After School

Joseph Blickenstaff III doesn't mind stretching his school day once a week. He calls his 10-hour-Thursdays, including classes and an after-school program, "pretty cool."Joseph and about 11 other aspiring journalists recently enrolled in an eight-week-session of career exploration, researching, writing and putting a newspaper together as part of an after-school program at West Middle School.The journalism class was one of five different programs offered to East and West middle school students through the Carroll County Department of Recreation and Parks.

Standing before some 30 activists and Union Square neighbors Saturday in a neon orange T-shirt with the words "I am Baltimore," 16-year-old Antonio Ellis recited a gritty poem about how the city appears through his eyes. "Born and raised in the city, where youth are always misunderstood. / Being judged based on skin color or because they're from the 'hood," the Reginald F. Lewis High School sophomore said in a lyrical rhythm. "Living in the city, where there is little chance to succeed.

Things to do after school in Westminster if you're a sixth-, seventh- or eighth-grader:* Go to your grandmother's house and wait for Mom to pick you up when she gets off work. Borrrriiinnnggg.* Hang out downtown with your friends, which can be fun for a while, but if you go to the library and socialize the library staff gets upset. Bummer.* Go to the new city recreation department's after-school program at Longwell Municipal Center. Generally fun.The recreation program is "something to do after school," said Katie Underwood, 11, a sixth-grader at East Middle School.

Religious leaders joined hundreds of children and parents in a march around Baltimore's Inner Harbor on Thursday afternoon to protest Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's proposed budget cuts to after-school programs. "Our children are our jewels, not the Inner Harbor," Bishop Douglas Miles, co-chair of Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development, said in front of the Baltimore Convention Center as children and parents cheered. Parents said they rely on after-school programs threatened by Rawlings-Blake's budget to provide opportunities for children to play and learn.

A group of Wilde Lake High School parents asked the Howard County school board last night for money for an after-school bus to transport their children home to Columbia from the Clarksville school they are attending temporarily.Bob Kaufman, a parent, told the four board members who attended last night's meeting that it would cost $27,000 a year for one bus to make two trips each day for students who participate in extracurricular activities or need extra tutorial help but can't find a ride home from River Hill High School, roughly three miles from Wilde Lake.

Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke and BUILD, a community group, are planning to unveil tonight a novel public authority that would pay for after-school programs for city public school students.The programs would include recreation and cultural and academic enrichment activities.Mr. Schmoke plans to raise at least $1.5 million in start-up money from private sources to fund programs beginning in September in 10 city schools, said spokesman Clinton R. Coleman.But one of the mayor's funding ideas -- a 25-cent tax on tickets for the Orioles and Baltimore's new professional football franchise -- is already in trouble.

When the afternoon school bell rings tomorrow, many students across the state and nation won't be shoving books and pencils into backpacks and rushing out the door. Instead, thousands of children and teen-agers will be participating in Lights On After- school!, a nationwide program designed to focus attention on what goes on in young people's lives after school lets out. According to the Afterschool Alliance, a national advocacy group, there are 15 million kids across the nation who have nowhere constructive to go after school.

WASHINGTON -- During the hours when juvenile misbehavior tends to peak -- after the final school bell and before the dinner bell rings -- more than 14 million American children go unsupervised, according to a study of how youngsters spend their afternoons. One-third of middle school children lack supervision. Eleven percent in kindergarten through 12th grade take part in study, music and other programs after school; three times as many would participate but can't for lack of space or money.

WHEN CITY and state school officials forged a "partnership" to run the city school system two years ago, Baltimore begged for extra millions in state aid.Our wasteful days are over, the supplicants promised. We'll use the money wisely. You better had, answered the General Assembly skeptics. Our patience wears thin.Now comes the first independent report on how well the money was spent in the first year of the partnership, and it makes for discouraging reading. Baltimore hasn't been the prodigal son, exactly, but it could have done better.

Programs that help kids keep learning after the school day ends are an important part of the educational experience for thousands of Baltimore students. After-school programs that focus on academic enrichment and the arts help reinforce skills learned in the classroom and foster intellectual curiosity and creativity at home. No wonder the loss this year of six after-school programs to budget cuts has left neighborhood parents frustrated and angry. Budget woes forced the city to cut about $900,000 from its annual contribution to the Family League, a quasi-public agency that funds city after-school programs.

