The Boss

Noting the wiry little man whom everyone in town seemed to treat with such respect, the visitor to Albuquerque, N. Mex. (pop. 160,000) naturally wanted to know who he was. The person he asked was a six-year-old Negro first-grader who happened to have his own ideas about School Superintendent John Milne. "You don't know who Mr. Milne is?" said the boy in amazement. "Why, Mr. Milne is boss of the whole world!" To hundreds of Albuquerque teachers and students, John Milne has indeed been a rare sort of boss. In his 45 years as superintendent he has kept his school system humming as one of the most prosperous in the state. "I keep telling myself," one of his principals once remarked, "that Mr. Milne can't always be right. So each time I confer with him, I resolve that this time I'm going to argue with him. But somehow, he always turns out to be right again." As John Milne got set last week to retire at 75, he was known throughout New Mexico as "Mr. Education."

Part-Time Plumber. Born in Scotland, Milne came to the U.S. in 1883. He earned his B.S. at the University of New Mexico, went on to Columbia University for an M.A. in school administration. At 19 he taught his first class; at 27 he was principal of the Third Ward Elementary School in Albuquerque. In 1910, when the town began looking for a new superintendent, it decided to try John Milne.

To supplement his $2,000-a-year salary, he had to work part time as a professional plumber. But even as he wiped joints, his mind seemed always on one thing. In those days, Albuquerque was a railroad town with only five schools, and most people thought it might stay that way.

John Milne, however, was already planning for a future that would eventually bring 63 schools and 40,000 pupils.

When he built the Albuquerque high school for 500 pupils, people protested that it was much too big. Today, though the smallest high school in town, it has had to be expanded to take an enrollment of 3,000. Superintendent Milne also began buying up land, though most of it seemed at first to be far too remote to be needed.

But when the city began to expand, it never had to worry about sites for new schools. One 292-acre tract cost $3,300.

Its present value: $350,000.

The Bright & the Handicapped. From the beginning, Milne hammered away for raises for his teachers. He introduced insurance and sick-leave plans. He was a moving force in building up the New Mexico Education Association, and with his own money he launched its New Mex ico School Review. He was almost solely responsible for persuading the legislature in 1935 to pass an Emergency Education Act that now brings the state school sys tem $12 million a year from a special sales tax.

In the 19303, when some towns in eastern New Mexico began to segregate their schools, Milne sought out Negro parents, helped them find homes and jobs in Albuquerque, placed their children in his own nonsegregated schools. Though he also refused to segregate handicapped children ("They used to herd those little dickenses into separate rooms and break their hearts"), he saw to it that his brighter students got all the extra encouragement possible. As a result, Albuquerque has chalked up something of a record in turning out young scientists and mathematicians. The number of high-school students now taking these subjects is more than ten times the national average.

Superintendent Milne is forever trotting about his schools to see that every thing is going all right. In 45 years the Albuquerque school system has known neither political squabble nor personal scandal, and as long as John Milne is around, it probably won't. "Actually," said one townsman last week, "he'll never really retire. He'll keep on going until the day he dies. And on his deathbed, his last words will be some new idea for the Albuquerque schools."

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