Anne Arundel Schools

In Anne Arundel and Howard counties, along the edge of the sniper horror, normal is a question of proximity. Police are working overtime in both counties to keep up with hundreds of calls about suspicious sightings, a challenge that Howard's police chief calls worse than the 2001 anthrax scare. But in Howard County folks are cautiously resuming their fall activities, from weekend sports to ghost tours. In Anne Arundel, less than five miles from the Bowie middle school where a 13-year-old boy was shot Oct. 7, fear of violence has a tighter hold.

Anne Arundel County police are deploying a helicopter to assist in increased police presence on major streets during school arrival and dismissal times today. In Baltimore County, school officials are calling for students to wear bright clothing for greater visibility. And Howard County school officials are warning high-schoolers not to drive to school and instead opt for a ride from parents. "Our students are heading back in extraordinary circumstances," said Charles Herndon, a spokesman for Baltimore County schools.

The Anne Arundel County Board of Education is scheduled to vote next month on the school system's plans to redistrict three elementary schools in the southern part of the county. The board is expected to vote at its April 18 meeting on a proposal to move some students from Central Elementary School, which school officials say is over capacity, to Mayo and Davidsonville elementary schools. According to board policy, the redistricting process must be concluded by April 30. But the emotions regarding the matter probably aren't going away any time soon.

On her first day as a teacher, Carol S. Parham showed up at Baltimore's Pimlico Junior High School in a beige dress with a Peter Pan collar and a matching purse and shoes, all purchased by her mother. The school's seen-it-all secretary took one look at the 21-year-old Parham - the future superintendent of Anne Arundel County schools - and passed judgment. "She won't last long," she told another secretary. "Those kids are going to run all over her." Parham, waiting in the lobby, was defiant.

Anne Arundel County students will probably lose a day of spring break and have three days in June tacked onto the school year to make up for four days school was closed due to winter weather.Interim Superintendent Carol S. Parham will recommend that the school board adopt that plan tonight rather than add four days to the end of the school year. Students missed eight days in January and February, but only four emergency closing days were built into the school calendar. The state requires students to have 180 days of school.

The Anne Arundel County school board is expected today to ask for $11 million less from the county government, thanks to a an unanticipated boost in state aid. But as the board prepares to vote on -- and is expected to approve largely unchanged -- Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell's $969 million operating budget request, board President Tricia Johnson left the door open to the possibility of reinstating programs "left on the cutting room floor." Some board members have pushed for continuing the expansion of the AVID program, which provides extra tutoring and counseling to students in the "academic middle."

Eager to get students to look beyond their textbooks, Anne Arundel County school officials will offer high school credit next fall at some schools to those who conduct cutting-edge research. With the change, students who have taken biology or will be enrolled in biology as freshmen will be able to take the science research class. Students also will be able to explore topics in mathematics, computer science, engineering or social sciences, said Rochelle Slutskin, coordinator of science for Anne Arundel schools.

Changes in curriculum and state-mandated formulas for calculating classroom sizes have as much to do with the crowding in Anne Arundel schools as new home construction, a new report shows.Specifically, the report concludes that a controversial program that allows developers to build near already crowded schools is more of a public scapegoat than a menace.Arthur D. Ebersberger, chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee to Study Waivers of Adequacy of School Facilities Requirements, said waivers have added fewer than 670 students to the public school population of 67,093.

Anne Arundel County school officials hope new recommendations to overhaul middle schools through smaller classes, mentoring programs and more counselors will help curb an alarming statistic the district has struggled with for years: More than a third of high school freshmen have D-averages or are failing. A 49-member task force of educators and community members that spent five months studying ways to improve middle schools has suggested lengthening the school day by an hour to 7 1/2 hours for the system's 16,000 middle school students.

A law that would punish students who call bomb threats into schools failed during this year's General Assembly, but a state legislator is proposing that school officials make the students or their parents pay for mischief caused.In a letter to County Executive John G. Gary and School Superintendent Carol S. Parham, Del. John R. Leopold suggested that Anne Arundel County and the school system draw up an agreement that would allow the county to submit the cost of the threats to court for restitution.