Parents' Group Says Schools Are Failing.

A gïoup of parents called the Secondary Schools Improvement Association told the Ann Arbor Board of Education last night the schools' failure to meet the psychological, developmental, social and academie needs of teen-agers underlies problems of motivation, drug use, discipline and safety. The group said education should focus on "more individual responsibility for learning" and should aim toward "independence, autonomy and self-reliance" in individual students. Mrs. iyle Warner, spokeswoman for the group, said that in order to accomplish this, a number of changes need to be made. These include smaller school units, more relaxed, unstructured time in the school day, changes in curriculum and school structure, teacher training in human relations and more student involvement. Most of these same recommendations were contained in a report made to the board about a year ago by the group. Mrs. Warner agreed that some of the recommendations had already been implemented during the past year, and were included in such studies as the Humaneness in Education report. But she said that more changes are needed, despite tight budgets.