Alternative Education

Ivy Jones likes to show off her auto-mechanics skills from a "classroom" that replicates a fully equipped car care center. Standing in an inspection bay, Jones, 19, handles the equipment with an expertise that she has developed while taking the 12-month course. "I never thought I would be interested in cars, but I have learned so much," she said. "I know what goes on under the hood. " Jones, the only young woman in a class of 13 automotive trainees, is studying at the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives Youth in Transition School in Woodlawn.

Ivy Jones likes to show off her auto-mechanics skills from a "classroom" that replicates a fully equipped car care center. Standing in an inspection bay, Jones, 19, handles the equipment with an expertise that she has developed while taking the 12-month course. "I never thought I would be interested in cars, but I have learned so much," she said. "I know what goes on under the hood. " Jones, the only young woman in a class of 13 automotive trainees, is studying at the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives Youth in Transition School in Woodlawn.

The Harford County Board of Education added $280,000 for an alternative-education program to its proposed $203.7 million budget last night.The proposal from the Alternative Education Framework Team requests that $80,000 be earmarked to increase the number of voluntary alternative-education students from 40 to 80 next school year.The group also requested $200,000 to fund an alternative-education pilot program. The program provides instruction to students who are unable to take classes during the day.The team made its requests in a letter to Jeffery N. Grotsky, the county superintendent of schools, dated yesterday.

Lack of discipline also carries a cost Liz Bowie's article on school suspensions emphasizes the sense of urgency facing school administrators and policymakers to improve and expand comprehensive alternative education programs for students at all grade levels ("Discipline's cost," May 11). There is a growing body of research that supports the importance of identifying at-risk students during the elementary grades and providing alternative education options before these students become disengaged and disenfranchised from the process of learning.

Baltimore school administrators unveiled a plan yesterday to reduce violence and the dropout rate by overhauling alternative education, nearly doubling the number of alternative school slots by August and creating morning and evening programs for working students. The plan calls for the creation of two new alternative schools and the redesign of existing alternative schools, where most staff members will reapply for their jobs. The school system has already set aside $15 million in its budget to fund the plan for the first year.

Every year, enough students drop out of Anne Arundel County schools to fill a high school of their own, district officials say. But there are few locations for specialized programs to address the varied needs of these teenagers. "First and foremost it's a space factor," said Superintendent Eric J. Smith. "That really has kept us from moving forward." School board members will hear about the county's alternative education services and current and future needs at its meeting today. A staff report, requested by board member Eugene Peterson, was prepared after he suggested during budget discussions that alternative education be expanded.

Starting this fall, Anne Arundel County schools will implement several policy changes that will drastically affect students who have been expelled or are in danger of being expelled. Faced with a lack of space at the county's two alternative education schools, where expelled students had been sent, school officials plan to reserve them for students at risk of expulsion. Meanwhile, the school system will require expelled students who are younger than 16 to be taught at home, with the expulsion period extended from 18 weeks to up to 36 weeks.

Waste panels formingThe county commissioners plan to appoint two committees to study solid waste collection and management.The commissioners will appoint one committee to study how to dispose of waste once it is collected. Mechanized recycling, a waste-to-energy incineration plant and other alternatives to opening new landfills will be studied, said James E. Slater, administrator of the Office of Environmental Services.The Northern Landfill near Westminster is projected to close in about 15 years, he said.

The Anne Arundel County school board unanimously approved yesterday a $665.4 million operating budget for the coming school year -- with a big string attached. Still pending is County Council approval to spend $3.5 million of those funds, a supplemental sum school officials hope to draw from a 2002-2003 school year surplus. Because of a law governing unused funds in the budget process, that money must be approved by the council before it can be used for school programs and initiatives.

Two public forums will be held this week to brief the public on a planned study of the school system's facilities. The Anne Arundel County school system is paying MGT of America, a national management and consulting firm, $488,874 for the Strategic Facilities Utilization Study and Master Plan. The study, to be completed by spring, will collect information on the conditions of school facilities and school and community demographics. It will address issues such as the school system's immediate and future space needs, present and future student enrollment and building use and conditions.

