NEWS
By Jacques Kelly, The Baltimore Sun | December 28, 2012
Gretchen Crews, a retired librarian, teacher and club manager, died Dec. 27 at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center of injuries sustained in a fall at her Towson home. She was 83. Born Gretchen Matthews in Baltimore and raised in Wyman Park, she was the daughter of Howard Matthews, a state auditor, and his wife Gretchen, a home economics teacher and homemaker. She attended Margaret Brent School in Charles Village and was a 1947 Eastern High School graduate. She earned an English degree at Goucher College and later received a library science degree at Towson University She taught English in the city public school system and later was a librarian, both in the school system and at the old Bay College at Howard and Centre streets.
NEWS
By Erica L. Green, The Baltimore Sun | December 17, 2012
The Baltimore school system is evaluating whether to retain hundreds of temporary employees and plans to let many of them go by the end of the week - before schools close for the holiday break. Tisha Edwards, chief of staff for the school system, said the effort to cut down on temporary employees was spurred several months ago by the city's teachers union, which expressed concerns about temporary employees filling union jobs. At the same time, school officials vowed to do a better job of checking the credentials of temporary professionals after a worker hired on a temporary basis at Hazelwood Elementary/Middle School was charged last month with sex abuse.
NEWS
By Erica L. Green, The Baltimore Sun | December 7, 2012
The Baltimore school system failed to follow its policies when hiring a temporary employee who allegedly misrepresented himself as a child therapist and is now charged with raping a teen. City school officials said Shawn Nowlin, a 27-year-old arrested Nov. 26 on charges that he impregnated a 15-year-old in Harford County, was hired in September 2011 to oversee "partnership coordination" and act as a community liaison at Hazelwood Elementary/Middle School under the title "Temporary Professional II. " Nowlin was employed for a year under that title, but the rules say temporary workers' employment cannot exceed 90 days.
NEWS
By Erica L. Green | December 6, 2012
Baltimore city school officials acknowledged this week that lax employee verification protocols may have contributed to a temporary employee -- who was recently arrested on charges he impregnated a 15-year-old girl in Harford County -- taking on a number of leadership roles at Hazelwood Elementary/Middle School. In the story today, officials said that Shawn Nowlin was hired as a temporary professional to do outreach work, but posed as, among other things, a child and family therapist for the school system.
NEWS
Erica L. Green | November 27, 2012
The Baltimore city school system announced Tuesday the closure of 26 school buildings in the next decade, as part of a large-scale plan to overhaul its dilapidated infrastructure. The highly anticipated "10-year plan" would also see 136 school buildings replaced or renovated. It also calls for reducing the number of school buildings in the district from 163 to 137 to right-size the district's facilities to its population and increase its utilization rate. Four schools are recommended for closure at the end of the current school year: Baltimore Rising Star Academy; Garrison Middle; Patapsco Elementary/Middle School; and William C. March Middle School.
NEWS
October 8, 2012
Because Baltimore City has long struggled to correct the problems of its chronically underperforming school system, Maryland has for decades funded education in the city at a higher level than other jurisdictions. That is why a preliminary audit report detailing evidence of waste, fraud and abuse in the system represents a potentially devastating indictment of the city's school reform effort. If allegations of mismanagement, lax oversight and incompetence lead lawmakers in Annapolis to question the city's use of the public funds it receives, support for school reform here could dry up overnight.