An 18-year-old man was in surgery Friday night after an afternoon fight outside an Anne Arundel County high school, police said. Shortly after 2 p.m., police found the man on the ground across the street from Broadneck Senior High School in Cape St. Claire, according to a statement from Anne Arundel County Police. He was taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore with severe injuries that are not life-threatening. According to police, after school was dismissed, the 18-year-old approached a 15-year-old male student he knew.

Editor: Time magazine recently published an article entitled "Don't Worry, There's Life After High School. " Life 60 years after graduating from Bel Air High School is different than when we were seniors in high school, but it's still life! Psalms 90, vs. 10 defines our life span as, "The days of years are threescore years and 10 and if by reason of strength they be four score years yet it is soon cut off, and we fly away. " Sixty years after high school and we are in the bonus years of life and we must hasten to complete unfinished dreams and plans.

In a recent editorial ("Is tutoring effective?" Oct. 11), The Sun asserted that there was little oversight of organizations providing tutoring to low-income students trapped in failing schools. In the same way we need to hold schools to high standards, we must also hold providers to high standards. But we should not confuse too little oversight with proof that the program isn't effective. Far from it. A recent report by the U.S. Department of Education found that tutoring led to significant gains in math and reading achievement compared to eligible non-participants.

The dozens of children who spend their after-school hours at the Stanton Community Center in downtown Annapolis can find help with homework, or a game of basketball. They get a bag lunch and assistance from a friendly group of volunteers. But the most dominant presence in this historic city building is the man they call Mr. Lassie. Everybody refers to recreation leader George Belt as Lassie, a childhood nickname that has stuck for all his 60 years. (When he was born the third child in three years, his grandparents told his mother he should be called "Lastie," though she went on to have seven more children.

Cherry Abdou says that from the moment she walked into Western High School four years ago, she has been crafting her college application. The senior chose the college preparatory school hoping to get into a top premedical program when she graduated. She built a competitive resume, including an academic record that secured her title as the salutatorian of her class, a host of extracurricular activities including four years of lacrosse and presidency of the National Honor Society; and a transcript of mostly Advanced Placement and honors courses.

School officials fear that college admissions were compromised for more than a dozen seniors at Baltimore's prestigious Western High School because the school failed to send complete application materials. "Shortly before the spring break, I learned that some college admissions materials required from the school — transcripts, school profiles, and recommendations — were not received by all of the colleges to which our students applied," Principal Alisha Trusty wrote in a letter, posted Friday on the school's website and sent home with students who may have been affected.

County receives grant for after-school care providers, programs County Executive James N. Robey, the Local Children's Board and Patuxent Valley Middle School held a ceremony last week to announce a grant of $400,750 to the county under the Maryland After School Opportunities Act. Schools, child-care providers and other groups will receive money for programs for elementary and middle school-aged children, including those with moderate to severe disabilities....

LONG REACH High School Principal David Bruzga congratulated 36 students who are now members of the National Honor Society at a Feb. 12 ceremony with all the pomp and circumstance due the honor.The school's Madrigals sang, and music was provided by the Strings Orchestra, directed by Debbie Varga, and the Jazz Ensemble, directed by Matthew Dubbs, during the "pinning" ceremony.Senior class Vice President Gregg Matusewitch introduced the candidates.Theda Mayer, National Honor Society adviser, added her congratulations.

With a balloon, a straw, a clothespin, tape and string, a group of young scientists designed a rocket that could fly across a room on a trajectory between two chairs. During their aerodynamics experiment, the children discovered that as the balloon releases air, it will travel along the string from one point to another. Then, they tested the theory with multiple balloons and organized races in their lab at the Aberdeen Boys and Girls Club in Harford County. "I learned how to make a rocket out of a balloon today," said Jeremy Valerio, 12. "With just a little material, you can make something big. " During a 10-week, after-school program, a dozen children are pursuing informal science lessons, meeting with area scientists and engineers, and testing their own math and science skills.