure them. One he called “ability” to meet the need locally. For an index to this, he used the county’s net revenue payments to the State’s General Fund, reducing this to a per-pupil “ability.” Then he as certained the county’s own school contributions, and reduced this to a per-pupil basis. The ratio be tween the two he termed “effort.” “Effort to support schools is a two-fold indication of structural adequacy,” he explained. “It not only indicates the financial burden for schools being borne by the county, but also the value people place upon education locally.” Stone’s report shows little Cam den County, with an “ability” quotent of $86.41, contributing $59.63 ner pupil for an “effort ratio” of 69 per cent. This was the highest in the State. Guilford County, with an abili ty quotient of $497, contributed $74 locally, an effort ratio of 14.8 per cent. Dr. Stone said the med ian effort was represented by Wayne County*, with a ratio of 15.99 per cent. Carteret County was the lowest, its ratio being 3.5 per cent. Funds Under Study The report then turned' to a study of the total funds available per pupil in the units of varying sizes. There appeared to be, he said, no correlation between size of unit or kind of unit and avail able funds per pupil. The signifi cant variable was the local con tribution. For instance, the Charlotte city unit’s expenditure was almost $110 per pupil more than that of the Davidson County unit, or 1.7 times as great. The Iredell Coun ty unit, with a current expendi ture of $197.69, represented the median. The conclusion reached was that the smaller unit, though it might have avail able to it funds nearly equal, per pupil, to those of larger units, still could not provide as adequate and efficient educational services as the larger systems. Dr. Stone's findings' on the administrative costs of the varied-sized units pointed up a gross inequity. The smaller the unit, said his report, the higher is the per pupil cost of general control. “The Fremont city unit spent virtually ten times as much per pupil for administration of its schools as did the Gaston County unit,' $18.01 to $1.84,” stated the report. “The State spent 22 times as much per pupil for general control in the Fremont city unit as it did in the Charlotte city unit. The Tryon city unit spent 15.8 times as much per pupil from local funds for general control as did the Scotland' County unit, $6.81 to $43. The median cost per pupil for administration of schools was $3.04 from State funds, $1.90 from local funds.” Why Resist? Why, then, if small units are both uneconomical and inefficient, are mergers so often resisted? Dr. Stone suggests several reasons. “Until the position of assistant superintendent was provided in 1961, there was no incentive to enlarge small units,” he said. “In deed, there was a penalty. Where the State had formerly provided two supenintendents only one would' be provided if merger of two units were effected. The salary for superintendents strong ly favors the small unit. The State now allots a superintendent to every unit. . . ” "The school law does not clearly place responsibility for improved organization. The law permits the State Board of Education to add city units, but does not clear ly empower it to abolish units to improve educational opportunity." Remedy Suggested As a remedy for the situation. Dr. Stone had three suggestions: 1. Establish, through change in State laws now limiting the Board of Education’s powers, a system of adequate administrative units - -adequate as to size, financial resources and personnel. 2. Encourage in all counties and units, no matter the size, greater local interest and support of edu cation. 3. In units economically poor or geographically handicapped (by mountains or sounds), the State should provide equalization funds. In the more isolated places, it might even consider boarding schools. Stone said. Pending the reorganization of units, the State should expand its television education program as a stop-gap. Stone suggests. Surprise Surprise! A husband was buying a Christmas present for his wife. The salesman sailed up to him: “Scarves? This way. Sir.” The man looked them over and picked one out. “Oh,” said the fatuous clerk, “That’s lovely! Won’t your wife be sm-prised!” “She sure will,” said the hus band, “She’s expecting a fur coat.” One chapter in Oswald’s history, as it 1 * riv/r has come out bit by bit, revealed that he We hope that residents of Moore Goun- narrowly missed, by a quirk of ty are properly grateful to the many attention at a most for- blood donors who turned out tor qj his life. At age 13, we collections made in November, tkeje^ are told, in Brooklyn, N. Y., his persistent saving for the county the blood Program brought him before authorities carried on in cooperation with the nea ^o afford him mental treatment —but his family moved back to Texas before it had begun. Without that move to Texas, would a President’s life, a de cade later, have been spared? The incident is enough to alert us all— but especially teachers, physicians, minis- Cross center in Charlotte. j v, Now—with the program saved by do nations that helped to make up for the previous long lag in giving—is no time for Moore County residents to become complacent again. The program can be lost as easily next year as this year—as lost as easily next year as xms ye^ enforcement officers and others assuredly it will be dis ipvel of coming in contact with disturbed young jg no nmuauon uu ma County people do not Keep xne leve people whose condition is not recognized conduct that he is bound to obey, giving in line with the amount understood by their families—that This is the forgotten foundation of DECAY OF DECENCY IN MODERN AGE “The decay of decency in the modern age. . . the treatment of human beings as things, as the mere instruments of power and ambition, is without doubt the consequence of the decay of the belief in man as something niore than an animal animated by high ly conditioned reflexes and chemical reactions. “For, unless man is something more than that, he has no rights that anyone is bound to respect, and there is no limitation on his The Public Speakin O Tannenbaum! Out in Stanley Dunn’s front yard on Young’s Road is some thing very exciting. It’s a balsam tree and it’s from the Smoky Mountains, right here in North Carolina. Across from’ the balsam—ac tually there are two—is a lot full of pointed