Band Director

GEORGE SMITH'S long-term goal as new band director at South Carroll High School is to lift the band program to a higher level.Smith is confident that by tapping the full potential of each band student, making major changes in the design and difficulty of the music performed, increasing the complexity of the choreography and even changing the way the students march, the band program will move ahead of where it's been.Smith, a graduate of the University of Maryland and the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, joined the South Carroll staff in June from Northern High School in Calvert County where he was band director for more than seven years.

Esther Everitt Dombrowski, a retired Bel Air High School librarian who also wrote feature stories for The Aegis newspaper, died of pneumonia Oct. 8 at Upper Chesapeake Medical Center. She was 81 and lived in Bel Air. Born Esther Everitt on a farm near Bel Air, she was the daughter of a construction foreman and a homemaker. She was a 1948 graduate of Bel Air High School, where she returned after earning a bachelor's degree at what was then Millersville State College in Pennsylvania and a master's degree in library science at the University of Maryland, College Park.

The longtime band director at a Howard County high school has been accused of sexually abusing a female student over the past two years, police said yesterday. Robert Douglas Johnston, 61, who has taught at Mount Hebron High School for more than 30 years, was charged yesterday with sexual abuse of a minor, third- and fourth-degree sex offenses, and obscene telephone misuse, according to Howard County police. Johnston surrendered to police Monday night and was arrested; he was being held yesterday on a $350,000 bond, police said.

Baltimore resident Amy Klosterman was a piano teacher at the Baltimore School for the Arts for 15 years, but her involvement with a youth band in Uganda started with a journey unrelated to music. In the summer of 2007, she traveled to Uganda to do volunteer work. One day, while participating in a community event, rain forced her and others to cram into a tent. "I got to talking to these strangers," said Klosterman, 45. "I told them I was a musician, and they told me about the brass band.

A torrential downpour Tuesday night could not keep the friends and admirers of the late Morris Long from a concert honoring his legacy.About 400 Severna Park Middle School students and their teachers dedicated a conductor's stand and chair to the memory of Long, the school's former band director who died of bone cancer in January. And members of one of the six groups on the program performed one of Long's favorite works. "He would've been pleased, and I know in my heart he was," said his wife, Beatrice Long, who was seated in the front row as the guest of honor.

M. Joseph Fischer, the director of bands at River Hill High School, has been recognized by School Band and Orchestra, a national publication, for its 10th annual, "50 Directors Who Make a Difference." Fischer, who has been at the school since 2003, was a natural choice for the distinction, Principal William Ryan said. "He's an incredible teacher who goes above and beyond what he's supposed to do," Ryan said. "I put him at the top of the 50 band instructors who make a difference."

Taped to Barry Enzman's Glenelg High School blackboard is a 1-foot model rocket next to a laminated quotation attributed to a "famous band director."When members of his marching unit stray during practice, he has been known to chide them: "I didn't ask you to build a rocket. I asked you to move from here to here in 16 counts. This isn't NASA stuff."But keeping in mind that "there is no such thing as perfection," Mr. Enzman expects achievements no less cosmic of his young musicians, and they eagerly deliver.

For 22 years, Morris Long and the Severna Park Middle School concert band packed the house for Christmas and spring concerts.But a stroke last February and a diagnosis of bone cancer a week later forced the 50-year-old band director to retire.Now, current and former students, parents, and colleagues are saying "thank you" with hundreds of cards and bouquets to a man who has only days to live, according to his doctors."He was one of my favorite teachers," said Larry Serio, 29, a percussionist for Mr. Long 15 years ago. "He took the time to make sure you understood what he was teaching."

The spotlight hits a dark-haired woman holding a microphone. Her makeup is dramatic, her hair a tussle of big curls with large earrings swaying beneath them. She wears tight black pants and a black blouse with sheer neck and sleeves."They'd probably fire me if I came to school dressed like this," said Rosemarie Schwer, a Bates Middle School teacher.But it's Saturday night in the back of Mike's Crab House in Riva, and Mrs. Schwer is transformed from an enrichment teacher at the Annapolis school to the singer in Midnight Hour, a nine-piece rock band that plays an eclectic mix of R&B, Motown and pop music from the '60s on.Mrs.

