Early Childhood

IN THE BOMB drills of the 1950s, we dove under our desks, covered our heads with our arms - and prayed it wasn't an A-bomb en route from Moscow. Here's the 2003 "Code Red" terrorist drill in Montgomery County: Children close the classroom blinds, huddle in a corner, stay quiet - and pray it's not some madman who has unleashed a chemical attack. If the kids are noisy during the drill, a note from a roving administrator is slipped under the door. "You're dead," it reads, meaning that those who don't take the threat seriously are risking their lives and the lives of others.

The Anne Arundel County school board voted yesterday to move forward with a proposal to create a regional "early childhood center" for 4-year-olds and 5-year-olds on the site of dilapidated Ferndale Elementary School, opening the issue to a public hearing in coming weeks. The board declined requests for public hearing from three communities seeking to redistrict their children to other schools. Board member Paul Rudolph introduced motions on behalf of two of the groups, but they failed because of a lack of support from the board.

When Anne Arundel County Schools Superintendent Eric J. Smith this week proposed building an early childhood education center on the site of crumbling Ferndale Elementary School, he was thinking creatively - something state officials say every school system will have to do to meet new education standards in five years. The new center - if approved by the school board - would be one of the few public educational institutions in Maryland devoted to 4- and 5-year-olds, according to state education officials.

When Anne Arundel County Schools Superintendent Eric J. Smith proposed this week building an early childhood education center on the site of crumbling Ferndale Elementary School, he was thinking creatively - something state officials say every school system will have to do to meet new education standards in five years. The new center - if approved by the school board - would be one of the few public educational institutions in Maryland devoted to 4- and 5-year-olds, according to state education officials.

Anne Arundel County schools Superintendent Eric J. Smith said yesterday that he will recommend closing the dilapidated, but beloved, Ferndale Elementary School and erecting in its place the county's first institution devoted entirely to prekindergarten 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 students to nearby George Cromwell Elementary.

It is a preschooler's dream: a ball pit, bikes and an indoor playground. The Regional Early Childhood Center (RECC) at Bollman Bridge Elementary looks like a typical nursery classroom in many ways. The Jessup preschool has bulletin boards with calendars, vocabulary words and children's artwork. But equipment such as the swing hanging from the ceiling is there for more than just fun -- it is meant to help pupils work on their motor skills. RECC centers at 15 Howard County elementary schools are part of the Office of Early Intervention Services, a program of the county's public school system.

Hidden in an Ellicott City office building is a haven for young kids and the adults who work with them. The room must be the only office in Morgan Stanley's U.S. 40 building that has party streamers and bright paper fish hanging from the ceiling. While children play in a cozy corner with toys and books, adults - whether they are teachers, child care providers or parents - can browse through curriculum ideas and videos on learning styles, or make die cuts and laminate artwork. But the Howard County Child Care Resource Center is more than an appealing resource room.

FOR EVERY dollar invested in a quality preschool program, society gets $7.16 in benefits - savings on welfare and special education, savings on crimes that aren't committed, prison sentences never served. Plus the taxes on earnings that flow to local, state and federal governments. It's one of the most famous findings in education research, one that's been debated for years. David Weikart, the educator and psychologist who conducted the research, was in town yesterday to discuss it with 350 Marylanders who work with young children.

At 8:45 in the morning, parents drop off their children in front of Hammond High School. A group of students waits at the door for them. Without embarrassment, the kids kiss their parents goodbye and take the hands of their teen-age teachers. For these 3- and 4-year-olds, Hammond High is nursery school. At five high schools in Howard County, a nursery school or day care center doubles as a "lab" for Early Childhood Development (ECD) students. The program addresses the statewide teacher shortage by allowing students to take education credits with them to Howard Community College.

WASHINGTON -- So that's what Laura Bush has been up to. Some were complaining that the first lady was all wrapped up in vacuous ceremonial duties, when all along she was organizing a major White House summit on "early childhood cognitive development." The two-day conference late last month brought to the capital 350 educators, researchers, librarians, business leaders and federal officials. The unanimous verdict: It's never too early. Even the womb isn't out of bounds. School news out of Washington has been dominated by President Bush's ambitious plan, now in congressional conference, to hold every public school in the nation strictly accountable for pupil performance, and to assess that performance by testing in grades three through eight.