January 9, 1985
In "Books in Our Future," Mr. Boorstin calls "with cautious enthusiasm" for the enlistment of new technologies to strengthen the national commitment to books and reading. The study, conducted by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, was commissioned by the Congress and completed last month by two advisory committees.
Recommendations
No lawsuit brought on such grounds has ever been won at the appellate level, authorities note, although in several states such cases have gone to the state's highest court.
"In no way is this an anti-military statement," said William Goldstein, superintendent of Rocky Hill public schools, who joined with school superintendents from New Britain, Newington, Southington, and Wethersfield last month in refusing to provide student records to the Selective Service.
Under current policy, the civil-rights office selects sites for such compliance reviews largely on the basis of survey data and on information provided by complainants, special-interest groups, the media, and the general public. The ocr was criticized by civil-rights and education groups last fall for delaying its administration of the two biennial surveys of schools and school districts that it has traditionally used in the selection of compliance-review sites. (See Education Week, Sept. 12, 1984)
Verna Roberts, 55, a teacher for 10 years in the Houston public schools, was fired at the end of the last school year based on her poor evaluation, according to Gayle Fallon, president of the union. Ms. Fallon said the Houston school district used a 30-minute videotape of Ms. Roberts's teaching, edited down from about four hours, to supplement the evaluation.
Mr. Sanders, who was named by some as a potential successor to Terrel H. Bell as U.S. Secretary of Education, replaces Donald G. Gill, whose contract expires in July. Mr. Gill has served as state superintendent since August 1980.
In its decision, the court said the 1982 ruling of a Kanawha County circuit judge that the public schools should be reformed "at the earliest practicable time" should remain intact and not be replaced with a timetable that would establish deadlines for implementing the reforms. (See Education Week, May 26, 1982.)
In 1981, the teachers of vocational agriculture in California realized that their program was being largely ignored at the state level. They brought their problem to the legislature and, knowing my background in agriculture, to me. Together, we developed a strategy to reform vocational agriculture in California. Our methods and procedure might well be worthy of emulation throughout the country.