Annapolis Elementary

Chris Haley, great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Kunta Kinte, sat at Annapolis City Dock on Wednesday afternoon, read aloud from his late uncle's acclaimed book "Roots" and extolled the significance of genealogy and family history in the pursuit of self-awareness.But first, he had to clear one hurdle: explain who Kunta Kinte was to his rambunctious audience of 16 Annapolis Elementary School third-graders who yelled, "He played in a movie!" when Haley mentioned his ancestor's name."Well, actually, an actor played his part in a movie," Haley said, smiling.

THERE'S MORE to the Annapolis Boat Shows than simply boats. For a group of nonprofits and clubs, the shows can mean serious money.The parking lot behind Annapolis Elementary on Compromise Street can yield up to $20,000 for that school's PTA during the U.S. Sailboat Show, which concludes this evening.And those folks are not piggish. They share the parking proceeds from the Powerboat Show, which runs Thursday through Sunday, with other PTAs around the city on a rotating basis."Annapolis Elementary has happily and unbegrudgingly shared with those schools that lack location," said Randy Landis, viewed in some circles as the parking czar at Germantown Elementary.

About 40 residents of the Clay Street section of Annapolis last night asked the Anne Arundel County school board to bus their children to Annapolis Elementary School even though they live within a mile of the facility.Jonathan Dean, whose niece will attend the school, said that while the school is closer than Rolling Knolls Elementary, youngsters will be walking through the busy downtown area to reach it."I cannot picture a first- or second-grader trying to negotiate West Street and all that's happening around them at the same time," Dean said.

Annapolis Elementary School received a $200,000 grant yesterday to help its students meet state testing standards.The grant is part of $2.4 million in federal money awarded by the Maryland Department of Education.The school will adopt teaching practices being used at Fullerton Elementary School in Baltimore County, one of four schools in the state to meet standards on all third-grade tests in last year's Maryland School Performance Assessment Program.Annapolis Elementary scored below county averages and well below state standards last year in all categories of MSPAP except third-grade reading.

Some 450 Annapolis children would change elementary schools under a redistricting plan aimed at moving minority children to schools closer to their homes and keeping their communities intact.The plan, proposed yesterday by Anne Arundel County school board member Carlesa Finney, would sharply reduce minority enrollment at Rolling Knolls, which is in a mostly white neighborhood, and increase it at Eastport Elementary.It also would send some black children, who have been bused five miles from their homes to schools in mostly white areas as part of a decades-old plan to achieve racial balance, to schools closer to their homes.

This is where students cheered outside as a fire burned off the fourth floor.This is where Annapolis Mayor Al Hopkins spent two years in first grade, but later was a safety patrol officer.It is where teacher Edward Phillips, called "Icky" behind his back, paddled the hellions.And it is where William Seabrook played what is still his flagship piano piece, the "Maple Leaf Rag," for his sixth-grade graduation.If the bricks of Annapolis Elementary School could talk, they not only would tell secrets of generations of local families, but they would shout that at 100 the oldest continuously operating public school in the state is having a birthday bash this week.

Tameka Palmer, 8, pointed to the pale blue pansies growing in a raised bed by the Newman Street playground. "Those are mine," Tameka said. "I planted those."The flower bed, an oasis amid asphalt, is the work of more than a dozen 16 Annapolis Elementary School students who enrolled in an after-school pilot program sponsored by the Annapolis Gardening School."The idea was to teach the kids the value of the land," said Gretchen G. Krochmal, program director of the two-year-old gardening school.

For the first time, Annapolis officials are planning to intervene in the school redistricting process.At issue is whether students should be bused past neighborhood schools to achieve racial balance, or whether they should attend the school nearest their homes -- even if that means the schools are not as racially diverse.City Council members plan to meet with the Board of Education Wednesday about Superintendent C. Berry Carter II's plan to redraw the school attendance boundaries of nine elementary, two middle and the single high school in the Annapolis area.

Back in another lifetime, so to speak, I was asked to be one of the judges for a pumpkin decorating contest. What fun it was, and what a responsibility. The variety was stunning, and you just knew that each one had an invisible string straight to a kid's heart.Those children had days to work on their designs. This afternoon at Annapolis Elementary School on Green Street, the children will have only a few minutes for their decorating contest, but the results will be just as meaningful.Annapolis Elementary has a mentoring project in cooperation with Alpha Phi Alpha, a national black fraternity.

Bracing themselves for a hard sell to the County Council, school board members approved a $1.1 million budget transfer request yesterday to complete three school renovation projects.The future of projects at Severna Park, Annapolis and Eastport elementary schools is uncertain if the request is not approved, school officials said."I never take anything for granted," Board President Jo Ann Tollenger said. "I think it is difficult to sell. We'll be asked hard questions and we did a better job of getting answers, (but)

Annapolis Elementary School has its charms. Striking views of city landmarks, including the State House dome. Floors of Italian marble. And at the entrance, a bronze bell that is rung by the principal on the last day of the school year. The bell is a gift from the Class of '98. That's 1898. Annapolis Elementary is among the oldest buildings still used to teach children in Maryland. And while its age brings complications - tiny classrooms and energy-leaking windows, to name two - it continues to withstand suggestions that it be closed in favor of a new building.

