Assistant Principal

Few students would complain about a snow day. But it might be a good idea to check back in with them June 18. That's the new last day of the school year in Howard County public schools as dictated by last week's winter storm, which scuttled two days of classes. The originally scheduled last day was Tuesday, June 16. The weather created an extended, unexpected break for county students, who had a half-day for testing Friday, Jan. 23, and last Monday for a scheduled professional work day. Tuesday and Wednesday's snow days, plus a two-hour delay Thursday, amounted to a gift from the gods of winter.

A Howard County high school teacher who won a racial discrimination lawsuit against the county school system last year has been placed on administrative leave after lodging a new $1 million suit alleging that her previous legal action led to harassment in her new school. Michelle Maupin, 40, an English teacher at Wilde Lake High School in Columbia, said her principal, assistant principal and a police officer came to her classroom on Sept. 25 and ordered her to gather her belongings and leave the school.

Sharon L. Harris found out she would lead Baltimore County's first public charter school, Imagine Discovery, this spring, when she was an assistant principal at Windsor Mill Middle. Harris, 49, hasn't stopped moving since, selecting teachers (about 30), picking uniforms (yellow and navy blue) and fielding questions from anxious parents. Imagine Discovery serves more than 450 kindergarten-through-fourth-grade students, with plans to expand to eighth grade. Imagine Schools, an Arlington, Va.-based nonprofit with more than 70 schools and about 37,000 students, operates the school.

Susan A. Goglia, a retired Howard County teacher and principal who was as comfortable arguing for students' needs before superintendents as she was teaching reading to first-graders, died Friday of colon cancer at Gilchrist Hospice Care. She was 59. "She was extremely well thought of by the administration because, as an educator, she had a clear vision. She always put her staff first and shared ways to make things happen," said Jonathan E. Davis, principal of Swansfield Elementary School in Columbia and a longtime friend.

Troy Todd has spent the summer moving, only to come right back where he started. The 36-year-old principal at Running Brook Elementary is a familiar face to students and staff. He spent the past three years there as a respected, dynamic assistant principal. It was hard for him to leave the school when he was transferred to Waterloo Elementary as an assistant principal at the beginning of the summer. But a series of transfers and promotions within the school system created an opening at his beloved Running Brook, which resulted in his returning to the school just as he had virtually completed the transition to his new assignment.

Jacqueline T. Lamp, a longtime Baltimore County educator who was principal of Loch Raven High School, died Tuesday of ovarian cancer at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The Rodgers Forge resident was 61. At her death, Mrs. Lamp had been principal of Loch Raven High School for the past four years. Mrs. Lamp, after enduring her chemotherapy treatments, would return to work, and had been there as late as last Thursday, colleagues said. During her illness, a tin mailbox was placed in the school's office.

Harford County Public Schools has named Roger L. Plunkett, 51, a 31-year veteran of the Howard County public schools, as the new assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. He was appointed by the Board of Education at its business meeting Monday to succeed Gerald E. Scarborough, who is retiring tomorrow after 37 years with HCPS. Plunkett, a former teacher and department chair at Howard High School, has also been assistant principal at Hammond High and principal at Atholton and Wilde Lake high schools.

School appointments announced for 2008 The Anne Arundel County School Board last week approved the following administrative appointments, promotions and reassignments for the next school year: * Alex Szachnowicz, from chief facilities officer to chief operations officer; * Andrea Kane from principal of Van Bokkelen Elementary to senior manager for school improvement; * Leonard Massie, from principal of Jessie Lasalle Elementary in Washington to...

Dr. Joseph P. Heaney, a retired special education teacher and administrator whose career with Baltimore public schools spanned more than three decades, died of cancer May 30 at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. The Windsor Mills resident was 59. Born and raised in Baltimore, Dr. Heaney was a 1967 graduate of St. Joseph High School in Irvington. He began his teaching career in city public schools after earning a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1971 from the University of Scranton. He later earned a state certificate in special education from Coppin State University and a master's degree in school psychology from Towson University.

An assistant principal who helped turn around sagging academics at a Detroit public school - and most recently was an assistant principal - was named to head Edgewood Middle School. Lawrence O. Rudolph was appointed by the Harford County Board of Education during a Monday meeting. He will take the helm in July at the Edgewood school, which has not met adequate yearly progress standards in five years. As required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, the school had to take action in an effort to get off the Needs Improvement list.