Annapolis Middle

The Annapolis Middle School Dance Company hadn't completed its first year of existence when the big stage beckoned. Director Kendra Smith received a call last April from a national tour organization for school performers telling her that someone had anonymously nominated her troupe to perform at a college football bowl game. "You know you're calling Annapolis Middle School, right?" Smith asked, knowing that such honors are usually reserved for high school programs. But she was assured that the caller had indeed specified her group and its performance at the Anne Arundel County Public School Dance Festival in February.

Annapolis Middle School teacher Beth Foster trumpets the importance of STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — programs for all students, convinced that science and math disciplines aren't, as she puts it, "just for brainiacs. " The school's science department chair said her convictions were bolstered by her work on a research project during a recent fellowship at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash. Foster was one of just 20 teachers nationwide selected to work with a team of scientists in a fellowship that offers practical applications for STEM instruction.

Annapolis Middle School teacher Beth Foster trumpets the importance of STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — programs for all students, convinced that science and math disciplines aren't, as she puts it, "just for brainiacs. " The school's science department chair said her convictions were bolstered by her work on a research project during a recent fellowship at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash. Foster was one of just 20 teachers nationwide selected to work with a team of scientists in a fellowship that offers practical applications for STEM instruction.

Someone opened a window at Annapolis Middle School and took a container of candy, Annapolis police said Thursday morning. Police said the burglary and theft of a container of licorice from a window sill took place between last Wednesday and this past Wednesday. The window had been unlocked, according to police. andrea.siegel@baltsun.com Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Eddie Scott, principal of Meade Middle School, has been appointed as the new principal at Annapolis Middle School. Annapolis Middle is currently under the state's restructuring program for failing to meet federal testing targets in five of the past six years, school officials have announced. Annapolis Middle's current principal, Carolyn Burton-Page, requested another assignment at the end of the school year. Scott has been principal at Meade Middle since 2006 and was previously an assistant principal at Marley Middle, before working in both Baltimore and Prince George's County schools.

An unpopular plan to bus Mayo Elementary School pupils to Annapolis Middle School for two years while their new school is under construction drew nearly 100 parents to yesterday's school board meeting. Speaking on behalf of about 60 Mayo parents at the meeting, Robin Greulich apologized to Annapolis Middle School for what she called racist comments made by some Mayo residents, who said they were worried about sending their children to a school with a large minority population. "I'd like to give my deepest apologies to the students and parents of Annapolis Middle School," said Greulich, who is leading an effort to appeal Superintendent Carol S. Parham's decision on the relocation of Mayo pupils.

Some 300 Mayo Elementary School pupils will be bused up to two hours a day to Annapolis Middle while a new Mayo school is built, the school board decided last week in turning down an appeal from parents who have fought the move for more than two years. The board rejected numerous alternatives proposed by the Mayo parents and upheld the superintendent's plan to send children to Annapolis for two years, starting as early as January. At one-third capacity, Annapolis Middle was the best option for relocation, the board said.

Angered by a plan to bus their children to Annapolis Middle School for two years during the construction of a new Mayo Elementary School, parents plan to take their arguments to the Board of Education when it meets tomorrow. "We are going to fight this," said Robin Greulich, the parent of a Mayo third-grader, who is leading an effort to appeal Superintendent Carol S. Parham's decision, announced Feb. 17. Mayo Elementary parents say their main objection to the Annapolis Middle move is the bus travel time for their children.

Annapolis schoolchildren might have to say good-bye to some of their friends next year if the county school board approves a plan to change enrollment boundaries at Annapolis and Bates middle schools."

A PLAN that would relocate the Mayo Elementary School population to Annapolis Middle School while a new Mayo gets built is a sensible idea that's sensitive to students' and taxpayers' concerns. There would be inconveniences, just as there were when four other schools used Annapolis Middle as their temporary homes in recent years. Annapolis Middle is about 20 minutes from Mayo, so the daily trip would be longer. But once students, teachers and administrators arrive at Annapolis, they would have their own space.

The Annapolis Middle School Dance Company hadn't completed its first year of existence when the big stage beckoned. Director Kendra Smith received a call last April from a national tour organization for school performers telling her that someone had anonymously nominated her troupe to perform at a college football bowl game. "You know you're calling Annapolis Middle School, right?" Smith asked, knowing that such honors are usually reserved for high school programs. But she was assured that the caller had indeed specified her group and its performance at the Anne Arundel County Public School Dance Festival in February.

