New Superintendent

WASHINGTON - Top military officials yesterday named a new slate of leaders for the Air Force Academy and announced other measures in response to a sexual assault scandal that has shaken the elite officer training school. But Air Force Secretary James G. Roche and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper continued to resist calls from critics for an independent review panel to help the academy reform. They also declined to blame the outgoing leaders of the academy for problems that they said go back years.

The superintendent roared. He pounded the lectern. He punched the air. And then Eric J. Smith, the supercharged new schools chief in Anne Arundel County, shocked his audience with a blunt promise. "If we can't improve the level of achievement in the Anne Arundel County school system," he told hundreds of principals and administrators at a late-summer pep rally, "I will resign." To make himself clear, he said it again: "If we can't come up with strategies and mechanisms to improve achievement, I will resign."

In a surprise move, the county school board named retired homicide detective Mike McNelly president yesterday and began what board members called a "new day" in Anne Arundel County education. The board welcomed its new superintendent, Eric J. Smith, and quickly made changes in both the substance and tone of its work. The meeting ended two hours early, and brevity and fiscal accountability were the order of the day. "We are entering into a new phase for Anne Arundel County schools," said McNelly, 56, a Dunkirk resident and seven-year board member.

Vice Adm. Richard J. Naughton has plunged into his official duties as the new Naval Academy superintendent, quizzing top administrators about everything from fund raising to the minutiae of the academy's summer training programs. School officials said yesterday that since his Senate confirmation Friday, the veteran aviator has wasted no time delving into the nitty-gritty of running the 157-year-old military college. "We get the impression that it will be difficult to overwhelm him with detail," academy spokesman Cmdr.

The school board is holding forums today and tomorrow to hear public opinions on the search for a new superintendent. Carol S. Parham is stepping down next month after holding the top county schools job for eight years. The board hopes to hire a replacement by spring. Parents, teachers, students and residents are invited to the forums, which will start at 7 p.m. Forums will be held today at Northeast High School, 1121 Duvall Highway in Pasadena, and Meade High School, 1 Clark Road off Route 175 at Fort Meade.

A NEW HIGH school opens in Carroll County today, the first in two decades, but there won't be any upperclassmen. No senior prom or graduation to plan. Just freshmen and sophomores to set new traditions - and break a tradition of overcrowded South Carroll schools. The upper grades will arrive in later years. Century High in Eldersburg is a success story for the growing system that labored under years of criticism and lawsuits, and a grand jury investigation, about its school construction program.

The panel overseeing the audit of Carroll County schools is expected to decide this month whether it will direct the consulting firm of KPMG LLP to review the superintendent's office in January. The 10-member committee of school administrators, business people and one parent could decide to hold off on that portion of the audit for a year, giving the school system time to appoint a permanent superintendent. During a discussion of the three-year audit process, which began in April, the commissioners decided yesterday to ask interim Superintendent Charles I. Ecker to voice his opinion on the decision.

JOE HAIRSTON may have taken on the most difficult job in Baltimore County. The new school superintendent is expected to improve student performance throughout the system, but he is not supposed to be "an agent of change." Change is a word that conjures up uncomfortable memories at Greenwood, the system's headquarters. When Stuart D. Berger became superintendent in 1992, he roiled what had been a complacent school system. He made a number of necessary changes -- creating magnet schools and emphasizing school-based management, but his brash and arrogant management style created enemies among groups that should have been his allies.

A task force set up by Anthony G. Marchione, superintendent of the Baltimore County schools, more than a year ago to help improve the math and reading scores of black students has made progress, but its future role is in doubt. Members of the Minority Achievement Task Force, made up of residents and school administrators, say they have used $500,000 in county money to set up tutoring programs in math and reading at a number of elementary and middle schools. Money also has been used to tutor high school students in preparation for SAT exams.