Bel Air High

From operating room nurses at Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air, who received cell phone messages about schools closing early, to parents who didn't have to scramble for the TV remote at dawn to find out that weather had curtailed classes for two days, the Harford schools' Alert Now system is proving its worth. Schools employees, who are among the more than 41,000 called, also appreciate the service. "I get a call at 5:45 a.m. and I know exactly what is happening," said Joe Voskuhl, principal of Bel Air High School, with an enrollment of 1,650.

A novice pole vaulter stole the show yesterday in the 25th annual Harford County High School Track and Field Championships at Edgewood.While the C. Milton Wright Mustangs were racing to the boys and girls team titles, Bel Air High School's Erin Nett set the crowd abuzz with a stunning performance in the girls pole vault.In only her second vault competition, the 5-foot-3 junior sailed over the bar at 9 feet, 6 inches to win -- by 3 feet.Her mark equaled what is believed to be the best vault ever by a Maryland high school girl -- achieved indoors this winter -- and bettered the Harford County record in this newly introduced event by 2 1/2 feet.

THIRTY-ONE WORDS that get recited millions of times a day, to town meetings, school days and sporting events, the Pledge of Allegiance is a quintessential symbol of pride in being an American.I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America....So when Bel Air High School in Harford County sought to resume a daily pause for the pledge last fall, and some students enlisted the help of the American Civil Liberties Union to block school policy that they stand at attention for it, the resulting community furor was predictable.

Proposals to extend a busy state road through Bel Air and make the conversion of homes to business uses more difficult ran into opposition last night at a hearing on the town's comprehensive development plan."

This year's Harford County Teacher of the Year will receive the free use of a new car for a year, a watch, a painting and other rewards in addition to the award. It's the first year such prizes have been offered to the winner.But Marybeth Ford, a reading teacher at Emmorton Elementary School, says representing her fellow teachers as Harford County's current teacher of the year was enough of a reward. "Just to have the recognition that parents or students or whoever respect what you're doing, I think that's real good," she said.

A Bel Air High School senior athlete will allow a rare open hearing with the school board this week when he tries to get his suspension for stealing reduced by the school board.The student, 17, says his civil rights were violated when a school administrator entered his home looking for the stolen goods, and that school officials hurt his chances for getting a wrestling scholarship when they suspended him for theft because it caused him to miss taking the Scholastic Assessment Test.The student, whose name is being withheld by The Sun because he is a juvenile, has admitted selling another student a watch he found in the back of his shop class, but he denies stealing cash, jewelry, shoes and clothing from students' gym lockers.

A nominating committee of former educators, students and citizens has selected the 10 finalists for the Harford County Teacher of the Year Award.The winner will be announced at a banquet Thursday.County businesses have come together to honor the finalists and the winner.The Bayou Restaurant in Havre de Grace is sponsoring the banquet for the finalists, guests and officials.This year's winner will receive the free use of a new Buick for one year from Boyle Buick of Abingdon, along with a clock, a watch and other gifts.

The Harford County school board approved last week plans for special education and for the Title I program for disadvantaged students.The plan for Title I, a federal program designed to improve the reading and math skills of disadvantaged students, calls for the program to be maintained in 13 elementary schools. New federal eligibility requirements would have limited the program to six schools this year, but county money will keep the program in the seven remaining schools.The program, formerly known as Chapter I, provides specialized teachers, parent involvement programs, home visitors and other services.

Four-Period Day Deserves a TryI am currently in the 11th grade at Bel Air High School. I am writing in favor of the proposed four-period day. I feel very strongly about it. I also feel that the students will be able to learn better, and mostly the underclassmen will benefit from it more, because they will have a longer time to work with it than the seniors. It will prepare students for a college experience. Students will be able to take more classes . . . with the eight classes instead of seven.

Success has many meanings for the Class of '95. It can't be gauged solely by SAT scores or class rankings. For some of this year's area high school graduates, success has meant coping with a foreign culture. For others, it has meant accepting family responsibilities, or balancing extracurricular activities with academic obligations. For others still, it has meant overcoming learning or physical disabilities.As graduation ceremonies in the Baltimore area wind up this week, students have much to celebrate.

