Early Childhood Education

CCC appoints faculty memberCarroll Community College recently announced the appointment of Gwen Myers to the faculty. She will teach courses in growth and development in early childhood education and general psychology and human development.A native of Lottie, Ala., she received a bachelor's degree in child development and a master's degree in early childhood education from Auburn University. She earned her doctorate at the University of Texas.She lives in Catonsville with her husband, Scott, and two children, Nicholas, 9, and Olivia, 6.Teachers honored for drug abuse classSome 115 public school teachers, counselors and health assistants participated in Carroll Community College's 30-hour training program at the Institute for Drug and Alcohol Abuse Education over the summer.

Sister Barbara Tucker, who taught kindergarten in an Arbutus parochial school, died of a stroke Jan. 30 at Holy Redeemer Hospital in Huntingdon Valley, Pa. She was 66. Born in Philadelphia, she entered her Roman Catholic religious order, Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart, in 1958 in Elkins Park, Pa. She earned a bachelor's degree in education from D'Youville College in Buffalo, N.Y., and a master's degree in early childhood education from the University of...

THE EVIDENCE keeps mounting: Early learning skills are absolutely critical for giving youngsters what they need to succeed in school -- and later in life. This fact should not be lost on Gov. Parris N. Glendening as he sets his budget priorities. The governor has a rare chance to seize this moment to thrust Maryland into the vanguard of states championing learning skills for very young children. By the time a child enters first grade, 90 percent of brain development has occurred. That's why it is crucial to reach these kids earlier, so they start school equipped to learn.

The Community Foundation of Harford County has been awarded a $15,000 grant from the PNC Foundation. With the sizable gift, PNC joins as an inaugural member of the foundation's Founder's Circle. The CFHC Founder's Circle recognizes businesses, individuals and families that pledge a minimum of $15,000 over three or more years to support the mission and operations of the Community Foundation of Harford County. Chick Hamm, PNC market executive in Harford and Cecil counties, presented the gift to the foundation.

Dr. Gloria Lea Bledsoe, a retired Baltimore County guidance counselor who established an Oldfields School early-childhood education program, died of cancer May 30 at Glen Meadows Assisted Living. She was 85 and lived in Towson for many years. Born Gloria Lea Whittle in Baltimore and raised on LaPaix Lane, she was a 1945 graduate of Notre Dame Preparatory School. After raising her family, she began teaching at Oldfields School in 1979. She established a nursery school along with an early-childhood education program, family members said.

WASHINGTON -- Democratic presidential hopeful Al Gore fleshed out yesterday a $50 billion preschool proposal that would provide education for three-quarters of the nation's 4-year-olds but relies heavily on state governments.Early childhood education is shaping up to be a surprisingly potent issue on the campaign trail, as more and more families have two working parents. GOP front-runner George W. Bush has veered far from Republican orthodoxy with his preschool proposal, which draws on the guidance of the U.S. Department of Education, an agency that Republicans once targeted for abolition.

Carroll Springs School to hold picnic Thursday Carroll Springs School will hold a back-to-school picnic from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Carroll County Farm Museum pavilion. All students and their families are welcome. The farm museum is at 500 S. Center St., across from the school. Information: 410-751-3620. Early childhood education focus of college open house Carroll Community College will hold an early childhood education open house from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday at the 1601 Washington Road campus.

Anne Arundel County schools Superintendent Eric J. Smith said yesterday that he will recommend closing the dilapidated, but beloved, Ferndale Elementary School and building in its place the county's first institution devoted entirely to pre-kindergarten and kindergarten. If approved by the board, Smith's plan would bring to an end years of controversy surrounding the small, gray, 77-year-old building on Wellham Avenue. In July, noting unsafe and unhealthful conditions, Smith temporarily shuttered the county's smallest elementary school and sent its 140 pupils to nearby George Cromwell Elementary.

Without a lot of fanfare last week, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. took a small step toward providing low-income families better access to child care when he transferred authority for a child care subsidy program from the Department of Human Resources to the Maryland State Department of Education. As a matter of policy and practice, it's a good move. Last year, the General Assembly passed a bill, signed by Mr. Ehrlich, that took a number of child care functions out of DHR and gave them to MSDE, including licensing and monitoring child care facilities, providing incentives to improve quality of care, and maintaining and improving credentials of staff workers.

Donna Fowler would like to send her youngest son to a prekindergarten class near her Bowie home. But because she and her husband earn just over the state eligibility limit for free public pre-K, she'll have to keep 4-year-old Wyatt at home this year. The Fowlers and their five children have a family income of about $60,000, so they're not eligible for free public pre-K, which is capped at $59,200, or 185 percent of the federal poverty level for a family of seven. Nor can they afford the $300-a-month cost of private prekindergarten.