Grace High

Charter school group to hold free workshop The Maryland Charter School Network will hold a free workshop from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. tomorrow at Aberdeen branch library, 21 Franklin St., for parents and community groups to explain the charter school law and the process for creating charter schools. Information: Stephanie Simms at 301-249-0182 or visit www.md charternetwork.org. Presentations on magnet program The Harford County public schools will hold presentations on the magnet program for eighth-graders.

This is the fourth annual Education Beat column about people who volunteer time and resources to improve education.IT STARTED 15 years ago with a telephone call from a faraway city.The caller had just been disconnected from his seriously ill aunt in Havre de Grace. Not knowing how to contact 911 in Maryland, he had dialed the next telephone number higher than his aunt's."Please don't hang up! This is an emergency!" Donald R. Osman heard.The Havre de Grace High School English teacher happened to be home nursing his own illness.

Upset that the fire alarm system at Havre de Grace High School has been broken for at least 10 days, some parents are questioning why they were not formally notified about the malfunction.The malfunction became public at Monday's school board meeting, where a parent raised questions about the situation, prompting an inspection by the state fire marshal's office Tuesday.Since learning of the breakdown during a routine fire drill Oct. 6, school officials have been keeping the school's fire doors closed and having employees roam the building to check for fires.

Jennifer BrowningHavre de Grace graduateJennifer Leigh Browning, who graduated this year from Havre de Grace High School, died Friday at Maryland Shock Trauma Center of injuries she suffered in an automobile accident the day before on Route 543 near Bel Air. She was 18 and lived in Darlington.This summer, Miss Browning was a tennis instructor for Harford County Department of Parks and Recreation. She planned to attend Harford Community College in the fall.At Havre de Grace High, she was captain of the tennis team.

Leann Woodson would never have dreamed of standing on a stage and singing a solo.And if anyone had said she would be able to write a song, she said, she would have laughed out loud.But Friday evening, 14-year-old Leann and a group of her friends will not only be performing two songs they wrote, but will be opening for a national act -- 4 P.M. (For Positive Music), the Havre de Grace quartet whose remake of the classic hit single "Sukiyaki" climbed into the Top 10 of Billboard magazine's Hot 100 Singles in January.

The international cast of Up With People is bringing its new stage production, "World in Motion," to Havre de Grace High School at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.The Havre de Grace Arts Commission, Havre de Grace High School, Comcast Cable and The Record are sponsoring the nonstop, two-hour musical show.For more than 28 years, Up With People's energetic casts have performed their contemporary family entertainment for millions around the world."World in Motion," the group's new production, will be seen in nearly 1,000 communities in 25 countries.

Parents of Havre de Grace High School students will get a letter this week informing them of a revision in the school's controversial absentee policy.The original wording of the policy had called for a doctor's certification after a student had missed five days in one school quarter. Failure to meet the standard would have resulted in failing grades for the student in that marking period.Now, parents can verify the illness of their children after five days, so a doctor's note isn't necessary.

A modest exhibit of photos and words at Havre de Grace High School counters a long-held myth about blacks: that they can't swim."I'm trying to let the kids know they're welcome," said swim coach Aaron Thompson, who set up a display at the school to celebrate Black History Month and to encourage black students to try the sport.There are only three black students among the county's 313 competitive swimmers at the high school level, and two of them, Cher Miller and Justin James, are on the Havre de Grace Warriors swim team.

School Attendance Policy Isn't 'Sick'Your editorial of Jan. 7, titled "Havre de Grace High's Sick Policy," is an inaccurate characterization of Havre de Grace High School's attendance policy and our efforts to work with parents of students with chronic absenteeism.The Maryland School Performance Program (MSPP) has established an attendance standard for all Maryland schools delineating 94 percent attendance as satisfactory and 96 percent as excellent. MSPP also set five days per marking period a maximum standard for individual absences.

With all the concern about soaring medical costs in this country, you'd think the Harford County schools might be doing their share to control this economic burden. Not so at Havre de Grace High School, where students require a visit to the doctor if they miss more than five days of class in a quarter. Otherwise, they flunk all their classes, regardless of their academic performance.The rule was adopted to improve attendance at the Havre de Grace school, after development by a committee of parents, students and teachers.