Baltimore school administrators unveiled a plan yesterday to reduce violence and the dropout rate by overhauling alternative education, nearly doubling the number of alternative school slots by August and creating morning and evening programs for working students. The plan calls for the creation of two new alternative schools and the redesign of existing alternative schools, where most staff members will reapply for their jobs. The school system has already set aside $15 million in its budget to fund the plan for the first year.

It should come as no surprise that Baltimore youngsters who have been killed or shot have also been missing or suspended from school. Still, data compiled by the city's Health Department and the school system underscore the inevitable connection between skipping school and the increased risk of violence as a result of being on the streets. The state's attorney's office has found, similarly, that young homicide suspects were also likely to have missed school frequently. Schools CEO Andres Alonso has rightly tried to curtail suspensions for nonviolent offenses in an effort to keep more students in school.

The Baltimore school system's new chief executive officer told city principals yesterday that one of his top priorities will be giving them more autonomy to run their schools as they see fit. Andres Alonso also wants budgets centered on individual schools, not a central bureaucracy, and he wants instruction tailored to individual students' needs. Asked about his plans to reform Baltimore's beleaguered school system, the 50-year-old Cuban immigrant was quick to say he doesn't know yet. Often, new superintendents come in and implement whatever they did in the place they were in last, and the reforms fail because they aren't right for the new place.

Anne Arundel County public schools officials plan to hold two more public forums next month on the Strategic Facilities Utilization Study. The forums are an opportunity for community members to weigh in on the study's findings and projections before the final recommendations are presented to the Board of Education in May. The Strategic Facilities Utilization Study and Master Plan was commissioned last year by the school board for $488,874, and is being...

Two public forums will be held this week to brief the public on a planned study of the school system's facilities. The Anne Arundel County school system is paying MGT of America, a national management and consulting firm, $488,874 for the Strategic Facilities Utilization Study and Master Plan. The study, to be completed by spring, will collect information on the conditions of school facilities and school and community demographics. It will address issues such as the school system's immediate and future space needs, present and future student enrollment and building use and conditions.

Starting this fall, Anne Arundel County schools will implement several policy changes that will drastically affect students who have been expelled or are in danger of being expelled. Faced with a lack of space at the county's two alternative education schools, where expelled students had been sent, school officials plan to reserve them for students at risk of expulsion. Meanwhile, the school system will require expelled students who are younger than 16 to be taught at home, with the expulsion period extended from 18 weeks to up to 36 weeks.

The new budget proposed by Harford County Executive Eileen M. Rehrmann provides something for everybody, reflecting not only an improved economy and increased beneficence of the state, but also deferred needs from two years of enforced frugality.County employees will get a 3 percent cost of living increase after two years of freezes, sheriff's deputies will see pay parity, two new schools will open, two firehouses will be built, and a water treatment plant will start up. The county will also pay $6 million in Social Security taxes formerly funded by the state, plus $1.1 million in added employee health coverage obligations.

Anne Arundel County public schools officials plan to hold two more public forums next month on the Strategic Facilities Utilization Study. The forums are an opportunity for community members to weigh in on the study's findings and projections before the final recommendations are presented to the Board of Education in May. The Strategic Facilities Utilization Study and Master Plan was commissioned last year by the school board for $488,874, and is being...

WASHINGTON - My wife is sitting on a gold mine, I tell her. She's a part-time creative writing teacher in a District of Columbia public high school. She comes home with stories more shocking, poignant, bizarre, scandalous and hilarious than I have ever seen on Boston Public and other TV dramas about the traumas of high school. I was particularly touched by what she heard one day from a 16-year-old girl from "Southeast," which is how Washingtonians refer to the poorest section of town. "Ms. Page, you come to every class, don't you?"

Every year, enough students drop out of Anne Arundel County schools to fill a high school of their own, district officials say. But there are few locations for specialized programs to address the varied needs of these teenagers. "First and foremost it's a space factor," said Superintendent Eric J. Smith. "That really has kept us from moving forward." School board members will hear about the county's alternative education services and current and future needs at its meeting today. A staff report, requested by board member Eugene Peterson, was prepared after he suggested during budget discussions that alternative education be expanded.