Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 18, 1993 TAG: 9302180303
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
LEARNING IS HIS PRIORITY
The second of two candidates for Montgomery County school superintendent stressed improving academic performance in meetings with teachers and county residents Wednesday. He also put less emphasis on financial management than his competitor for the job.Robert Rice, 54, a former superintendent of the Anne Arundel County, Md., school system, met with students, teachers, parents and members of the community Wednesday and is scheduled for a closed-door interview with the School Board today.
Rice and Richard Holzman, 53, the former superintendent in Middletown Township, N.J., were selected by the School Board earlier this month as finalists for the post. Harold Dodge, who has been on the job five years, is leaving June 30. Holzman visited earlier in the week.
School Board members will be heading out later this week to talk with teachers and residents in the communities where both candidates last served as superintendents. Board members also will visit Schenectady, N.Y., where Holzman was superintendent before going to New Jersey.
The School Board will begin its deliberations to choose Dodge's successor Tuesday evening. By law, the board must offer someone a contract for the job by March 1 or State Superintendent of Education Joseph Spagnolo could name the new superintendent.
Quality education is a "moving target" that always is being strived for, Rice told residents during a night meeting at Christiansburg High School. Any decisions made by the superintendent should be aimed at improving performance in the classroom and doing what's best for the learners, he said.
The role of the superintendent is to be an adviser to the School Board and to set a vision and direction for the school system, but after the board makes its decisions, it's the superintendent's job "to salute and carry out the orders," Rice said.
Rice said he believes in concentrating talent and resources in the early grades - kindergarten, first and second - to make sure pupils get a good foundation and learn that learning is fun.
To determine what students ought to be doing in the earlier grades, Rice said he would look at the kind of high school graduate the county wants and develop a program to fit that goal.
Rice agreed with one questioner that some educational changes over the years had hurt academic performance. But in defense of teachers, Rice said schools have been asked by society to take on more and more responsibility not related to learning.
"I don't want to go back 50 years, but I think there are definitely some things we can do to stretch people academically," he said.
In Anne Arundel County, Rice supported a minimum academic standard of a 1.6 grade-point average for those wanting to participate in any type of extracurricular activity. He said he believed the requirement should actually be 2.0 for such participation.
"The basic purpose of an elementary or secondary school is learning; it is not to participate in extracurricular activities," he said.
In late 1988, the Montgomery County School Board tried to require a 2.0 average to participate in extracurricular activities but was forced by the public to abandon the idea.
Inclusion of special education students into the regular-education classroom is the "right thing to do," Rice said. But, he said, that inclusion can lead to problems. "You have to have enough time and resources to train classroom teachers," he said.
An elementary classroom that has integrated special-education pupils should not have more than 12 to 15 students per teacher, he said.
Anne Arundel County has roughly 65,000 students, about eight times more than Montgomery County. Rice left that post in 1988 after the board of education there split 4-4 in its support for his reappointment.
He told questioners that he wants to come to Montgomery County because he thinks the county's schools are of a manageable size and was attracted by the county's commitment to a high quality of education.
Burnout played a role in his leaving education for a stint in banking after the Anne Arundel Job, Rice said.