Farfel

A former Baltimore school board chairman who believes the governor has reneged on a $10 million promise to give some of the city's worst schools a financial boost plans to take his case to the Circuit Court today.Phillip H. Farfel will file a motion in Baltimore Circuit Court asking that the state be required to pay the schools the $10 million annually over the next four years."I have decided to stand up and file this motion and make sure that this money gets to the kids and make sure 35 local communities receive what they were committed to," said Farfel.

More than a year after his term expired, Baltimore City School Board President Phillip H. Farfel has finally stepped down.Although Farfel's two terms on the board technically ended in December 1994, according to school officials, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke made no move to replace him, and Farfel continued to serve an extra 16 months.A spokesman for the mayor said yesterday that there were differences of opinion about the date Farfel's term ended -- the mayor believed it should end in December 1995, because one of Farfel's terms consisted of three years instead of the normal four.

Departing from the public stance of Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, Baltimore's top school officials yesterday opposed a proposal that would increase Maryland's role in running city schools.The officials spoke out with the knowledge of the mayor, who seems to be trying to placate them as he continues to negotiate a proposal that could eliminate their jobs.Schools Superintendent Walter G. Amprey and school board President Phillip H. Farfel said they met Wednesday night with Mr. Schmoke to urge him to leave the current administration intact.

Superintendent Walter G. Amprey asked the Baltimore school board yesterday for a $646.6 million operating budget for next academic year.Dr. Amprey is seeking a spending increase of about $14.7 million, or 2.3 percent, more than was approved for the current budget."

A behind-the-scenes struggle between state and city school officials -- with control of underachieving city schools in the balance -- has delayed by two weeks the state's annual list of schools to be reformed.State school officials are expected to identify the schools next week, but with fewer Baltimore schools on the list than they had originally intended.City school officials have said the reform program is unfair and should be halted, and school board President Phillip H. Farfel said yesterday that, despite the reduction in number, they are ready to continue their challenge.

Baltimore's school board president yesterday expressed renewed confidence in school Superintendent Walter G. Amprey, whose resignation was demanded last week by Democratic mayoral candidate Mary Pat Clarke.Phillip H. Farfel issued a one-page statement supportive of Dr. Amprey's nearly four years as head of the city's public schools."His grace, intelligence and continued leadership are exactly what we need to carry our educational programs into the next century," Mr. Farfel's statement said.

After prodding from the state school board, Baltimore backed off yesterday from its earlier resistance to a state order to fix three low-achieving schools.Baltimore "is fully committed to the goals" of school reform "and to setting high standards for all the schools," said Phillip H. Farfel, president of Baltimore's school board. But city officials want to improve the schools in their own way and more state money "is a critical need so the children of Baltimore will get an educational opportunity comparable to that in the suburbs," he said.

Backers of a new Waverly area school to be run primarily by teachers and parents stormed out of a Baltimore school board meeting last night when the board refused to tell them how much city money the school would receive.Leaders of the school, which would open next fall with about 100 students in grades four to nine, said board President Phillip H. Farfel had assured them at a meeting Tuesday that they would get a decision on funding last night.The school's supporters said they plan to take the issue to Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke immediately.

Drawing cheers from more than 100 supporters, the Baltimore City school board pledged last night to work closely with architects of a plan to open a new school to be run primarily by parents and teachers but with city money.Board President Philip H. Farfel's announcement came at the start of last night's board meeting, minutes after supporters rallied in front of school system headquarters for the second time in two weeks.Reading from a prepared statement, Dr. Farfel promised that the board and Superintendent Walter G. Amprey would "establish a partnership" with the proposal's supporters to move ahead with the proposal to open the new school next fall.

Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke yesterday nominated a new Board of School Commissioners, including six brand-new members.Mr. Schmoke nominated Philip H. Farfel, 40, a current board member and an administrator at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, as president of the new board. The nominations will be formally introduced at Monday's City Council meeting."I think the selection of folks is wonderful," said Council President Mary Pat Clarke, who last week introduced a bill NTC calling for a mostly elected school board.

