Oakland Tribune from Oakland, California • 11

Munck Testimonial Dinner Wednesday rtllft 'WlMrnfiUi 1" i i frnTTiTH'iTrrrH" ing the chambers sponsorship. Assemblymen Ken Meade and John J. Miller will attend the event, and committee chairmen say resolutions honoring Munck have been arriving from national, state and local boards. Entertaining will be Oakland High School's Concert Jazz Ensemble, which won a state-wide superior rating, and the Skyline High School vocal ensemble group, which this spring sang to tum-away crowds at performances of Oklahoma. Special telephone numbers available for making reservations today and tomorrow are 531-2283 and 658-1450 ey was used to replace all schools rated as extreme hazards in case of an earthquake.

Munck said that despite i 1 a i the district managed to build every school promised to voters. (Buildings considered lesser risks were the subject of last months bond election.) Some, such as Lazear and Willow Manor, were built on a sort of semi-portable plan. There were factors other than money. We sure schools would always be needed in those locations. We figured West Oakland would become industrial, and didnt anticipate that so much industry would leave urban areas.

Districts tend to go through cycles of varying administrative needs, Munck believes. He sees Supt Marcus Foster and a previous superintendent, William ODell, as leaders who were hired when there was a need for drastic change," ODell, he says, was pretty ruthless, handled things with autocratic direction. As an administrator, he had no hesitation about eliminating incompetency and insisting on changes. Teachers, and people in education generally, are most timid and fearful. Any change is looked on with distrust and apprehension.

They are dedicated to security and the status quo. When ODell left, we went through much soul-searching as to what kind of man to choose. When you find one who can make changes and get cooperation, you have a good administrator. That was the basis for our selection of Selmer Berg, who had done the same thing in Rockford, Munck recalls; he was to consolidate the changes. After changes are made, then a school district settles down to the status quo again.

This program was carried on by Stuart Phillips, a competent educator and a consider- Munck says. On the other you have to admit that these were special interest groups, each sort of insulated from the other, he observes. Probably, in our present society there is so much personal interest in education that we couldnt continue to operate like that." He sees the schools involved in massive social change, part of aworld-wide trend to equalize power and the lack of power, wealth and poverty. Now there is a power struggle between the haves and the have nots, whether its money, power or education. There has always been some controversy over schools, he says, but by and large they were regarded as sacrosanct in earlier years.

Principals and teachers were placed on pedestals, and parents rarely interfered. I think the loss of confidence occurred about 1948 People began questioning whether the people who were running the schools could be doing a better job. It was about this period when Munck served on an Oakland economic planning committee, which predicted that the city would have about the same kind of future growth it had experienced in the previous decade, and that building costs would reflect the same trends. Sharp inflation, and the number of families moving into the area from government housing in surrounding areas, proved them wrong. A $15.4 million bond issue, passed in 1945, was expected to finance all the new school buildings Oakland would need.

The money only produced about (Hie third of the expected number of schools, Munck recalls. Like Lafayette School; it cost two or three times the amount expected. When the $40 million bond issue passed in 1956, the mon By BEV MITCHELL Tribune Education Writer II Carl Munck's hair is frostier than it was on the day he Joined the Oakland Board 6f Education, the twinkle in his eye is undimmed as he reflects on 28 years of tumult and triumph in the citys public schools. -Oakland educations senior statesman will retire from the hoard on June 30. He chose not to seek re-election, with the comment that school boards, like school systems, need a bit of rejuvenation every 25 years or so.

He has been five times president of the board, was president of the California School Boards Association from 1354-56 and gained a national and international reputation as a friend to education when he was elected president of the National School Boards Association in 1958. When Munck was appointed to the board in 1943 he was president of the Oakland Council of Churches and the North Oakland Kiwanis Club and serving on the local draft board. He was picked for the job, he says, because he had two children in Rockridge School and was active in the Dads Club. Attorney Munck had more leadership experience than a fiarents club membership, audable as that may be considered. 'He has worked actively in civic, professional, fraternal and church organizations, among them Foothill Masonic l2dge (hes a past master), Oakland Scottish Rite Bodies, Oakland Lodge of Elks and local, state and national bar associations.

