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Show COIN FLIP DECIDES VICE PRESIDENT: With the Board obviously at a stalemate in choosing a vice-president last week, Board President Karl Truman Tru-man flipped a coin, and then cast his deciding vote for Gary Sullivan. The coin toss came after Clark Smith nominated Truman Tru-man as Board President, and he was unanimously elected. Smith was then nominated by William Flrmage and Sullivan Sulli-van by James Mayer. Max Herzog, MHS music teacher, met with the Board to protest his release at mid -term. He was accompanied by his wife; two adults, and two students. Mr. Herzog stated that he hadn't received sufficient in- formation regarding what was needed when he was put on probation. He said that he had some verbal communication communi-cation from the Principal that he was improving. He . stated that in only three per-" per-" iods was he observed last year and he had not had his classes observed since; however, he said that he had weekly evaluations of his plans by the Principal and that the Principal and the Supt. had met with him a couple of times to discuss needs and concerns. Supt. Haslem reminded Mr. Herzog that evaluations of his classroom teaching of last year were such that he would have been released at the end of that year, except that sufficient time had not been given for improvement opportunity between the time of probation and the year end. As a result it was deemed deem-ed advisable to continue probation pro-bation this year at the start and try for sufficient improvement im-provement by mid-year. Supt. Haslem informed the Board that he, the curriculum curricu-lum director and the Principal Prin-cipal had worked with Mr. Herzog and came to the conclusion con-clusion that a mid -year release re-lease was necessary, as indicated in-dicated as a possibility to Mr. Herzog in a letter to him from the Superintendent, June 17, 1974. Jack Walters, U.E.A. representative rep-resentative of Uniserve, asked what the specific items of deficiencies were and how Mr. Herzog had improved in these deficiencies, such as (1) Insufficient classroom control (2) Insufficient regard re-gard for administrative authority au-thority (3) Improvement of methodology and housekeeping. housekeep-ing. In response to requests for specifics, Supt. Haslem read summaries of reports requested by the Supt. from Principal Horlacher, as gathered from the file of Mr. Herzog. The Supt. noted that only those things that are in written record are being considered by the Board at this time. Other items had been discussed verbally with the teacher and the Principal Princi-pal and that he would not discuss dis-cuss those areas with this group. Mr. Herzog then informed the Board that he thought he should be retained because: a. He fee'" h can handle the (Continued on Page 2) Val Gene Beeson met with the Board regarding the property behind the new Beaver High School gymnasium. gymna-sium. The Board had offered to purchase a part of his property for $550. Mr. Bee-son Bee-son asked the Board if it would not buy allof hisprop-erty hisprop-erty for approximately $38,-000. $38,-000. The Board told Mr. Bee -son it would not entertain purchase of all of his property prop-erty at this time. Mr. Beeson said he would sell a piece behind the gymnasium gym-nasium that is approximately 35 ft. x 64 ft., which would square up the school property. prop-erty. He offered this property prop-erty for $2,000 plus the school's responsibility to fence on the west and on the north. The Board will look at the property and consider the offer at its February meeting. Supt. Haslem reviewed the quotation for the Installation Instal-lation of a sound equipment system in the Beaver High School auditorium Clark W. Smith moved that the Board approve $1400 for the project with the understanding under-standing that Mr. Cantwell would spearhead local projects pro-jects to raise approximately $800 for the rest of the project. Celeste Denton, Beaver High School English Teach, er, met with the Board to inform the Board about the "You Are Important Week" at Beaver High. She stated the object was to give more information on post-high school activities and learning. learn-ing. Each student was to realize how Important he was to the government, to himself, him-self, and to his teacher. In reviewing our social problems as discussed in the state meeting recently, Supt. Haslem said that Utah Is now 6th In the states of the nation na-tion in teenage marriages and that about 75 of ths teenage pregnancies are now conceived out-of-wedlock. One -fifth of all children now reaching the age of 18 will be Involved in a divorce, either through their parents or themselves. Gonorrhea is now five times more preva-lent preva-lent than the common disease of mumps and syphilis is about as prevalent as mumps. The Supt. said thai we can be grateful that these figures are not accurate for Beaver County, but that we should continue to support any program which empha-sizes empha-sizes the traditional values because we are not Immune to these influences. is the district's responsibility responsi-bility to provide the experience. exper-ience. The teacher's job is to interest as many pupils as possible. The Superintendent Superin-tendent said that we cannot fairly provide music just to select students. He said that many teachers of other subjects sub-jects would like select circumstances cir-cumstances also, but that it is the school's responsibility to provide the opportunity for all students. He said that most teachers recognize this and accept the challenge. Mr. Walters asked the Board not to make a hasty decision. Supt. Haslem reminded re-minded Mr. Walters that a decision of one and one -half years deliberation is not a hasty one, and was not decided de-cided lightly. The Board then reviewed