June 8, 1983
Isobel Contento, an associate professor of nutrition, interviewed 250 children between the ages of 5 and 11 years old about their food preferences. When she asked 115 children to place 71 foods in groups, all of the children created a category for sweets. Sweets, however, are not mentioned as part of the "basic four" food groups.
"When I read in your book that Mercury is the hottest planet, I said, 'This is mixed up!'," Jim wrote the publisher, referring to its Reading About Science, Skills and Concepts Level C, published in 1981.
Circuit Solicitor Randolph Murdaugh Jr. said that 10 current and former members of the board and Robert Salisbury, the district's superintendent, had been indicted last month by a grand jury following an investigation that indicated that the board had exceeded the council's budget from 1979 through 1982 by a total of $650,000.
The same article cited a lawsuit pending before the U.S. Supreme Court as Wright v. Reagan. The correct name of the case is Wright v. Regan; the defendant is Donald T. Regan, Secretary of the Treasury.
William Sundermeyer, the executive director of the South Dakota Education Association, will take over for James O. Hansen, who announced his resignation in early April. Mr. Hansen, who has held the state superintendency for the past four years, said he was stepping down for personal reasons.
Under the terms of a consent decree approved by U.S. District Judge Milton I. Shadur in January, the federal government committed itself "to bring about a coordinated administration of federal programs in Chicago to help create and maintain stably integrated schools."
Terry L. Rose, assistant professor of education at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, surveyed 232 principals from 18 states.
John Chapoton, assistant treasury secretary for tax policy, told the Senate Subcommittee on Taxation and Debt Management that bills proposed by Senators John C. Danforth, Republican of Missouri, and Lloyd Bentsen, Democrat of Texas, would cost "10 times more" than the bill the Administration backed last year.
The National Education Association (nea) represents 1.6 million teachers and constitutes a major voice in the debate on the issue; the President has agreed to meet with the association's leadership to discuss the topic. Don Cameron, who succeeded Terry Herndon as executive director of the union on June 1, spoke last week with Assistant Editor Thomas Toch about the nea's positions on the so-called merit-pay and master-teacher concepts.
Carl I. Johnson, the manager of the state's certification program, said officials have not ascertained the extent of the problem but they know it is a recurring concern to local administrators. One district has 44 coaching vacancies, he noted.
First, the teachers canvassed themselves. "We wrote a letter with a salary scale saying, for example, if you're making over $50,000, you ought to be able to contribute $3,000 over three years," says Mr. Blumberg. At least 75 of the 95 staff members have responded with pledges that now total $55,000, he says.
It was the second time this year that a school-aid measure failed in Jackson, the state's capital. In February, voters defeated a $42-million capital-improvement and school-bond issue.
Representative Williams's action, according to an aide, is in response both to the report of the National Commission on Excellence in Education and to the reaction to it--specifically, President Reagan's assertion that student test scores declined at the same time that federal aid to education soared.