Gifted And Talented

Baltimore County school administrators last night cited an increase in African-Americans in the gifted and talented program as one of the improvements in minority student achievement of the last school year.But administrators, presenting their annual report on minority participation at a school board meeting, said more needs to be done. "I would like to think that we have built an infrastructure," said Stephen C. Jones, coordinator of the county's Office of Minority Education.School system goals include improving achievement and xTC curtailing the disproportionate number of minorities being suspended.

More than 50 parents, students and teachers turned out last night to urge the Howard County School Board not to cut funding from programs in the superintendent's proposed budget for fiscal 1994.One after another, people took the podium and lobbied for the allotted three minutes each in favor of programs near and dear to their hearts. Speakers covered everything from classes for gifted and talented students to the county's Black Student Achievement Program.Middle school students kicked off the public hearing, telling board members how much gifted and talented courses have meant to them.

Matt Pencek, Glenelg SPORT BASEBALL BOYS STATS -- Matt Pencek, a senior, is in his second season of varsity, spending time on the mound and at first base. Along with baseball, Pencek spent three years of varsity on the cross country team and two in indoor track, running the 800 meters, a leg of the 3,200-meter relay and competing in the high jump. One of his highlights came as a junior, when the indoor track team captured a state title. SIDELINES -- Pencek has a weighted 4.21 grade point average and has taken all honors, Gifted and Talented and Advanced Placement courses at Glenelg.

Harford Community College received the largest private gift in its 34-year history -- $426,486.29 -- from the estate of the late Charles E. Blair.Attorney John B. Kane, personal representative of the estate, presented the gift to Nicholas Gounaris, chair of the college'sboard of trustees, and to Dr. Richard J. Pappas, president of the college.The gift will go to the endowed scholarship fund of the Harford Community College Foundation Inc. and help kick off the foundation's 1991 scholarship campaign.

Friday may have marked the last annual spring concert for the countyschools' gifted and talented orchestras unless parents of the 140 student musicians foot the bill next year.It appears unlikely that $7,500 to pay teachers for the countywide elementary, middle and highschool gifted and talented orchestras will be reinstated in the 1991-1992 school budget.H. Eugene Miller, executive supervisor of fine arts and music, plans to keep the gifted and talented orchestras going through parent fees.

Schools Superintendent Carol S. Parham has ordered an independent performance audit of the gifted and talented programs available in county schools. Her action comes at the conclusion of a school year in which an advocacy group - formed by parents of academically advanced pupils - repeatedly raised concerns about perceived weaknesses in the school system's approach to educating gifted students. Parham said her decision was not based solely on the concerns of the Gifted and Talented Association of Arundel County.

"DUMB AND DUMBER'' was a box-office hit. ''Gifted and talented'' has been under siege. Only in America, as they say.Public-school programs for so-called gifted and talented students are trying to recover after years of taking a beating.Part of the problem is, understandably, money. Schools face greater pressure to stretch a dollar so hard choices must be made about how to serve all students.The other, more frustrating part is philosophical: Combining kids with like mental abilities, called ''homogeneous grouping,'' over the years got a bad name.

ANDREW YANGSchool: Burleigh Manor Middle SchoolHometown: Ellicott CityAge: 11Andy is a seventh-grader at Burleigh Manor. He was enrolled in the Program for Mathematically Precocious Youth at the Johns Hopkins University's Center for Talented Youth from grades one to four. Since fifth grade, he has been a student of Dr. Lynn Collins, who heads the gifted and talented class in mathematics for students in Howard County.Andy's recent honors include scoring first in math among sixth-graders of the Maryland/Washington region in the National PLUS Academic Abilities Assessment Test and receiving honorable mention from the Center for Talented Youth.

Sandra Erickson left her old job and office last week.Ms. Erickson, the former Howard County schools staff development coordinator, took down her pictures at her office at the Faulker Ridge Staff Development Center. She finished filling cardboard boxes full of memorabilia, awards and degrees.All the shuffling did not ruffle the 40-year-old educator, who is taking over as the school system's newest associate superintendent.Although it was close to quitting time, she looked fresh, charged, ready to tackle anything -- just like the children she has taught.

Doug Jovan has spent 29 years in the classroom, but when school starts today, his students will find him in the kitchen.He didn't retire and promise his wife he would have dinner on the table every night at 5. He is one of 18 teachers who were abruptly transferred when the school board, in budget-trimming mode in June, eliminated gifted and talented programs for middle school students.Jovan was a science department chairman six years ago when he moved to teaching some of the district's brightest students at Severn River Middle School.