N.Y. Superintendent
Calls for Changes in
Supervisor Licensing
Schools Chancellor Anthony J. Alvarado of New York City, in an attempt to put an end to disputes and litigation over the licensing of school administrators, has presented a plan to the state legislature that would abolish the role of the city’s Board of Examiners in licensing supervisors.
The proposal calls for the state chancellor to assume responsibility for administering examinations for supervisory positions in New York City. The Board of Examiners would still test and license teachers and guidance counselors, but beginning in September 1984, those who pass a new statewide exam for supervisors would become part of a pool of applicants for positions such as principal, assistant principal, and curriculum supervisor.
The legislation would require new supervisors to pass an on-the-job evaluation after the first six months of service.
According to Ted Elsberg, presi-dent of the 4,000-member Council of Supervisors and Administrators, the legislation is necessary because the Board of Examiners has been “negligent” in producing examinations and promulgating licenses.
“The exams that have been produced have been challenged in court,” Mr. Elsberg said. “In the meantime, during the past six years, people have been hired as ‘acting supervisors’ and unable to be licensed or achieve tenure. They are waiting to take exams, pass them, and be regularized. For whatever the reason, the Board of Examiners has failed to act, placing some 1,000 csa members in a vulnerable position.”
“Many have been fired after serving three or four years because they have no chance to be licensed, to go through the probationary period, and to achieve tenure,” Mr. Elsberg said. “The number grows every day.”
The legislation calls for licensing teachers if they pass a state-administered test, the National Teachers Examination, prepared by the Educational Testing Service of Princeton, N.J.
The state would administer a second battery of tests, also devised by ets, in specific license areas. After supervisor candidates pass the second group of tests and serve successinued on Following Page Continued from Preceding Page
fully in the job area, the on-the-job evaluations would be dropped, Mr. Elsberg said.
Pennsylvania Board
Vetoes Bible Group’s
Request for Space
The Norwin School Board in North Huntingdon, Pa., voted late last month to prohibit a religious organization from holding its voluntary meetings in a high-school auditorium before the start of school classes.
The Christian Youth Crusade of Murraysville asked the board in January for permission to hold its meetings at Norwin High School. The leader of the private group insisted that holding the meetings in the public school would not involve the school in religious affairs.
The organization has not indicated whether it will challenge the decision in court, according to Superintendent Charles Lauffer of the Norwin schools. The board might reconsider its decision, he said, if the federal courts uphold the use of public buildings by church-related groups and if the organization submits a new proposal.
The school board’s lawyer, Al Maeillo, advised the board to deny the group permission to use the school. He contended that such use of the building would fail the U.S. Supreme Court’s three-part test for determining whether government is improperly involved with religion.
School-board members said they feared that the American Civil Liberties Union would sue the district if it allowed the club to meet.
W.Va. District Files
$4-Million Lawsuit
Against Architect
The McDowell County (W.Va.) Board of Education late last month filed a $4-million lawsuit against the architectural firm that designed the Mount View High School, which has been plagued by cracks in its walls and floors.
The suit, filed in Kanawha County Circuit Court, alleges that the Charleston-based firm of Zando, Martin, and Milstead Inc. was negligent in designing the high-school facility and that it “failed to oversee or supervise construction.”
Construction on the building began in August 1975. After it opened, the rear wall of the gymnasium collapsed, and there have been numerous other structural problems in the gymnasium and cafeteria areas, in the clinic, and in the coaches’ and boys’ restrooms, according to the school board.