She sat at the steering wheel, her face as eager as a student's on her first day of class. Susan Keyes has been driving bus No. 860 for Harford County public schools for seven years, and at 6:20 a.m. Thursday, she idled the big engine in front of the spanking-new Bel Air High School. She was waiting for Robert Tomback, the new superintendent, to get on. It was the first day of the new school year, and it all had a bittersweet feel. To her left, Keyes could see the partially disassembled husk of the old Bel Air High, which is slated for demolition next week.

Pat Whitehurst wears many outfits when he teaches his students. Sometimes he comes to school dressed as a Supreme Court justice to teach his law class. On another day, he donned an inmate's uniform to teach a lesson about prisons. And sometimes he just puts on a tie with a patriotic theme. "I stimulate my students by dressing up," said Whitehurst, who has been teaching Advanced Placement U.S. government and politics, freshman government, geography, sociology and law in America classes at Fallston High School since 2000.

Raymond J. Dombrowski, who taught music at Bel Air High School for more than 30 years and also was leader of the school's band and Bobcat Marching Band, died Monday of pancreatic cancer at Upper Chesapeake Medical Center. He was 79. Mr. Dombrowski, the son of Polish immigrant parents, was born in Pittsburgh and raised in New Castle, Pa. He began playing piano when he was 4, and after learning to play the saxophone and clarinet when he was a teenager, began performing with local dance bands.

With nearly half of Harford's proposed 2009 capital budget devoted to school construction and renovation, County Executive David R. Craig said he hopes to build added capacity into the schools and eliminate more than 100 portable classrooms within the next few years. The county is moving forward with construction of two high schools -- Bel Air and Edgewood -- renovation of Joppatowne and Deerfield elementaries, and the building of two elementaries that will add nearly 1,300 seats and relieve severe crowding in the schools surrounding the county seat.

Ofek Cohen leaves a lasting impression on people. A junior at Bel Air High School, the 16-year-old has a 3.8 grade point average and was recently inducted into the National Honor Society. After graduation, he wants to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Although he excels academically, he does it from an electric wheelchair, with the assistance of an entourage of caregivers and teachers. "I'm not able to do much on my own," Ofek said with a shrug. "I'm very weak. I can't walk or write or pick things up. I need help doing everything."

After 50 years of periodically taking classes at Harford Community College, J. David Amos has earned a degree and is vowing to continue his education. The 70-year-old Jarrettsville resident started classes when the two-year college opened in 1957 in classrooms borrowed from Bel Air High School. He has attended off and on ever since. In the presence of Amos' son and brother and the college trustees, Dr. James LaCalle, Harford Community College president, awarded Amos an associate's degree in applied sciences with a concentration in technical and professional studies.

Keeping in mind Harford County's strong support of recycling and the benefits of "preserving the planet," it's good to remember the initial efforts of a lone ecology teacher at Bel Air High School back in 1972. He thought it was a good idea to recycle and therein began a classroom project that grew into a wave of right-mindedness when it came to "just tossing out the trash" and stepping up for a minute and separating glass, tin, paper, cardboard and aluminum into bags to be processed by his classroom volunteers.

Some feared that 2007 would be the year without Fourth of July fireworks in Bel Air. A reconstruction project at the usual staging site - Bel Air High School - sent event organizers searching for an alternate location for the show, which is attended by as many as 60,000 people. After a couple of possible alternative sites fell through recently, pessimism grew. Word began circulating in the community in recent days that an optional site was up in the air, or worse, that the display might be canceled, said Don Stewart, president of the Bel Air Independence Day Committee.

County Executive David R. Craig's philosophy toward addressing Harford's infrastructure needs could be: "If we build it, the funding will come." Yet Craig's proposed $370 million capital spending plan has many county elected leaders feeling uneasy. The unprecedented amount nearly doubles last year's record high and marks a 360 percent increase since 2003. The priorities include school construction, library expansion, a new detention center, an expanded water treatment plant and a new government administration building.

From operating room nurses at Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air, who received cell phone messages about schools closing early, to parents who didn't have to scramble for the TV remote at dawn to find out that weather had curtailed classes for two days, the Harford schools' Alert Now system is proving its worth. Schools employees, who are among the more than 41,000 called, also appreciate the service. "I get a call at 5:45 a.m. and I know exactly what is happening," said Joe Voskuhl, principal of Bel Air High School, with an enrollment of 1,650.