Baltimore County Public Schools

Of the 11 Baltimore County public high schools rated among the nation's 2,000 top schools, according to the third annual Newsweek/Daily Beast survey of "America's Best High Schools," Hereford High School ranks No. 1 in the county. The list, published online May 6 by Newsweek and its corporate owner, The Daily Beast, ranks schools based on six weighted criteria. "For the third time this spring, BCPS high schools have shown they are among the nation's top tier," said schools superintendent Dallas Dance.

I am writing in reference to your article, "Questions but few answers regarding elementary school in Catonsville" (May 15). I am a parent at Westowne Elementary in Catonsville. I am concerned that our school is not being included in Baltimore County Public Schools' plans to address overcrowding and the other problems associated with aging schools. My husband attended the May 8 community input meeting. Westowne was not included in the BCPS overcrowding presentation. The three other Catonsville elementary schools were listed and discussed.

Ron Belinko spent a lot of time at high school games over the last 21 years, despite the heavy load of office work and meetings that came with being coordinator of athletics for the Baltimore County Public Schools. He never could let go of the student-athletes who remained the focus of everything he did over a 46-year career as a teacher, coach, athletic director and central office administrator with the county. Belinko, who will retire Friday, found no better measure of how well he did his job than seeing it all come together on the field.

Of the 11 Baltimore County public high schools rated among the nation's 2,000 top schools, according to the third annual Newsweek/Daily Beast survey of "America's Best High Schools," Hereford High School ranks No. 1 in the county. The list, published online May 6 by Newsweek and its corporate owner, The Daily Beast, ranks schools based on six weighted criteria. "For the third time this spring, BCPS high schools have shown they are among the nation's top tier," said schools superintendent Dallas Dance.

I hope you have child-care plans lined up because Baltimore County Public Schools said today that the last day of classes will be Friday, June 14, instead of Tuesday, June 18. More information here: http://www.bcps.org/news/articles/article3220.html

I am writing in reference to your article, "Questions but few answers regarding elementary school in Catonsville" (May 15). I am a parent at Westowne Elementary in Catonsville. I am concerned that our school is not being included in Baltimore County Public Schools' plans to address overcrowding and the other problems associated with aging schools. My husband attended the May 8 community input meeting. Westowne was not included in the BCPS overcrowding presentation. The three other Catonsville elementary schools were listed and discussed.

Dumbarton Middle School is closed Wednesday due to lack of water, according to the Baltimore County Public Schools website. No other closings or cancellations have been reported for Baltimore County public schools, according to the website.

Baltimore County Public Schools announced on Thursday morning, Sept. 8, that Ridgely Middle School will close at 10:30 a.m. today. The school is located at 121 Ridgely Road in Lutherville. School officials said the closure is due to a power outage at the school.

Baltimore County Public Schools' Superintendent S. Dallas Dance will be the featured guest of a Newsmaker Forum sponsored by the Baltimore Sun on Thursday, Sept. 13, beginning at 7 p.m. at the new George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology, 938 York Road, Towson. The forum, which is open to the public, will be moderated by Sun Maryland Voices editor Andrew Green. The event will feature a discussion with Dance about education issues, including those central to Baltimore County Public Schools, as well as opportunities for the public to ask questions of Dance.

Elizabeth Grace Chesney, Baltimore County Public Schools executive director of research, accountability and assessment, was name Howard County schools chief accountability officer during Thursday night's school board meeting. The school board unanimously approved Chesney, who was recommended for the appointment by new Howard Superintendent Renee Foose, the former deputy superintendent for Baltimore County public schools. Both were hired by the Baltimore County after serving in the Montgomery County School System.

I hope you have child-care plans lined up because Baltimore County Public Schools said today that the last day of classes will be Friday, June 14, instead of Tuesday, June 18. More information here: http://www.bcps.org/news/articles/article3220.html

When today's high school seniors started kindergarten in 2000, there was no iPhone, text messaging was hardly used, and very few K-12 students took online classes. While virtually every other arena has seen rapid change over the past decade, K-12 education has remained virtually the same. However, we cannot successfully educate today's students to succeed in tomorrow's world with yesterday's curriculum and instructional methods. Together, we at the Baltimore County Board of Education and Baltimore County Public Schools propose to propel our school system and students forward with a bold new theory of action.

