THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 5, 1996 TAG: 9604050597
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
For the past seven years, Frank C. Schultz Jr. taught students how to make Silly Putty and Slime. He showed them how to re-charge batteries with a nail, sealing wax and water. And he wowed them with ways to make chemistry work for them in practical, innovative ways.
On Wednesday afternoon, students said, administrators marched into his Manteo High School classroom, searched it and locked his office while stunned students watched.
Schultz resigned.
Board of Education officials refused to comment on the incident or the resignation, saying only that it was ``a personnel matter.''
Schultz said simply, ``I've made some changes in plans.''
He wouldn't elaborate on why, in the middle of a school day, in the middle of the week, with only two months of classes left to teach, he would leave his job.
``I resigned for strictly personal reasons. I was under no pressure from anyone. And it had nothing to do with my students,'' Schultz said Thursday afternoon from his Manteo home. ``I plan on staying in the Outer Banks area - for now.''
As a substitute teacher temporarily took over Schultz's Advanced Placement and other chemistry classes Thursday, speculation about what happened to Schultz - and why - began to spread around the school.
Dare County Assistant Superintendent Gene Gallelli said Schultz ``submitted his resignation effective immediately Wednesday afternoon.''
Superintendent Leon Holleman said he couldn't discuss the situation.
A graduate of the University of Texas and New York University, Schultz received a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Columbia University. He was a Woodrow Wilson fellow at Princeton University, a full professor at the University of Arizona and a researcher at 3M Corp. He holds two patents, a copyright and dozens of awards.
In 1984, Schultz discover a method of extracting latex from raw rubber. He received a patent for the process - which reduces the waste in rubber to less than 1 percent - thereby, reducing the price of many latex products.
In a 1993 interview, Schultz said, ``Chemistry is all around us. It's part of our everyday existence. It's not something you read about in books. It's something you do.
``For the past 25 years, it's been my life.''
Holleman said since Schultz taught the highest level chemistry classes at Manteo High School, he would not assign a substitute teacher to cover the remainder of the school year.
``We're working with the state school of math and science to replace him,'' the superintendent said. ``Some of the other teachers at the school also will help pick up part of his load.'' by CNB