Ralph J. Perk Jr., was elected president of the Cleveland board of education last month after a contentious selection process that required 14 ballots to declare a winner.
Mr. Perk, the son of a former mayor of the city, vowed to seek an end to the district’s long-running desegregation case and to orient the board’s priorities towards serving children.
A probate judge named the board’s president last year after members refused to unite behind a viable candidate, even after seven days of court-ordered negotiations in a locked room.
Joyce G. McCray has been named executive director of the Council for American Private Education, a Washington-based coalition representing some 15,000 non-public elementary and secondary schools.
Ms. McCray for 12 years has been principal of Friends Seminary, a Quaker day school in New York City. Previously, she served as high-school principal at the Pro6fessional Children’s School in New York, and director of development at the Ethical Culture Schools.
Ms McCray will replace Robert L. Smith, who will retire in June after 10 years as cape’s executive director.
The names of the four finalists in the National Superintendent of the Year program have been made public by the American Association of School Administrators.
The winner of the competition, now in its second year, will be announced March 3.
The superintendent finalists are: Boyd Applegarth, Beaverton (Ore.) School District #48J; John A. Stewart, Polk County (Fla.) Public Schools; Richard C. Wallace Jr., Pittsburgh Public Schools; and James A. Wilsford, Orangeburg (S.C.) School District #5.
Students should not receive extra credit for nonacademic activities, even if they are working to raise money for their school, says Alvin Anderson, principal of St. Albans (W.Va.) High School.
After discovering that some teachers were giving students 25 extra-credit points--out of a possible 4,000--for helping out at teacher-run bingo games on Saturday nights, Mr. Anderson called a halt.
The teachers raise between $15,000 and $20,000 a year to help buy computers, cassette players, and other supplies for the school. But while he expressed gratitude for the volunteer efforts, Mr. Anderson decided that such activities did not merit academic credit.
