Assistant Superintendent

A smoky fire in the elevator of the Carroll County Board of Education headquarters at 125 N. Court St. in Westminster yesterday forced the brief evacuation of nearly 200 employees -- just as they had started to partake in an end-of-the-year ice cream social.The evacuation, which started at 2 p.m., lasted 15 minutes as firefighters worked to extinguish a fire that burned up the motor of the three-story building's only elevator.Undeterred, two employees carried the table of homemade ice cream and all the confectionery trimmings for sundaes and banana splits into the parking lot."

MARTIN LUTHER King Jr.'s life and dreams were recalled and celebrated Sunday by South Carroll churches and synagogues at the fifth MLK Memorial Celebration at Holy Spirit Lutheran Church in Eldersburg.Members of 11 churches and synagogues enjoyed a potluck dinner and fellowship followed by a program focusing on misconceptions about the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.With the theme "NAACP Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow," a panel that included Marge Green, Maryland Women in NAACP; Jennine Auerback, NAACP community resource director; Swaynice Hawkins, a NAACP member; and E. Cordell Hunter, also of the NAACP, led discussions.

About 60 volunteers marched through Westminster's west-side streets and alleys yesterday, picking up and hauling away six truckloads of trash and debris.The cleanup, spearheaded by city officials, was aimed at a drug-infested neighborhood near West Main Street and Pennsylvania Avenue where police have made 83 arrests since August, said Roger Joneckis, chief of police.The most recent arrest occurred Friday night when John Kenneth Tate, 24, of Pimlico was charged with possessing and distributing crack cocaine.

Gary E. Dunkleberger, who has played a key role in shaping the curriculum in county schools during his 18 years in the system, has been named acting principal at North Carroll High School.Dunkleberger, assistant superintendent for instruction since 1994, began work in his new position Monday.The appointment is one of the first for William H. Hyde, a Dunkleberger colleague who was selected by the school board this month as the superintendent of county schools.Dunkleberger will serve as acting principal until Tuesday -- the end of the fiscal year -- at which time Hyde will recommend to the school board that Dunkleberger be made principal, Hyde said.

Dorothy D. Mangle, Carroll County schools' longtime director of elementary education, was promoted to assistant superintendent for instruction yesterday, the first time a woman has entered the top tier of school administration.The school board appointed Mangle as one of two assistant superintendents. Vernon Smith was promoted last month to assistant superintendent for administration."Dottie represents the kind of leadership style we [value] -- an aggressive and enthusiastic approach," said Superintendent William Hyde, in recommending her for the post yesterday.

The Harford County school board officially dismissed Superintendent Jeffery N. Grotsky yesterday after less than two years of service, noting a difference in philosophy with the brusque school chief who sometimes had clashed with the board.The board named Jackie Haas, 49, a veteran county educator, as interim superintendent. She will become the first woman to head the school system.Grotsky, who took the helm of the 38,519-student system in July 1996, will step down as superintendent Friday but will remain as a consultant to the system until the end of the school year, board President Geoffrey R. Close said.

Unhappy with a school boundary change made in the spring by the Carroll County school board, two Union Bridge parents have taken the unusual step of appealing the decision to the state Board of Education.Debbie Doxzon and Kim White argue that the board's approval of the transfer of about 50 students from New Windsor Middle School to Northwest Middle School in Taneytown was inconsistent with its other decisions on redistricting. The transfer became effective this school year."We feel like we have a legitimate case," Doxzon said.

New county schools Superintendent William H. Hyde announced a round of personnel changes, including his replacement, at yesterday's Board of Education meeting.Hyde named Vernon F. Smith, director of school support services since 1987, as assistant superintendent of administration -- Hyde's former position.Smith, who joined the Carroll system as a teacher at Eldersburg Elementary in 1971, will oversee the building, finance, transportation and human resources departments."I think we are at an exciting time in Carroll County public schools," Smith said yesterday.

A top Harford County school official was placed on paid leave yesterday after an August arrest by Baltimore police on a sex charge.Joseph P. Licata, 43, assistant superintendent of operations for the Harford County school system, was arrested Aug. 22 in the city's Eastern District and charged with committing a perverted practice, according to court records. A trial is scheduled Nov. 10.Under state law, perverted practice includes a variety of sex acts aside from conventional male-female intercourse.