The Annapolis Middle School Dance Company next year will become the state's first middle school to perform in a college football bowl game when it takes the field at halftime of the Orange Bowl in Miami on Jan. 3. The 12-member dance company will be among 1,000 student performers in the sporting event known for its halftime entertainment. The Orange Bowl game will be played at the 75,000-seat Sun Life Stadium, which is also the home of the Miami Dolphins and Florida Marlins. "We are very proud and excited to represent our school and all of the dancers in our country," Annapolis Middle dance company director Kendra Smith said in a statement Friday.

Kohl's Department Stores said Monday that it will open two new stores in March. One will be in Annapolis, at Somerville and Solomons Island roads, and the other in Middle River at Martin Boulevard and Middle River Road. The retailer will hold five-day job fairs from Jan. 10-15 to help fill a combined 280 jobs at the two stores. The Annapolis job fair will be held at the Double Tree hotel on Holiday Court, and the job fair in Middle River will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn on Campbell Boulevard.

Eddie Scott, principal of Meade Middle School, has been appointed as the new principal at Annapolis Middle School. Annapolis Middle is currently under the state's restructuring program for failing to meet federal testing targets in five of the past six years, school officials have announced. Annapolis Middle's current principal, Carolyn Burton-Page, requested another assignment at the end of the school year. Scott has been principal at Meade Middle since 2006 and was previously an assistant principal at Marley Middle, before working in both Baltimore and Prince George's County schools.

Annapolis Middle School, which has failed to meet federal reading mandates in five of the past six years, will undergo a state-monitored restructuring that will emphasize a rigorous academic program, replace some staff, require more professional development and offer year-round instruction to students, according to a plan approved by the school board last week. The Anne Arundel County Board of Education unanimously approved Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell's restructuring plan for Annapolis Middle School, which has consistently failed to meet what is referred to as "adequate yearly progress" in reading.

Thirty years ago, on Nov. 19, 1977, I stood at Israel's Ben Gurion airport as Anwar el-Sadat's plane landed on the tarmac. The scene defied imagination, as the Egyptian leader embraced Israeli leaders. Hope was in the air. Suddenly, anything seemed possible. Mr. Sadat's bold move led to Israeli accords with Egypt and Jordan and the tantalizing hope of a deal with the Palestinians. But over the last seven years, the peace process has virtually collapsed. Now comes the Annapolis meeting - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's gamble that she can spark a new push for a Palestinian state living peacefully beside Israel.

WE MAY never know - really know - why the Anne Arundel County school board overruled the superintendent's decision to temporarily transfer predominantly white Mayo Elementary School students to predominantly black Annapolis Middle School. But it sure looks like the board may have blinked in the face of hostile bigotry. Is it possible that this decision had nothing to do with the racist death threat sent to superintendent Carol S. Parham? The board must explain its decision. This was the plan: The Mayo Elementary student body would occupy an empty wing of Annapolis Middle for two years while a new Mayo is built.

Mayo Elementary School parents renewed their objections last night to the transfer of their children to quarters at Annapolis Middle while a new Mayo school is built, and asked the school board to consider other options. In a hearing before the school board to appeal the transfer to Annapolis, the parents asked that their children be sent instead to a soon-to-be-vacant Davidsonville Elementary building or Southern High School because they are closer to home. But in testimony last night, interim Superintendent Kenneth P. Lawson rejected those options as unfeasible and said Annapolis Middle was the best place to relocate the 300 Mayo children for the two years it takes to build a new school.

A week after announcing that an Edgewater charter school would be shuttered, its divided leadership last night formally voted for the school to remain open in a stunning turnaround. But the 3-2 vote by the board of KIPP Harbor Academy left more questions than answers: Where the school would operate? Who would be its principal? And who would staff it since 10 of the 12 teachers have found new jobs? "We have two teachers and one staff person. ... We're in a very difficult position," said Steve Mancini, a spokesman for the acclaimed Knowledge is Power Program, or KIPP.

After being rebuffed by the Anne Arundel County Board of Education, the principal of an Edgewater charter school is planning to appeal to local lawmakers to help the school find room to expand. The Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) Harbor Academy, which now has 120 fifth- and sixth-graders inside Sojourner-Douglass College on Old Solomons Island Road is negotiating with Mount Moriah AME Church in Annapolis to build on the church's grounds, Principal Jallon Brown said. In the meantime, the school had hoped to move into Annapolis Middle School, which is two-thirds vacant, to keep to its plan to add a seventh grade in the fall and an eighth grade in 2008.