Baltimore resident Amy Klosterman was a piano teacher at the Baltimore School for the Arts for 15 years, but her involvement with a youth band in Uganda started with a journey unrelated to music. In the summer of 2007, she traveled to Uganda to do volunteer work. One day, while participating in a community event, rain forced her and others to cram into a tent. "I got to talking to these strangers," said Klosterman, 45. "I told them I was a musician, and they told me about the brass band.

As a member of Encore Community Music Association since its beginnings in 1995, Andrew Spang has played various instruments - and has even conducted the community band. This year, he's playing the French horn for the first time, and has the pleasure of sitting next to his son. "This is our first year doing it (together)," said Spang, of his 11-year-old, French horn playing son, Benjamin. "My daughter is in the string orchestra. This is her first year, too. It's really neat.

A longtime band director at Mount Hebron High School in Howard County was sentenced to 18 months in jail Thursday for sexually abusing a female student at the school over a two-year period, prosecutors said. Judge Timothy McCrone sentenced Robert Douglas Johnston, who taught at the school for 35 years before his arrest in December, to nine years in prison with all but 18 months suspended. Johnston will be able to serve his time in the county detention center and will be on supervised probation for five years after his release.

Band director pleads guilty in sex abuse case A Howard County high school band director accused of sexually abusing a female student over two years pleaded guilty Thursday, prosecutors said. Robert Douglas Johnston, 61, who taught at Mount Hebron High School in Ellicott City for 35 years, could have been sentenced to a maximum of 25 years in prison in a case that included sexual abuse of a minor. Under his plea agreement, he could face a maximum of 18 months at his sentencing Aug. 13, said Wayne Kirwan, a county state's attorney's spokesman.

A prominent Howard County high school band director accused of sexually abusing a female student was investigated by school officials almost two years ago after a parent reported seeing the girl sitting on his lap in his office, according to court documents released yesterday. Police said Robert Douglas Johnston, 61, who has taught at Mount Hebron High School in Ellicott City for 35 years, sexually abused the student over a two-year period that began when she was 15.

The longtime band director at a Howard County high school has been accused of sexually abusing a female student over the past two years, police said yesterday. Robert Douglas Johnston, 61, who has taught at Mount Hebron High School for more than 30 years, was charged yesterday with sexual abuse of a minor, third- and fourth-degree sex offenses, and obscene telephone misuse, according to Howard County police. Johnston surrendered to police Monday night and was arrested; he was being held yesterday on a $350,000 bond, police said.

M. Joseph Fischer, the director of bands at River Hill High School, has been recognized by School Band and Orchestra, a national publication, for its 10th annual, "50 Directors Who Make a Difference." Fischer, who has been at the school since 2003, was a natural choice for the distinction, Principal William Ryan said. "He's an incredible teacher who goes above and beyond what he's supposed to do," Ryan said. "I put him at the top of the 50 band instructors who make a difference."

The Meade Senior High School concert and jazz bands, orchestra and chorus will present a free Christmas concert at 11 a.m. tomorrow at Glen Burnie United Methodist Church.The church is at Second Avenue and Crain Highway.Jeff Thompson, the band director, and Joyce Nellen, the chorus director, will conduct.Information: 410-761-4381.Pub Date: 12/18/97

Esther Everitt Dombrowski, a retired Bel Air High School librarian who also wrote feature stories for The Aegis newspaper, died of pneumonia Oct. 8 at Upper Chesapeake Medical Center. She was 81 and lived in Bel Air. Born Esther Everitt on a farm near Bel Air, she was the daughter of a construction foreman and a homemaker. She was a 1948 graduate of Bel Air High School, where she returned after earning a bachelor's degree at what was then Millersville State College in Pennsylvania and a master's degree in library science at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Two weeks before facing sentencing in a Baltimore County sexual abuse case, a former Glen Burnie High School band director was ordered yesterday to spend 18 months in the Anne Arundel County jail for having sexual relations with a student. Jeffrey S. Thompson, 38, of Severn apologized for the encounters in 2003 and 2004 at the school and a park, but denied sexual exploitation, saying he and the girl, starting when she was 16, had a relationship in which "my emotions took precedence over my common sense."

A former Glen Burnie High School band director admitted yesterday to having a yearlong sexual relationship with one of his female students through her graduation in 2004. He is expected to plead guilty next week to molesting another band student, his lawyer said. Jeffrey Stephen Thompson, 37, of Severn, pleaded guilty in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court to sexual abuse of a minor, under an agreement that says prosecutors will not seek more than 18 months in jail when he is sentenced in May. He will have to register as a sex offender.