Canton Middle School

Thirteen-year-old Michael Pazdzioko stood red-faced and teary-eyed before Southeastern District Judge Charlotte M. Cooksey yesterday in Baltimore, and scrambled to come up with a good excuse for the 27 days he has skipped this school year."

One day last spring, Glenn Blair thought he'd be making pictures, as usual, in his after-school art class. But when he showed up at the makeshift studio at Canton Middle School, the sixth-grader's eye fell not on easel and brushes but on a hat full of paper slips his teachers had prepared. "Life without love," read the note he pulled out, "is a tree without blossoms." That thought - a rough paraphrase of a line from the poet Kahlil Gibran - inspired an upbeat canvas. In sunny acrylic hues, Blair created the image of a man whose heart seems filled with blossoming trees.

Test scores and attendance are up at Canton Middle School. Class size and expulsions are down.The hulking school south of Eastern Avenue in Highlandtown boasts a homework hot line, a neon-lighted cafeteria and a day care center for teachers' youngsters.It's a new day at the old school.Despite a large number of at-risk students and a school system riddled with failure, Canton Middle works."We came a long way in a reasonable amount of time," said Craig E. Spilman, who became Canton's principal in 1990.

Thirteen-year-old Michael Pazdzioko stood red-faced and teary-eyed before Southeastern District Judge Charlotte M. Cooksey yesterday in Baltimore, and scrambled to come up with a good excuse for the 27 days he has skipped this school year."

COPPIN STATE College wasn't the only Baltimore school last week to suffer an agonizing loss in the last seconds of a national tournament game.Four days after the Eagles' near-miracle, a team from Canton Middle School lost by two points to a middle school in Julesburg, Col., in the second round of the National Academic League tournament, a competition of the mind designed, somewhat mischievously, to shadow the much, much better-known NCAA spring basketball frenzy.To...

English teacher Nina Parish remembers the seventh-grade student who missed 144 days of school last year from Baltimore's Canton Middle School, and gave teachers every indication that this year would be no different.The student had no interest in any aspect of school and received little urging from his parents to attend classes regularly, said Ms. Parish. "He was a definite at-risk student," she said.This year, the youth became involved in a program in which he is allowed to miss school one day a week to go to a paid job while attending classes the other four.

In an attempt to eradicate the affliction of truancy in Southeast Baltimore, police and officials at Canton Middle School announced a plan of attack last night that they believe will get real results -- punish the parents."

Molly Mullally expected culture shock when she went to the Central African Republic to teach math in a village school as a member of the Peace Corps.She didn't expect it when she arrived in Baltimore in 1991 to teach math and French at Canton Middle School in Highlandtown."

One day last spring, Glenn Blair thought he'd be making pictures, as usual, in his after-school art class. But when he showed up at the makeshift studio at Canton Middle School, the sixth-grader's eye fell not on easel and brushes but on a hat full of paper slips his teachers had prepared. "Life without love," read the note he pulled out, "is a tree without blossoms." That thought - a rough paraphrase of a line from the poet Kahlil Gibran - inspired an upbeat canvas. In sunny acrylic hues, Blair created the image of a man whose heart seems filled with blossoming trees.

Last spring, hoping to spark a national debate, Democratic Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota set off on a tour of some of the country's poorest communities. In doing so, he was following the same route that his hero, Robert F. Kennedy, went down 30 years earlier.Kennedy's trip revealed gut-wrenching scenes of hunger and want in the midst of a thriving nation, prompting changes in federal anti-poverty programs and helping to propel him into the presidential race the next year. Wellstone, by contrast, found that progress has been made over the past three decades.

Oysters and eighth-graders don't seem to mind getting wet. So as raindrops dripped from noses and dampened sweat shirts, Canton Middle School students gently planted hundreds of baby oysters yesterday in the Inner Harbor."

In an attempt to eradicate the affliction of truancy in Southeast Baltimore, police and officials at Canton Middle School announced a plan of attack last night that they believe will get real results -- punish the parents."

Last spring, hoping to spark a national debate, Democratic Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota set off on a tour of some of the country's poorest communities. In doing so, he was following the same route that his hero, Robert F. Kennedy, went down 30 years earlier.Kennedy's trip revealed gut-wrenching scenes of hunger and want in the midst of a thriving nation, prompting changes in federal anti-poverty programs and helping to propel him into the presidential race the next year. Wellstone, by contrast, found that progress has been made over the past three decades.

The Oct. 27 edition of Time magazine contains a special report that examines the successes and failures of public school systems around the country. Time used Baltimore to illustrate the failures of an urban school system where students are suffering because of questionable decisions made by entrenched bureaucrats. The story was accompanied by a sidebar on Canton Middle School, one of the few successes in the city system. The Sun is reprinting the articles in their entirety.Everybody knows that money is a crucial ingredient in a school's success.

COPPIN STATE College wasn't the only Baltimore school last week to suffer an agonizing loss in the last seconds of a national tournament game.Four days after the Eagles' near-miracle, a team from Canton Middle School lost by two points to a middle school in Julesburg, Col., in the second round of the National Academic League tournament, a competition of the mind designed, somewhat mischievously, to shadow the much, much better-known NCAA spring basketball frenzy.To...

Test scores and attendance are up at Canton Middle School. Class size and expulsions are down.The hulking school south of Eastern Avenue in Highlandtown boasts a homework hot line, a neon-lighted cafeteria and a day care center for teachers' youngsters.It's a new day at the old school.Despite a large number of at-risk students and a school system riddled with failure, Canton Middle works."We came a long way in a reasonable amount of time," said Craig E. Spilman, who became Canton's principal in 1990.

Real RewardRegarding Laura Lippman's article "Welfare parents risk a new cut" (Dec. 18): the author reported on Maryland's welfare reform that went into effect on Jan. 1. She stated parents will be responsible for getting checkups for preschoolers and ensuring that older students stay in school 80 percent of the time.The reporter then wrote, "But the disincentives -- losses of $25 per child monthly check -- outstrip the possible rewards, $20 annually for each checkup. There is no cash incentive for attending school."

The Oct. 27 edition of Time magazine contains a special report that examines the successes and failures of public school systems around the country. Time used Baltimore to illustrate the failures of an urban school system where students are suffering because of questionable decisions made by entrenched bureaucrats. The story was accompanied by a sidebar on Canton Middle School, one of the few successes in the city system. The Sun is reprinting the articles in their entirety.Everybody knows that money is a crucial ingredient in a school's success.

Molly Mullally expected culture shock when she went to the Central African Republic to teach math in a village school as a member of the Peace Corps.She didn't expect it when she arrived in Baltimore in 1991 to teach math and French at Canton Middle School in Highlandtown."

Real RewardRegarding Laura Lippman's article "Welfare parents risk a new cut" (Dec. 18): the author reported on Maryland's welfare reform that went into effect on Jan. 1. She stated parents will be responsible for getting checkups for preschoolers and ensuring that older students stay in school 80 percent of the time.The reporter then wrote, "But the disincentives -- losses of $25 per child monthly check -- outstrip the possible rewards, $20 annually for each checkup. There is no cash incentive for attending school."