the entire case of the dismissal dis-missal of Max Herzog. After long deliberation on the subject, the Board confirmed con-firmed its previous decision of releasing Mr. Herzog at the end of the first semester. Mr. Lynn Parson, a teacher at BHS, met with the Board along with about 30 people from Beaver and Minersville Min-ersville communities. He told the Board that he had not asked anyone to be here with him and that these people peo-ple had come of their own free will. Mr. Parsons told the Board that he feels that he does not deserve to be put on probation. He reviewed the history of hlshiringas coach and said that at first he was offered the position of coach at Milford High and had declined de-clined the offer. He was then offered the basketball coach position at BHS and he accepted ac-cepted the position. He noted that the district gave him financial aid to go to school to get his media certificate. He said that he was hired as a coach and then took whatever what-ever they gave him as a teacher. He was given two English classes, when hired, and then changed to two social so-cial science classes this year. He said he did not do well in the English classes. He said that he requested that he be given the physical education program, through the Principal, but the Board , hired another physical education edu-cation teacher. He said that since he had riot received a formal evaluation, he could not see how he could be given giv-en a letter of probation from the Board. He said that he had done a good job in athletics. Basketball gate receipts have increased each year he has been here. He felt he is doing an adequate ade-quate job in the classroom; there was no formal evaluation evalu-ation prior to the probation; he feels he has done an excellent ex-cellent job In basketball and contrary to reports, he has supported the bantam program; pro-gram; he has never been asked ask-ed to assist in the bantam program; he said that he has been criticized for going home on weekends. This is his free time and it is no one else's business. He said supervisors have never made a positive comment, com-ment, only sown negative seeds. He feels that he has done an excellent job, but has not had a fair shake at the teaching positions available avail-able in the school. He fee is that the community and the students are behind him and he asked that the Board re -scind the letter of probation and put in his file a letter so stating. Many questions were asked ask-ed by the supporters of Mr. Parsons that were in the meeting. Some of the questions ques-tions and comments follow: Brent Smith commented that it appears to him that the whole thing is stemming from an evaluation that has not been made formally. Darlene Bartlett asked if the probation is a fair way to treat Lynn. She said she has a student that has enjoyed his class. Based on the fact that the Board admits he Is an average teacher, why has he been singled out to receive re-ceive a probation letter? Why have not the other average teachers been put on probation? proba-tion? Mrs. Geneal Roberts said that as a neighbor she has seen Lynn grow and he has a fine future and the school has a fine future with him. Mrs. Barbara Robinson said she has four boys and three have been under Lynn. The boys have improved in outlook out-look and it is Lynn who has helped. After hearing the case and thanking those for coming, the situation was again reviewed re-viewed at length. The Supt. told the Board that the present pres-ent classroom assignment will give Parsons a much better chance to succeed in the classroom than was the case in the English classes. Also that the present division divi-sion of physical education responsibilities had three good men teaching these classes of which Parsons was one, and that the new man, Mr. Raddon, hired this year through his math background, back-ground, had allowed us to greatly strengthen our program pro-gram In math and for the first time have a top wrestling program. In the past Mr. Stuck! has been the only math teacher with a strong math background, but that now we have two excellent teachers in this area. He said that other oth-er athletic programs are just as important as basketball and that no one teacher should be favored. He reminded re-minded the Board that the girls programs are also as important as the boys programs. pro-grams. Music and speech are as important as the athletic ath-letic programs. Classroom ability is more important in hiring a teacher than just coaching ability. Further discussion ensued and the Board decided to re -main In the same position as at present with Mr. Parsons remaining on probation until the Board sees fit to remove probation as a result of improvement im-provement in the areas specified spe-cified in the notice. HERE'S MORE ABOUT SCHOOL BOARD classes and the program; b. There has not been enough visiting in his class to find out what happens; c. He can finish the job and not lose continuity in class for this year; d. There are no other jobs around; e. No teacher can go two and one -half years without mistakes. His pro gram is better than it was two and one -half years ago; and, f. He has not had complete com-plete support of the administration. admin-istration. Brian Hanley, a Milford High student, stated that the students might not respect a new teacher coming In during the middle of the year. Mrs. Florence Beard observed that the disciplinary disciplin-ary action needs to come from the home. She felt that Mr. Herzog's program is improving as a result of the contest results. Gladys Whittaker stated that she feels the music program pro-gram is a dumping ground for students that cannot be placed anywhere else. The music classes are the hardest hard-est classes to teach. A music mu-sic teacher is at a disadvantage disadvan-tage of the class, but that it |