Annapolis Middle

Southern Anne Arundel County civic groups opposed to busing children to school in Annapolis posted a $1,000 reward yesterday for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the author of a racially tinged death threat against county school Superintendent Carol S. Parham. The threat was in response to Parham's decision last month to bus 340 pupils from Mayo Elementary School to an unoccupied wing of Annapolis Middle School for two years while a new Mayo Elementary is being built.

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.

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.

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.

Superintendent Carol S. Parham announced yesterday her decision to relocate Mayo Elementary School pupils and staff to Annapolis Middle School for the next two years during the construction of their new school. The move, which will affect about 340 pupils, has angered some Mayo parents, who are worried about bus travel time to Annapolis and the mixing of elementary and middle school pupils in one building. "That was completely against our recommendations," said Robin Greulich, the head of an advisory committee that has studied the issue since October.

Bates and Annapolis middle schools won't be merged to save money, as two Anne Arundel County school board members had suggested, but teachers and students will have to do with fewer supplies and school buses and pay more fees for athletics and other programs in the fall.During a daylong meeting yesterday, the board finished cutting $9 million from its budget for the fiscal year that begins tomorrow. Board members said they needed to make the cuts because the $454 million education budget approved in May by the County Council does not meet basic operating expenses.

With today marking the start of a second semester in Anne Arundel County schools, here's a look back at an eventful first semester.State test resultsResults from the 1996-1997 Maryland State Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) and SATs came out during the semester. While overall results of tests were lackluster, school officials adroitly found the good news in the disappointing figures.They pointed to:An increasing number of county schools rating satisfactory or excellent on the MSPAPs since 1993.

Underneath the computer minilab in the Belvedere Elementary School media center is what looks like a tangle of linguine. It's the massed wiring of nine computers, a printer and their surge protectors all stuffed into one electrical outlet, courtesy of a power strip.The fire marshal's office has given the school a month to remove the fire hazard, which means shutting down the little computer center. Belvedere is 43 years old.Two years ago at Annapolis Middle School, the asbestos tile ceiling plopped onto the floor of the multipurpose room.

A few Anne Arundel County parents sent their children to school yesterday with their first assignment -- immunizations -- incomplete. School officials promptly sent them home.Jane Doyle, a school spokeswoman, said officials did not have a complete count of the number of students sent home yesterday, but they knew Friday that 2,000 students had not been properly immunized or did not have the documentation.That is an improvement over last year, when 5,600 students showed up on the first day without immunization records, Doyle said.

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."