Lucille Gorham remembers a quiet, "nerdy" scientist who became a regular presence in her East Baltimore neighborhood, walking down dangerous streets and alleys as if he didn't know better. "He was very easy to talk to, didn't mind being in the neighborhood," said Gorham, former president of the Middle East Community Organization. "He talked like I talk, didn't talk with a lot of professional language I didn't understand." The scientist was Mark Farfel, the public health researcher who spearheaded a study eight years ago to see if composted sludge spread on inner-city yards could reduce the lead hazard in soil.

While pursuing a public health degree in the 1980s, Mark R. Farfel visited a clinic at the Kennedy Krieger Institute where scores of lead-poisoned boys and girls spilled into the hallways awaiting treatment. There, he reached the central epiphany of his career: Youngsters already harmed by deteriorating lead paint were receiving world-class care. But who was "treating" the inner-city rowhouses that were sickening kids in the first place? "All we were doing was waiting for children to be poisoned," said Farfel, who then spent two decades at Kennedy Krieger and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health studying ways to reduce the hazard posed by lead in and around homes.

A former Baltimore school board chairman who believes the governor has reneged on a $10 million promise to give some of the city's worst schools a financial boost plans to take his case to the Circuit Court today.Phillip H. Farfel will file a motion in Baltimore Circuit Court asking that the state be required to pay the schools the $10 million annually over the next four years."I have decided to stand up and file this motion and make sure that this money gets to the kids and make sure 35 local communities receive what they were committed to," said Farfel.

More than a year after his term expired, Baltimore City School Board President Phillip H. Farfel has finally stepped down.Although Farfel's two terms on the board technically ended in December 1994, according to school officials, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke made no move to replace him, and Farfel continued to serve an extra 16 months.A spokesman for the mayor said yesterday that there were differences of opinion about the date Farfel's term ended -- the mayor believed it should end in December 1995, because one of Farfel's terms consisted of three years instead of the normal four.

Departing from the public stance of Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, Baltimore's top school officials yesterday opposed a proposal that would increase Maryland's role in running city schools.The officials spoke out with the knowledge of the mayor, who seems to be trying to placate them as he continues to negotiate a proposal that could eliminate their jobs.Schools Superintendent Walter G. Amprey and school board President Phillip H. Farfel said they met Wednesday night with Mr. Schmoke to urge him to leave the current administration intact.

Baltimore's school board president yesterday expressed renewed confidence in school Superintendent Walter G. Amprey, whose resignation was demanded last week by Democratic mayoral candidate Mary Pat Clarke.Phillip H. Farfel issued a one-page statement supportive of Dr. Amprey's nearly four years as head of the city's public schools."His grace, intelligence and continued leadership are exactly what we need to carry our educational programs into the next century," Mr. Farfel's statement said.

Superintendent Walter G. Amprey asked the Baltimore school board yesterday for a $646.6 million operating budget for next academic year.Dr. Amprey is seeking a spending increase of about $14.7 million, or 2.3 percent, more than was approved for the current budget."

After prodding from the state school board, Baltimore backed off yesterday from its earlier resistance to a state order to fix three low-achieving schools.Baltimore "is fully committed to the goals" of school reform "and to setting high standards for all the schools," said Phillip H. Farfel, president of Baltimore's school board. But city officials want to improve the schools in their own way and more state money "is a critical need so the children of Baltimore will get an educational opportunity comparable to that in the suburbs," he said.

A behind-the-scenes struggle between state and city school officials -- with control of underachieving city schools in the balance -- has delayed by two weeks the state's annual list of schools to be reformed.State school officials are expected to identify the schools next week, but with fewer Baltimore schools on the list than they had originally intended.City school officials have said the reform program is unfair and should be halted, and school board President Phillip H. Farfel said yesterday that, despite the reduction in number, they are ready to continue their challenge.

Backers of a new Waverly area school to be run primarily by teachers and parents stormed out of a Baltimore school board meeting last night when the board refused to tell them how much city money the school would receive.Leaders of the school, which would open next fall with about 100 students in grades four to nine, said board President Phillip H. Farfel had assured them at a meeting Tuesday that they would get a decision on funding last night.The school's supporters said they plan to take the issue to Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke immediately.