12:53 AM 10/9/02
The current flap over the naming of a new elementary school on Endicott's North Side served as a not-so-gentle reminder of a column that should have been written more than a month ago but wasn't.
In the middle and late 1950's, the United States was obsessed with Communism. We had fought the Communists to a stalemate in Korea, and spurred by the likes of Sen. Joseph McCarthy and his ilk, we were hunting Communists, real and imaginary, at home. Although by mid-decade McCarthy was discredited and revealed for what he was - a drunken, irresponsible character assassin and political opportunist - McCarthyism lingered on and our national paranoia was fed by the Russians' launching of Sputnik, the first space satellite.
How could the Soviets put a satellite in orbit before we did? Were their captured German rocket scientists better than our captured German rocket scientists?
No. It was our educational system that was at fault. We weren't teaching our kids enouth math and science. It was the fault of "progressive education," whatever that was, and our only salvation was to "get back to the basics," whatever they were.
The fact that mainstream American education has never ventured far from "the basics" was beside the point. It made a nifty rallying point for the disaffected.
This discontent manifested itself in a variety of ways. In Endicott it produced what came to be known as the Parents Committee for Better Education, a group that saw the U-E school district as drifting away from sound educational practices.
The superintendent of schools, William Krum, became the group's primary target; the district's teachers, most of them anyway, became secondary targets.
District residents divided along philosophical lines and the struggle for control of the system dragged out for about five years. In March of 1958, the anti-Krum majority on the board voted to not renew Krum's contract. But in June of that year one member of the trio, board president Mearle Diles, abstained from an effort to name an interim superintendent. And since the board elections for the 1958-59 school year the previous month saw its makeup go 3-2 in favor of the Parents Committee, to 4-1 against, Krum's job was saved.
Krum, however, wisely said "thanks, but no thanks," and departed for a superintendency on Long Island. At the center of this long running village feud stood Mario George, a charismatic war hero, around whom the heretofore unorganized opponents of the Parents Committee rallied.
George, an Air Force captain who had served as a pilot in World War II, was severely injured during the Korean War, when he crash landed his bomber after it was hit by anti-aircraft fire. Despite his injuries, he rescued several crewmen from the wreckage of the burning aircraft George survived his injuries, but did not fully recover. He was decorated for his valor, then took disability retirement and came home to Endicott with his wife Jeanne.
George was elected to the school board in 1957, served as president for four years, then resigned from the board in August 1963, when he moved to the West Coast to take a position in a hotel chain.
The school system regained its stability during George's years on the board, thanks to his leadership and that of the dedicated people who came on the board with him and after during those difficult years, men such as Gerry Reynolds, Ed Wattles, Anthony Clemente and Dr. Glezen Watts.
George remained a lightening rod, however, thanks in part to his authoritarian manner and his unwillingness to suffer fools and critics - there was no shortage of either - gladly.
On April 21 Mario George died in Honolulu, Hawaii, where he had been living for the last several years. He was 80. His brother, Ceaser, a retired Ithaca teacher and coach, said Mario's last few years were spent in considerable pain from the wounds suffered in Korea. According to his wishes, Mario's ashes were divided among three locations: A third were buried in the Punchbowl Military Cemetery in Honolulu and a third in the American Military Cemetery in Rome, Italy. The remaining ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean off Oahu.
Maybe they should consider naming the new school in honor of Mario. They could do a lot worse - Valley View for example - and if nothing else, it would make ffor some lively discussion.