A high school senior feels overwhelmed by pressures from parents, teachers and peers. A teenage couple converse awkwardly on their first date. Four young friends wrestle with the consequences of drinking and driving. These and other themes form the plots in Drama Therapy, a series of short plays focusing on teen issues. For the past three years, the Havre de Grace High School drama department has presented the plays, calling the skits "100 Minutes That Matter," to parents, faculty and the student body.

For years, school officials have kicked around the idea of putting a performing arts magnet school at Havre de Grace High School. Earlier this month, Harford County Executive David R. Craig gave that idea a boost when he endorsed it at a county school board meeting. The school board agreed to put together a community study group. But critics say the idea is misguided, wasteful and counterproductive. "Why do we need a performing arts magnet school when we already have so many high schools doing great work?"

Less than two weeks ago, Brian A. Wilson's family proudly watched as the outstanding scholar and varsity athlete walked across the stage to receive his diploma with honors from Havre de Grace High School. Now the family is planning a funeral service for their 17-year-old son in the same school auditorium. Wilson died at Christiana Trauma Center in Newark, Del., early Sunday after an accident on Route 1 near Dover. He was riding home with a friend at the end of the traditional senior week at the beach in Ocean City when a drunken driver rear-ended their car, police said.

Charter school group to hold free workshop The Maryland Charter School Network will hold a free workshop from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. tomorrow at Aberdeen branch library, 21 Franklin St., for parents and community groups to explain the charter school law and the process for creating charter schools. Information: Stephanie Simms at 301-249-0182 or visit www.md charternetwork.org. Presentations on magnet program The Harford County public schools will hold presentations on the magnet program for eighth-graders.

Harford Community College will offer GED Advising Sessions this week. Adults can improve their basic reading, writing or math skills by enrolling in a free Adult Basic Education review class or one-on-one literacy tutoring program for beginning readers. Advising sessions will be held: At 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Edgewood High School, Harford Community College Edgewood Hall Room 165, Havre de Grace High School and North Harford High School; At 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Edgewood Public Library; At 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Aberdeen Community Center Room 307 and HCC Edgewood Hall Room 163. Attendance at an advising session is required for entry into September classes.

Individuals wanting to upgrade their job skills, get certified or prepare for a career in the computer industry can attend Harford Community College's Computer Counseling Night from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday in Edgewood Hall, Room 132. Instructors will discuss computer training options through the Continuing Education Division. On-site registration will be available. Information: 410-638-2576. Havre de Grace High reunion in Sept. Havre de Grace High School's Class of 1987 will celebrate its 20th reunion the weekend of Sept.

The couple sat at a table in the back of the gymnasium at Havre de Grace High School, which was decorated for the prom in pink, black and white. Linda wore a new two-piece, knee-length turquoise dress, while Art donned a charcoal-gray suit with a light-blue chambray shirt. The school's jazz band struck up a familiar song, inspiring Art to rise and extend a hand to Linda. "Once the music starts, we start dancing and that is where you can find us all night long," Art said as he led Linda onto the dance floor, where they glided and spun amid the colorful flurry of other dancers.

High school students honored for service More than 100 students from a Havre de Grace High School volunteer group attended the Baltimore Ravens game against the Green Bay Packers last week after being selected as Honor Rows winners. The Ravens' Honor Rows program, sponsored by M&T Bank, salutes youth groups and organizations that provide outstanding volunteer service to communities. Honorees were selected by a panel of youth judges from the Maryland Youth Action Corps, the Governor's Office on Service and Volunteerism and Ravens and M&T Bank staff.

The musical and theatrical performance By George! By Ira! By Gershwin!, which honors the lives and talents of George and Ira Gershwin, will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the Havre de Grace High School auditorium to raise funds for the school's Harris Stadium and the local arts community. The show will star singer and television personality Carolyn Black-Sotir, pianists Arno Drucker and R. Timothy McReynolds, bassist Thomas Williams and the high school's jazz and marching bands.

`Once Upon a Shoe' The Children's Playhouse of Maryland presents its own spin on the Mother Goose classic "There Was an Old Woman" Saturday through May 16 at the Sheppard Pratt Conference Center in Towson. The group presents Once Upon a Shoe, a musical based on the classic rhyme. The show revolves around Mother Goose, played by Nicolette Argyros, and her children, including young actors Max Massa and Garrett Glaeser, who try to save their home from becoming a condominium. The show features numerous poems and rhymes from the Mother Goose collection, as well as various songs.