Maynard E. Keadle, a retired principal of Dulaney and Perry Hall high schools known for putting his students and faculty first, died of complications from diabetes Tuesday at Manor Care Ruxton. The Timonium resident was 84. "It seemed that Maynard was principal at Dulaney High School forever. He was one of the strongest principals I ever worked with," said Robert Y. Dubel, the former Baltimore County superintendent of education. "He was principal for so many years and built Dulaney into one of the best schools in the U.S. The faculty loved him. He was a total principal.

Baltimore County schools Superintendent Dallas Dance plans to issue digital devices to middle- and high-school students and wants all children in the school system to graduate bilingual, believing it will make them globally competitive, he said in the county's first state of the schools address Thursday. "Earning a Baltimore County public schools diploma needs to have greater meaning," he told a crowd at Valley Mansion in Cockeysville. The superintendent hopes to see kindergartners learning world languages and older students carrying electronic devices within the next five years, he said in an interview Thursday.

Parents with children in school have a special take on snow forecasts. Some cross their fingers for a "school has been canceled" announcement so they can stay home and have a cozy day of fun with their kids, or some exciting action on the sledding slopes. Others refresh the forecast page over and over, hoping to see that things won't be as serious as meteorologists thought and that school will in fact be in session and they can go to work as planned. I'm in the second camp these days, and gone are the times I could stay in my PJs until noon -- or 7 a.m. the next day, to be honest.

The traffic impact study for Mays Chapel Elementary School that was published on the Baltimore County Public Schools web site Feb. 20 is seriously flawed ("Balto. Co. eschews facts in Mays Chapel Elementary decision," Feb. 19). Cullane Court, which is featured prominently in the study maps, has 11 residences. However, the study's maps failed to include Straffan Drive, a road bordering the school between Cullane Court and Roundwood Road. There are 110 residences on Straffan Drive, and the rear of most of them abut the current deeded open space park, where the county plans to build the school.

Congratulations to Joe E. Hairston on your departure as superintendent of the Baltimore County Public Schools. It is long, long overdue. Between your incompetence and arrogance and the incompetence of the people you have hired, you have succeeded in completely destroying the morale of its teachers along with the reputation of what was once one of the most successful and admired school systems in this country. Shame on you and shame on the school board that continued to employ you. Sue Greenwood, Timonium

As a parent of a student at Cockeysville Middle School, I want to applaud the committed efforts of Dale Rauenzahn, head of safety and security for Baltimore County Public Schools, along with his colleagues who have implemented strong security measures at our school ("Baltimore Co. school veteran will lead new safety office," Oct. 29). After the recent violent incidents at several county schools, Mr. Rauenzahn and his team listened in person to concerned parents. We knew our school was an extremely safe place, but we wanted current security measures updated to ease worries that resulted from recent violence and threats in other schools.

This week, beginning Tuesday, Feb. 19, Seven Oaks Elementary School in Perry Hall will help students celebrate diversity through the school's annual “African American Read-In Chain.” Throughout the week, visitors to the school will share with students some of their favorite  literature written by African American authors.   Some of the school's scheduled readers are Sen. Katherine Klausmeier, Delsgates John Cluster and Eric Bromwell, County Councilman David Marks, and several Baltimore County Public Schools friends and educators, as well as former Seven Oaks Elementary administrators and teachers.

An Relay resident attending Catonsville High School and a Catonsville resident attending the Carver Center for Arts and Technology area have been chosen as 2013 candidates for the Presidential Scholars Program. Adam Antoszewski, a senior at Catonsville, and Sarah Miller, a senior at the county magnet high school in Towson, are among approximately 3,000 students from across the country recognized. They are the only students from Baltimore County public schools to be selected.