Superintendent

State health officials are pondering what, if anything, to do about Dr. Bruce L. Regan, the superintendent of the Spring Grove Hospital Center, who was disciplined last week for writing improper prescriptions in his private psychiatric practice.Regan, who has been superintendent at the Spring Grove hospital for the mentally ill since 1987, has been placed on three years' probation by the state Board of Physician Quality Assurance.He was found by the board to have prescribed narcotics in a manner "clearly outside the accepted standard of care."

Bonnie Ward, who has overseen curriculum, instruction and staff development as an assistant superintendent of Kent County's public schools, has been named the system's superintendent. Ward, 54, was chosen by the county Board of Education at a meeting Monday night and signed a four-year contract calling for an annual salary of $100,500, said Ann Dwyer, president of the board for Kent - whose system, with eight schools, is Maryland's smallest. She succeeds Lorraine A. Costella, who announced that she will retire at the end of the school year to spend more time with her family.

The Oakland Mills High School lacrosse player who urinated into a water bottle used by an opposing team has been referred to the superintendent for disciplinary action, according to Howard County schools spokeswoman Patti Caplan.The student -- a junior mid-fielder -- has been suspended for 10 days, the maximum that a principal can suspend a student under state law without review by the superintendent, Caplan said.The superintendent may lengthen the suspension or expel the student, Caplan said.

Paula A. Langmead, who has been acting superintendent of Springfield Hospital Center for more than a year, was named superintendent of the Sykesville facility yesterday.Ms. Langmead took over the top post at the state psychiatric hospital in September 1993, after the resignation of Dr. Bruce Hershfield, who had been superintendent at Springfield since 1986."I'm just delighted to be given the opportunity to continue in the endeavors I've already started here at Springfield," Ms. Langmead, 46, said yesterday.

Rather than delay the selection of a new superintendent, the Carroll County Board of Education should move expeditiously to find a successor for retiring superintendent R. Edward Shilling. The board should begin immediately the process of locating the best possible person to fill the system's top managerial position. Its target should be to have a new superintendent in place during the 1994-95 school year.Heeding the wishes of the small group of activists who want the selection delayed until after the fall school board election would not be in the best interest of the system.

The coming week should tell whether state Sen. Christopher McCabe carries out his threat of legislation that would limit the Howard County school superintendent's power to transfer personnel. We hope that doesn't happen, having previously opposed this legislative attempt to micro-manage the workings of the school system.Senator McCabe himself suggests the bill won't be needed if school officials, particularly Superintendent Michael Hickey, accept some changes in the transfer process. The senator, who has called the bill a "stick" to whip the system into self-reform, is to meet with Dr. Hickey today and again next week in an effort to craft a compromise that would render the bill moot.

IN AN editorial partially reprinted in Other Voices June 21, R.B. Jones, the feisty, erudite editor of the Baltimore Times sees conspiracy afoot in the ouster of city schools Superintendent Richard C. Hunter and the unsuccessful attempt to appoint David Hornbeck, a white, as Hunter's successor.Hunter, according to Jones, was "publicly assassinated by a conspiracy that included groups that are attempting to control the city public schools from a distance." Jones further asserts that "corporate elites" are behind the conspiracy, with the installation of a white superintendent as one of their ultimate goals.

A Mass of Christian burial for William H. "Blackie" Schauman Sr. will be offered at 9 a.m. tomorrow at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, 8420 Belair Road in Fullerton.Mr. Schauman, 75, a resident of the 4200 block Overton Avenue, died Saturday at St. Joseph Hospital after a stroke.A native of Baltimore, Mr. Schauman grew up in Waverly and graduated from City College.He worked for 38 years at Maryland Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., retiring as a ship superintendent in 1977.He is survived by his wife of 55 years, the former Margaret Einolf; seven sons, William H. Schauman Jr., Thomas R. Schauman, Ronald C. Schauman, Albert W. Schauman, Michael J. Schauman, Timothy J. Schauman and Joseph E. Schauman, all of Baltimore; nine grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

Baltimore officials have decided not to extend the deadline for applications for the position of school superintendent, thanks to a last-minute flood of promising resumes -- including seven or eight from superintendents of larger school districts from all over the East Coast.Baltimore had received 89 applications by yesterday's postmarked deadline and expects more to trickle in, said Robert G. Wendland, the city's deputy personnel director.The batch includes resumes from about 10 deputy school superintendents from Maryland and the rest of the Eastern seaboard.

The superintendent of Anne Arundel schools yesterday defended the system's handling of the case of Ronald W. Price, a Northeast High teacher who has admitted on national TV having sex with students.On the eve of the airing of a "Geraldo!" show featuring the teacher, superintendent C. Berry Carter II issued a carefully worded statement confirming that the system is cooperating with police. But he stopped short of denying Mr. Price's claims that the schools have long known of his actions."Engaging in sexual contact with a student is wrong.