Gifted And Talented

In most ways, Jeffrey Peck reminds you of every other healthy, alert 5 1/2 -year-old boy you've ever met: He's friendly, outgoing and loves to play with other children his own age. Yet Jeffrey is exceptional. Unlike most children his age, he's a voracious reader, and what he reads goes well beyond Dick and Jane.Consider this: When he was 2 months old, his second word was "book" (the first was "dad"). Today, Jeffrey's library contains about 2,000 volumes."He reads Shakespeare -- and understands it," says Dolores Peck, Jeffrey's mother.

Anne Arundel County schools officials called a consultant's $175,000 study of the gifted and talented program inconclusive but said it provided leads on revamping a program many parents say is inadequate. The 30-page report -- which consultant KPMG spent more than a year preparing -- offers few specific suggestions for improving the county's programs for gifted students. Officials said they would need more expert guidance before determining how to proceed. "It does give us areas to improve, but they're not the specifics you would have hoped for and I would have hoped for," said Assistant Superintendent Nancy Mann.

Dee Heinrich thought her son's elementary school was one of the best in Anne Arundel County -- until she asked about its "gifted and talented" program."

"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.

HCC program plans its third conference on disabled students Project Access of Howard Community College will hold its third conference on students with disabilities from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 15. "Transitioning the High School Student with Disabilities ... Success on the Postsecondary Level and Beyond," a program for parents and professionals, will be held on the campus, 10901 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia. Kristen Cox, secretary of the Maryland Department of Disabilities, will speak.

Congratulations to the undefeated Crofton Cats, a girls 10 and younger soccer team, for winning the Gambrills Odenton Recreation Council tournament last weekend.The team posted a 1-0 win over a strong Mayo team, finishing the season with a 10-0 record and capturing the county championship.The team consists of: Jackie Brady, Katie Buffington, Gianina Chiddo, Elizabeth Douglass, Megan Filo, Katie Gilbert, Andrea Gough, Leanne Gregory, Lindsay Laws, Bridget McGrath, Denise Meadows, Maria Mondorff, Casey Russell, EmilySchneider and Katie Wagner.

A majority of the County Council goes into tonight's budget work session committed to finding more money for public schools, but only Councilman Paul R. Farragut, D-4th, is backing a higher property tax increase to cover longevity pay raises for school and county government employees.Council members C. Vernon Gray, D-3rd, and Shane E.R. Pendergrass, D-1st, also emerged from Saturday's 4 1/2-hour school budget hearing pledging to restore at least some of the $8.8 million that County Executive Charles I. Ecker cut from the school budget.

From: Louise M. PascalEllicott CityTo: County Exec. Charles EckerI am writing to you to encourage you to restore vital funds to the Howard County Board of Education budget.The funds I refer to are those funds to maintain the contribution of the School of Technology to the students of Howard County.The Board of Education has a responsibility to meet the needs of all the students within its system.The School of Technology provides the opportunity for young men and women to develop skills and a marketable trade applicable for a lifetime.

When 10-year-old Sarah Schoff bids farewell to her Dundalk elementary school tonight, the evening won't be complete without the story of how she got her favorite teacher to eat worms.The tale won't be in the graduation speech presented by the precocious young lady, who is evidence of the search for bright students in Baltimore County's blue-collar neighborhoods. But it's likely to come up as Sarah -- chosen for a summer college program for the gifted and talented from across the nation -- prepares to leave Sandy Plains Elementary School.

THE LESSONS and rehearsals have paid off for elementary and middle school children in the All-County Gifted and Talented and Enrichment orchestras. The youngsters presented a short and beautiful Winter Concert on Friday at River Hill High School in Clarksville. Children in both orchestras hail from across Howard County, representing most of our elementary and middle schools. They were chosen this year by audition and have been meeting weekly since September to practice. "It's quite an accelerated group," said Rosemary Lather, a teacher at River Hill High School and director of the middle school Gifted and Talented Orchestra.