Arundel County School

Shipley's Choice Elementary School recognized by Intel Shipley's Choice Elementary School has been named one of 60 Intel Schools of Distinction around the country. The Millersville school, chosen from among 3,300 public and private schools, will vie for $230,000 in grants from the Intel Foundation and other companies. Shipley's Choice, one of three Maryland schools recognized by the foundation, was selected for academic achievement - showing increases in test scores and meeting academic standards.

Anne Arundel County Public School officials said on Thursday the county Department of Health has not recommended additional cleaning steps to be taken amid the Tuesday death of a Glen Burnie High School junior, who had become ill the day before with symptoms associated with bacterial meningitis. School officials on Wednesday said that a letter was sent home to students' parents outlining the girl's death and providing information about bacterial meningitis. "The county Department of Health has not recommended any additional cleaning procedures for us outside of our normal daily cleaning procedures," said Anne Arundel schools spokesman Bob Mosier.

An article in yesterday's Anne Arundel edition of The Sun on the Solley Elementary School project incorrectly stated the number of architects on staff at the Anne Arundel County school system. There are two.The Sun regrets the error.

Two weeks after one councilman declared Anne Arundel County "at war" with local schools over a $5 million funding dispute, the County Council unanimously voted Monday to hand over the cash. The county and schools were at odds over how to resolve the outstanding tab, which arose when state officials determined that Anne Arundel did not give the school system the minimum funding required by state law. While the amount of money was small in relation to the schools' overall budget, the bill took on outsized political significance.

Laurie S. Cook, the one-time Northeast High School teacher accused of having a sexual relationship with a male student, appealed her firing to the Anne Arundel Circuit Court yesterday.Last month, the State Board of Education upheld the local school board's March 1995 dismissal of Cook, 38, of Catonsville.A jury acquitted Cook in 1993 of child sexual abuse and related criminal charges. But the Anne Arundel County school board found that her association with the student and his family was improper.

The Anne Arundel County school board is considering changing the way it handles school redistricting, just a few weeks before new attendance boundaries are to be adopted.The review began after the State Board of Education last year halted the transfer of eighth-graders from George Fox Middle School to Northeast Senior High because of a procedural mistake. The state board said that because the transfer idea came out of a public hearing, the county board should have held another public hearing on the proposal.

25 Years Ago* Twenty-seven persons were routed out of the Holiday Health Club in Glen Burnie by a three-alarm fire. No one was injured but a fireman and a newspaper reporter fell into the club pool and one man escaped from the steam bath unclothed. -- The Sun, Nov. 7, 1969.* Anne Arundel County school Superintendent Dr. Edward J. Anderson said today there is little, if any, surplus money in the school budget to distribute to teachers as ordered by the state Board of Education. -- The Sun, Nov. 19, 1969.

THE ISSUE: SCHOOL HOURS Last week, Anne Arundel County school board members considered testimony from school transportation officials and parents from Annapolis and Severna Park high schools about school operating hours. Supervisor of Transportation Winship Wheatley explained several options to change the high school start time of 7:17 a.m., the earliest in the state. These included shifting the time all schools begin by about 15 minutes, picking up high school students after elementary and middle-schoolers instead of before them, and hiring more bus drivers and purchasing more buses to delay the start time of only high school students - at a substantial cost.

ISSUE: As critical teacher shortages persist, the Anne Arundel County school system has drafted a policy for international hiring of teachers that includes offering to sponsor their permanent residency in the United States. The policy states that the system would help an applicant who had satisfactory job evaluations and a clear disciplinary record and agreed to stay with the school system for at least two years after obtaining a green card. Anne Arundel is more likely to recruit and keep qualified foreign teachers who feel the school system is supporting their efforts to become citizens, said Florie Bozzella, the school system's director of human resources.

The Anne Arundel County school board approved a one-year contract with the teachers union this week that will give teachers a pay raise but increase their health-care costs. The contract, which goes into effect July 1, gives the county's more-than-5,000 public school teachers a 3 percent cost-of-living raise and a $250 flat increase in January. But most teachers will have to contribute 12 percent toward their health plan, up from 10 percent. The contract also provides more instructional planning time to all teachers, and $1,500 stipends to those who work in schools that are targeted for improvement by the state.

The students at Quarterfield Elementary School know him as Mr. Lee, the custodian who keeps their school in tip-top shape. But his kindness to them - say, buying a lactose-intolerant student without any money a juice drink when all her free lunch would afford her was milk - and his gentle nudging to pick up their trash or pay attention to their teachers is how Cain Lee has won them over. When he walks down the hall, carrying a box of equipment or pushing a broom, the students shout his name.

Plans to expand a local jail and an initiative to create housing for Anne Arundel's workers could be on the chopping block this year as county lawmakers look for ways to scale back government spending and rechannel money to schools. County Council members, who are preparing for a second round of talks with school officials today, said they are reconsidering all of the new initiatives in the $1.2 billion budget proposed by County Executive John R. Leopold on May 1. Discussions over the cuts are still fluid, and firm decisions will not be released until after Monday, when County Auditor Theresa Sutherland makes her recommendations to the County Council.

An embattled charter school in Anne Arundel County has abandoned its plans to expand and add high school grades, school officials said yesterday. The move will force about 60 eighth- and ninth-graders at Chesapeake Science Point Charter School in Hanover to find another school in the fall. Chesapeake Science Point, which has 218 students in grades six through nine, had planned to add a 10th grade next year and 11th and 12th grades in subsequent years. The school was developing an International Baccalaureate program.

The Anne Arundel County school system is seeking a nearly $100 million increase in its operating budget, largely because of promised salary hikes for teachers, administrators and support staff, even as county government officials decry an austere budget season that could force sharp cuts in every county department. Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell shared his recommended $969 million operating budget and discussed the system's $189 million capital budget for school construction, maintenance and improvements, which the board approved in September.

ISSUE: As critical teacher shortages persist, the Anne Arundel County school system has drafted a policy for international hiring of teachers that includes offering to sponsor their permanent residency in the United States. The policy states that the system would help an applicant who had satisfactory job evaluations and a clear disciplinary record and agreed to stay with the school system for at least two years after obtaining a green card. Anne Arundel is more likely to recruit and keep qualified foreign teachers who feel the school system is supporting their efforts to become citizens, said Florie Bozzella, the school system's director of human resources.

LAST WEEK'S ISSUE: -- The Anne Arundel County school board will begin televising its meetings within a year, bringing the school system into step with surrounding counties but not satisfying critics, who want the meetings aired on the district's Web site, too. The idea has been brought before the board several times. Members supported it Wednesday after learning that the cost would be paid through fees already collected by cable companies, although some board members expressed concern that additional funding would be needed or that the technology might soon be obsolete.

An Anne Arundel County school bus containing Eastport Elementary School pupils struck an 84-year-old pedestrian in Annapolis yesterday morning, killing the man. The accident occurred at 8:20 a.m. when the bus made a left turn from Madison Street to Bay Ridge Avenue and hit James Wilbur Jackson, 84, of the 900 block of Windsor Avenue, said Hal Dalton, a spokesman for the city police. Jackson was crossing Bay Ridge Avenue when he was struck, Dalton said, and was pronounced dead at the accident scene.