Mr. Mountz's Retirement
Asbury Park Press
May 10, 1962
Spring Lake School Renamed To Honor Retiring Principal
SPRING LAKE - Public school Principal Harry W. Mountz, who retires June 30 after 48 years in the school system, will have an imposing reminder of his service.
The Board of Education has voted to rename the school where he served the H. W. Mountz Public School.
An educator of the “old school,” Dr. Mountz over the years has kept his school a veritable fortress against so-called “progressive” education, with the whole-hearted support of the school Board and the community.
When he ends his long service, he may well set a tenure record for school administrators, the State Education Association believes, although it has no records on longevity of service.
Well Schooled Schoolman
Dr. Mountz can match his near half-century of administration with an impressive educational program.
He has both a master’s and doctor’s degree in education.
A native of Mechanicsburg, Pa., Dr. Mountz was graduated from Shippensburg (Pa.) State Teachers College, near his home; Ohio Northern University, and Harvard University. He took post graduate study in clinical psychology at Johns Hopkins University and in applied and abnormal psychology at the University of Cincinnati.
In addition, he has done research work with feeble-minded children under experts in the field in Massachusetts.
Dr. Mountz says he dislikes recitals of educational experience and credentials, and declined to itemize his various degrees and study field. But he did admit to having had experience in college teaching at one time.
He first entered the education field in New Jersey March 8, 1908, and became principal of the Spring Lake school Sept. 13, 1914.
The school was located then in the building that is now borough hall.
The present building, opened in 1922, contained 10 rooms and 300 pupils from pre-primary to eighth grades.
Thinking is Fundamental
The pre-primary class is a concrete example of Dr. Mountz’ “fundamentalist” thinking in education.
Pre-primary is an alternative to kindergarten where five-year-olds “play-learn" for two and a half hours a day.
At the school here, five-year-olds have all-day class, they learn to print and read, and – according to Dr. Mountz – they learn to be neat.
Here, too, they get an introduction to the school’s training which emphasizes “courtesy, refinement, and decency.”
This means that students knock before entering the principal’s office, they reply “Good morning” when addressed in the same fashion, and they exhibit other forms of politeness and manners.
“I believe that children ought to be taught to respect law and order and rights of others,” explains Dr. Mountz. “This is as important as history and arithmetic.”
He also believes that children should achieve a sense of satisfaction in their work.
“Every day that a child leaves school he should feel that he has gotten something worthwhile for this day’s work.”
Dr. Mountz says he firmly believes that America must have this kind of public school training everywhere – kind but firm discipline with a “real education” – if the country is to remain strong and free.
Dr. Mountz hastened to stress that his fundamentalism is not the kind that disparages athletics.
“I am greatly interested in athletics,” he said. “We don’t overstress it, but we give it a proper place.”
He added that two of his basketball players later played on Asbury Park High School’s first championship team.
How is Dr. Mountz’ firm guidance accepted by the students?
An Asbury Park Press reporter who accompanied him on a visit to first and second grade classes saw six and seven-year-olds who were working on blackboards or otherwise busy around their rooms quickly take their seats as he entered.
When he said “Good morning children,” they replied in unison, “Good morning Mr. Mountz.”
Strolls Among Pupils
He strolled down the aisles and chatted with them addressing them by name.
One little girl grabbed his hand and kissed it. Another showed him her “diamond” ring. A boy told the principal he had given his sister “a dollar to buy two lipsticks for her birthday.”
A little girl tried to hug him around the waist.
It was like watching children receiving a surprise visit from a beloved grandfather.
Later in Dr. Mountz’ office, a boy about 10 entered with a bit of art work he had made for “Mr. Mountz.” It was a gold design on a red circle of paper- the Harvard emblem – “because you went there.”
Mr. Mountz is supervising the work of children whose parents he steered through the elementary grades here years ago. He worked with them also in Boy Scout activities in which he has been an important figure for 26 years. He also serves on the draft board here.
“I have always accepted civic responsibility as a part of a real life.” He explained simply.
What are his retirement plans?
He has always wanted to study at the Sorbonne University in Paris. But he has no immediate plans beyond vacationing for a while with Mrs. Mountz at their home at 423 Washington Ave., where they’ve lived for the past 46 years.
He still has the balance of the semester to serve out before Spring Lake Public School becomes H. W. Mountz Public School.
See a scan of the actual article here.