He long has been a lay leader of his church, the United Church of Christ. Munck is a member of the Rar of Minnesota, California and the U.S. Supreme Court. Also, his father was a member of the three-man school Hoard in Melrose, SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER CARL B. MUNCK in the eyes of city's educational senior statesman National School Boards Association (NSBA).

Established as an association of state boards, it is now seeking local boards as direct members. We have a bill asking Oakland to pay 85,000, and Im opposed. A high point in his national participation in education was the day, in the late 1950s, when executives of the NSBA, National Education Association, the Parent Teacher Association and American Association of Administrators met jointly in Washington, D.C. A notice came from the White House that, if the executives could all agree, President Eisenhower was willing Continued Page 12, Col. 3 tendent, says the first thing he will do if elected is fire the superintendent of schools.

That superintendent in turn has told Munck, Ever since you stole him (Foster) from us, weve been bleeding. So, Munck says, districts do tend to need a bit of rejuvenation every 25 years. Fred Hunter did the same thing in 1925. The late Dr. Hunter, superintendent from 1917-28, led the local fight to prevent teachers jobs from becoming a part of political patronage, a fight that resulted in Californias tenure law.

Active in national school affairs since 1951, Munck is now concerned about the new direction being taken by the A testimonial dinner honoring retiring school board member Carl B. Munck will be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Goodmans in Jack London Square. Sponsors of the affair are te Oakland Chamber of Commerce and the friends of Carl Munck. Tickets, at 87 each, may be purchased from Kay Delucchi, 900 High St.

She can be reached by telephone through the Oakland Public Schools administration building. Boaid of Education members Melvin J. Caughell and Lorenzo Hoopes are chairmen of the arrangements committee. David Silverman and Howard Sipe are spearhead- where Munck learned early about school board problems. In 1960 the new Carl Munck Elementary School was named for him, in tribute to his leadership in the successful, school bond campaign of 1956.

The same man who remains so cool under verbal crossfire at board meetings that some call him cold, is the man who deliberately keeps a balanced law practice (about 50 per cent black, 45 per cent Caucasian, the balance oriental and Chicano) because I like to try to understand people. Whats happened to school boards in 28 years? Weve moved away from the personal relationship with employees of the district, Munck said. Traditionally, when boards started out, members mended the fences, THE ALREADY decided which school needed a new paint job, knew the teachers personally. I think we are now more or less insulated. As society gets more complicated, we have to leave these things up to people who specialize.

Of course, lay persons are the ultimate judges, whether members of a jury or a school board. A change in California law, requiring all board meetings to be public, made another alteration. Munck reflects on the number of sessions the board formerly held with private groups, such as Parent Teacher Association executives or property owners associations. These meetings developed a degree of confidence, and elicited open statements you dont got in public sessions, tjt i PLENTY OF FREE RETIRING OAKLAND After 28 years, twinkle ate man. It was time for another drastic change, Munck says, when Foster was hired.

Schools were a tough piece of meat, and now we use a tenderizer, Munck says. He made the whole deal more palatable to all elements in Oakland, made the difficulties discernible by citizens. Foster is a man who is a catalytic agent what we needed in this area. He inspires confidence as a person and as a judge of human nature. Whether the hard facts of the problem will finally confound him, I dont know.

Munck observed that a nominee for mayor in Philadelphia, where Foster was formerly an assistant superin BANKAMERICARD MASTER CHARGE STORE CHARGE HIGH Fair Traded ENTIRE STOCK OF YARDAGE AND NOTIONS! FABULOUS REDUCTIONS! QUALITY! Items Excepted. up to 2 i OF price DOANN 75 off1 to marked Sate PARKING HGC2B ur stores at 3301 Blvd. in San Fran-also at 51 W. 41st San Mateo and tevens Creek Blvd. i Jose for similar OAKLAND 2323 Broadway Phone 8354460 HOURS: Moil, Bars Fri.

Sat Sun. 11-5 PLEASANT HILL 2304 Monument Blvd. Next ti Wards Phone 687-9350 or 933-8540 HOURS: Sat Sun. 11-5 EL CERRITO 6311 Eureka Avenue Corner if San Phone 527-7300 HOURS: Sat Son. 12-5 4.