Officials in several Maryland school districts say it will be difficult to rewrite curricula, retrain teachers and buy new textbooks in four years to prepare for the state's ambitious new high school graduation standards announced this week.Yesterday, these officials could not estimate the cost of Maryland's new plans to make diplomas more meaningful. However, they are worried about the scope and cost of the task: Pilot tests will begin in 1999, and the first tests to count toward graduation will be given in January 2001.

A new face appeared on the Baltimore County school board Tuesday night, newly appointed by Gov. Martin O'Malley. Zoe Camp, a rising senior at Catonsville High School, is the board's student representative, succeeding Annette Karanja, whose term ended in June. Also during last night's meeting, JoAnn C. Murphy was unanimously re-elected as board president, as was Vice President H. Edward Parker. The board approved the appointment of Judith E. Smith, a city school official, to the new post of executive director for liberal arts - one of several new positions in the department of curriculum and instruction.

Baltimore County schools officials proposed last night that a new school be called West Towson Elementary. The name was suggested after a review of historical records of the area where the facility is to be built, and with input from the five school communities that will be affected by it, said Lyle Patzkowsky, an assistant superintendent. The recommendation was made to the Board of Education during a work session. School officials settled on West Towson because the new building, to be constructed next to Ridge Ruxton School on Charles Street, will serve greater Towson, Patzkowsky said.

Roger Plunkett, recently named the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction for Harford County's public school system, recalled the defining moment that led him to school administration. He was working on a master's degree in journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park. During the winter there was a snow storm, and when he came out of class, there were three inches of snow on the ground. "It took me about three hours to get home that night," said Plunkett, 51, of Ellicott City.

Glascock chosen to lead Md. initiative Robert Glascock, assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and technology in Howard County schools, has been chosen to lead the Maryland State Department of Education's Breakthrough Center, a program to help low-performing schools. The center, developed in partnership with the Education Alliance at Brown University, will support schools and districts earlier, before they need more serious intervention. Glascock, who was hired as a classroom teacher by the county system in 1976, became a Gifted-and-Talented Program teacher at Glenwood Middle School in 1985.

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.

Roger Plunkett, the Howard County school system's business, community and government relations officer, will leave in mid-July to take the position of assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction with the Harford County school system. The Harford County Board of Education approved Plunkett's appointment Monday. Plunkett, who has been employed with Howard County's public schools for 31 years, will replace Gerald E. Scarborough, who is retiring after 37 years with the Harford school system.

Angry County Council members yesterday accused the Anne Arundel County school system of vilifying the county government for the superintendent's proposal to leave 200 teaching positions unfilled, with the council chairwoman blasting school officials for running "one hell of a PR [public relations] scam." "Whoever's doing your PR over there is doing one heck of a job, not a fair one, but a good job," Council Chairwoman Cathleen M. Vitale scolded the district's top business and human resources officials.

The Howard County school system will continue to allow administrators to offer students monetary rewards in exchange for information in connection with "serious offenses," according to an assistant superintendent. School officials made the decision this week in response to concerns raised by parents and students after a Columbia high school principal offered students a $30 reward in exchange for names of participants involved in a December food fight. "We want to be able to use it, but use it judiciously," said Linda Wise, the county's assistant superintendent for school administration.

Superintendent Sydney L. Cousin has decided to halt the application process to fill a newly developed assistant superintendent position, saying the school board should have the opportunity to discuss the new job during the budget process. After a recommendation by an outside audit that the school system centralize communications functions, the position was created to oversee public information, TV services and partnerships offices. "There were some people who raised the question over why there was another high-level administrator," said Cousin, adding that the position ranks lower than a chief position in the county school system hierarchy.

A lunchroom food fight at a Howard County high school got so out of hand that the principal took an unusual step - promising a cash reward to anyone who would name names. Wilde Lake High School Principal Restia Whitaker offered $30 for information on who participated in the December incident, which officials said quickly escalated to an unsafe, not to mention messy, situation. It "was not just food being thrown. There were water bottles, trays and utensils," school system spokeswoman Patti Caplan said yesterday.