firs stuck in the ground, on sale for Christmas trees. You creep through them, brushed by the fluffy branches, and you breath deep the wonder ful fragrance of the northern woods. Perhaps you recall how extra sweet that fragrance was when the firs were interspersed with balsams. It’s a fact, the light green balsams, with their beau tiful flat needles, lend a special fragrance to the air that is be yond words. For those who don’t know bal sams we’ll add that it’s one of the loveliest of trees. Especially at Christmas-time. Not only for its heavenly smell but for the exquisite cruciform of its branch es. The small tips of the branches, the top of the tree itself and, of course, the whole of the tiniest emerging seedlings, are in the shape of a perfect cross. Heart- catching as well as nose-catching is the balsam. , Mr. Dunn seems to have prov en that balsams can be grown in this climate. His two were trans planted from their mountain home several years ago and are doing well. Now we gather, from last Sunday’s Greensboro Daily News, that other types of Christmas trees are being grown in this state. The Scotch fir, probably the most generally used for this purpose, can be grown, the article says, throughout the state; in other words: right here. There’s an idea for someone. Why not grow our own trees and have them, all fresh and fragrant as Mr. Hicks’s candles, instead of getting them all the v/ay from Canada? Those Passport Photos Trippers who plan a journey abroad still have to face the can did camera of those who special ize in making shots for passports; but they really aren’t quite as awful as they used to be. There has been such a fuss made by the subjects because they were so dreadful and by the passport of ficials because they were not dreadful enough to suit their mor bid taste, that photographers did, somehow, achieve a perhaps-not- so-actually-happy medium, but still better than the old ones. Richard Armour of the famous “Anmour’s Almanac;” however, in noting that November 20 was the day when the lamentable passport photo rules were first enforced, has, as usual, the last word. “As of Nov. 20, 1913, all Amer icans were required to submit photograpihs attached to their passports. They were not allowed to submit a photograph of their own choice but had to have one made at a nearby shop that spe cialized in thugs, imbeciles, and corpses. “Quite obviously the photo graphs were not intended for identification but for relaxing in ternational tensions by giving French and Italian customs in spectors a laugh.” THE PILOT used by the county’s hospital patients. Within the past couple of months, tor perhaps the first time in the five years or so that the blood program has been operating, the public, it seems, has be come -widely aware of this ingenious system’s vast benefit and unique, irre placeable service to ALL the people, at no cost except small handling charges. We propose as a general, top priority New Year resolution for Moore County: a steady, consistent and generous effort there is a tremendous responsibility in this field. And we can be thankful, here in Moore County, that a local treatment center, along with increasing community comprehension of the nature and threat of mental illness, offers guidance and hope for such youngsters. The great new mental health program made possible, in part, by the slain Presi dent’s interest and determination, may yet save many lives—and will certainly to Teep^’the bfoo^r program lighten many burdens of misery-though going ftrong—all through 1964. it came too late to save his own. democracy in the only sense in which democracy is truly valid and of liberty in the only sense in which it can hope to endure. “The liberties we talk about defending today were established by men who took their conception of man from the great central re ligious tradition of -Western civ ilization and the liberties we in herit can almost certainly not survive the abandonment of that tradition.” —WALTER LIPPMANN People Of Dallas Not Guilt-y In Assassination To the Editor: In reference to your editorial in the December 5 issue, “Dallas Must Act,” I gather from this editorial that The Pilot is advoca ting the views of the “mass hys teria” preachers currently trying to assign guilt for the assassina tion of the late President Kenne dy to the whole of the United States. It seems that you, along with others, have completely lost sight of the fact that the deed was carried out by a member of a party advocating views com pletely alien (or they should be) to our American philosophy. Os wald was a known member of the Communist party; however, this fact has been consistently played down. WHY? It seems logical that this fact should be emphasized rather than treated with kid gloves. I can see no wisdom in castiga ting the people of Dallas for this tragic act even though it was committed in their midst. The views of many Dallas citizens may not have coincided with those of the Kennedy Adminis tration; however, the right to dis agree is a paramount right in a free society such as ours is sup posed to be. No doubt there was police negligence involved in the transfer of Oswald to a second prison, but the idea of dismissing all involved: as punishment for their “guilt” is quite far-fetched. Your paragraph on world opin ion was especially annoying to me. “Should the fate of Europe be entrusted to such a country?” ... If the truth of the assassin’s Communistic record were given the place it deserves in our prop aganda machine, Europe would see that he was indeed one of Russia’s own! All in all, I was quite unaware that the people of Dallas had been drummed out of the United States’ family, thus necessitating wholesale removal of public Offi cials in order to be readmitted to the union. In my opinion they never left it! JUNE MELVIN Southern Pines Published Every Thursday by THE PILOT, Incorporated Southern Pines, North Carolina 1941—JAMES BOYD—1944 Katharine Boyd C. Benedict Dan S. Ray C. G. Council Bessie C. Smith Editor Associate Editor Gen. Mgr. Advertising Advertising Mary Scott Newton Business Mary Evelyn de Nissoff Society Composing Room Dixie B. Ray, Michael Valen, Thomas Mattocks, J. E. Pate, Sr., Charles Weatherspoon, (jlyde Phipps. Subscription Rates Moore County One Year $4.00 Outside Moore County One Year $5.00 Second-class Postage paid at Southern Pines, N. C. Member National Editorial Assn, and N. C. Press Assn.