Carroll Students

As part of its effort to open doors to four-year schools, Carroll Community College has partnered with Shippensburg University in south-central Pennsylvania to streamline the transfer process and prevent students from losing time or duplicating courses. Last week's agreement with Shippensburg is the latest in a series of transfer agreements signed by the two-year college in Westminster. The school has similar arrangements with Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., Johns Hopkins Hospital Schools of Medical Imaging, University of Maryland University College as well as all public colleges and universities in Maryland.

Schools to close 2 hours early Friday Carroll County public schools will close two hours early Friday (closed for half-day kindergarten students) to start the winter holiday. Schools will remain closed through Jan. 2 and reopen Jan. 3. Information: 410-751-3020. Healthy heart team wins activity award The Children's Heart Health Action Team of Carroll County recently was presented with the Physical Activity Excellence Award from Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and members of the State Advisory Council on Physical Fitness.

Carroll students will be better prepared for careers when they participate in a new program designed to get them thinking about jobs as early as kindergarten, educators said Friday.The Tech Prep program, which is still under study, will encourage students to think about what kind of work they would be interested in and good at, the educators said.Friday, about 40 teachers, administrators, counselors, students and business people on a Tech Prep committee met at Carroll Community College to discuss the program.

A pack of Mavericks has joined the ranks of Carroll students this year, as the new Manchester Valley High School opened its doors on a bright, cool Tuesday morning, welcoming nearly 600 freshmen, sophomores and juniors. The school's inaugural year comes after a lengthy push - and much debate and controversy - from northeast-area residents, who sought a school to relieve crowding at Hampstead's North Carroll High. Along with the usual sounds of lockers slamming and students shuffling from class to class in the wide, airy hallways, a distinct sense - and smell - of newness also permeated the building.

With the agreement of all but two Main Street businesses, the Town Council agreed to close Main Street during the two-day Fall Festival Oct. 5 and 6.Festival chairman Irene Hubert told the council at the Sept. 9 session the street should be closed as a safety factor. Organizers expect the crowd to reach about 5,000."We had 59 booths last year," she said. "Already this year, we have 104."The town will post detour signs and run a shuttle bus to the festival area. State police and the sheriff's department will assist.

Doing more with less. Getting more bang for your buck. These are just a couple of ways to describe how Carroll County educators have been managing, year after year, to maintain the district's stature as one of the state's highest-performing systems despite lacking the funding of some of the state's wealthier counties. "We do very well because of the great staff we have and because of our parents," said Superintendent Charles I. Ecker. "Certainly our staff does a lot ... but we can't do it without the parents.

Carroll County students are smoking, drinking and using drugs less than they did five years ago, according to a survey by the State Department of Education. Carroll school and law enforcement officials said yesterday they were thrilled with the improvements, crediting increased education of younger pupils about the dangers. Officials said they were particularly pleased with significant drops in drinking and smoking rates at all age levels and across-the-board drops in drug and alcohol use among sixth- and eighth-graders.

After two years of slipping slightly in Maryland's annual pupil assessment exams, Carroll County sank to seventh place in the statewide rankings as test scores fell in 13 of 18 areas. This marks the first year since the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) began in 1993 that Carroll has been placed outside the top four of the state's 24 school systems. The percentage of pupils who performed satisfactorily on the spring tests, which are given to third-, fifth- and eighth-graders, fell to 54.1 percent this year from 55.4 percent last year, according to results released yesterday.

Holding up local scores next to those of the wealthier Howard County, Carroll school officials beamed over a self-described tie for first place in the Maryland School Performance Program."

In Carroll County, they boldly attempt to go where no modern public school has gone before. They've eliminated D's from the grade system at North Carroll High, and told students: Get at least a C, or take an F."It brings a new rigor," says Dr. Gregory Eckles, director of secondary schools for Carroll County, who was principal at North Carroll when the great experiment commenced three years ago."We're making the kids use their minds," North Carroll's teachers declare in chorus, to which we hear amens from serious students who have big plans for college.