Dana Daniels started introducing healthier foods to her family a year ago when she noticed that her two younger sons were starting to put on a little weight. The Daniels family always had been active during the summer, going for walks along Bay Ridge beach and swimming in the Anchorage community pool in Annapolis. Once school started in the fall, it seemed impossible to tear her sons away from the TV or the couch, she said. "Getting them out in the cooler months is a little harder to do," Daniels said.

The county school board has approved projects for three Annapolis schools totaling about $62 million. Though the board considered less expensive alternatives because of expected county and state budget shortfalls, the board voted overwhelmingly for the recommendations made by Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell to renovate Annapolis Elementary and the current site of Germantown Elementary - which would become the new home of the Phoenix Center - and to...

The information included in these school profiles is from 2004 and has been gathered by the Anne Arundel County public school system and the Maryland State Department of Education. Elementary schools * Annapolis Elementary 180 Green St., Annapolis 21401 410-222-1600 Facility opened: 1896 Additions/renovations: Modernized in 1948. An addition was built in 1982. Maryland School Assessment: Percent of third-graders scoring proficient or higher: 2004: Reading 72.5%, Math 75.0% * Arnold Elementary 90 Church Road, Arnold 21012 410-222-1670 Facility opened: 1967 Additions/renovations: None Maryland School Assessment: Percent of third-graders scoring proficient or higher: 2004: Reading 90.9%, Math 90.9% * Belle Grove Elementary 4502 Belle Grove Road, Baltimore 21225 410-222-6589 Facility opened: 1952 Additions/renovations: None Maryland School Assessment: Percent of third-graders scoring proficient or higher: 2004: Reading 60.6%, Math 57.6% * Belvedere Elementary 360 Broadwater Road, Arnold 21012 410-975-9432 Facility opened: 1954 Additions/renovations: Modernized and enlarged in 1999.

Drew Ehrlich, the only child of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and first lady Kendel Ehrlich, will enroll this month in a small private school affiliated with the Naval Academy. Drew, who turned 4 last month, will join a preschool class at the Naval Academy Primary School, across the Severn River from the governor's mansion on the grounds of the academy's golf course. He will likely remain there through kindergarten and beyond, Ehrlich's office said. The school, which teaches pupils through fifth grade, was founded to serve the children of officers and civilians assigned to the Naval Academy, the Department of Defense and other military institutions.

The Manning family was in familiar territory yesterday -- in College Park, in the finals of the Black Saga Competition, firing off answers to questions about events in African-American history. Oldest son Kenney started it all three years ago, placing second with Howard County's Forest Ridge Elementary School. A year later, he won the top prize with Murray Hill Middle School. Yesterday, it was his sisters' turn to carry on the family tradition. "It just brings us together as a family because we just study and study and study with each other," Karen Manning, a homemaker from North Laurel, said as she waited for daughter Lashelle, 10, to compete in the elementary finals.

IT STARTED out with predictable chaos four months ago -- a riot of 30 children described by one of their teachers as "cheeky." Now they are a team, an ensemble of fourth- and fifth-graders ready to work a little magic in their cafeteria. They are pupils at Annapolis Elementary School, 180 Green St., and they will present "Annie" at 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and 2 p.m. Saturday -- free perform- ances that are open to the public. They will give two other shows this week for their classmates.

Chris Haley, great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Kunta Kinte, sat at Annapolis City Dock on Wednesday afternoon, read aloud from his late uncle's acclaimed book "Roots" and extolled the significance of genealogy and family history in the pursuit of self-awareness.But first, he had to clear one hurdle: explain who Kunta Kinte was to his rambunctious audience of 16 Annapolis Elementary School third-graders who yelled, "He played in a movie!" when Haley mentioned his ancestor's name."Well, actually, an actor played his part in a movie," Haley said, smiling.

THERE'S MORE to the Annapolis Boat Shows than simply boats. For a group of nonprofits and clubs, the shows can mean serious money.The parking lot behind Annapolis Elementary on Compromise Street can yield up to $20,000 for that school's PTA during the U.S. Sailboat Show, which concludes this evening.And those folks are not piggish. They share the parking proceeds from the Powerboat Show, which runs Thursday through Sunday, with other PTAs around the city on a rotating basis."Annapolis Elementary has happily and unbegrudgingly shared with those schools that lack location," said Randy Landis, viewed in some circles as the parking czar at Germantown Elementary.

About 40 residents of the Clay Street section of Annapolis last night asked the Anne Arundel County school board to bus their children to Annapolis Elementary School even though they live within a mile of the facility.Jonathan Dean, whose niece will attend the school, said that while the school is closer than Rolling Knolls Elementary, youngsters will be walking through the busy downtown area to reach it."I cannot picture a first- or second-grader trying to negotiate West Street and all that's happening around them at the same time," Dean said.