Instructional Assistants

County PTA council holds board meeting at 7 p.m. tomorrow The Carroll County Council of PTAs will hold an executive board meeting at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Board of Education offices, 125 N. Court St., Westminster. The council's meeting March 1 will include nominations for 2004-2005 officers and presentations on "Info-share and Best Practices" and "Barriers to Volunteering." Information: 410-549-6959. Community college slates Transfer Fair this week Carroll Community College will hold its annual Transfer Fair on Wednesday in the Great Hall at the 1601 Washington Road campus.

The Howard County Board of Education approved capital and operating budgets for the fiscal year beginning in July of more than a half-billion dollars this week - the largest amount ever granted the school system. Still, it fell short of the original request by $32 million. The operating budget of $461 million, which pays for things such as instructional materials and salaries, is nearly 9 percent larger than the current budget. The board also approved a capital budget of $95.7 million Wednesday.

The Carroll County school board unanimously adopted a proposed operating budget of nearly $304 million last night to add dozens of teaching positions, cover staff pay raises, expand full-day kindergarten and provide for fuel costs in the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. The five-member board added about $3 million to Superintendent Charles I. Ecker's proposal. The spending plan includes $1.6 million for an additional 22 special-education resource teachers; nearly $500,000 to hire several reading intervention specialists; and about $560,000 to hire more guidance counselors to reduce student-to-counselor ratios across the system.

Four unions of Anne Arundel County school employees have formed a coalition to share information on issues that affect members and to coordinate advocacy efforts. The Coalition of Educational Employees will represent more than 8,700 teachers, principals, secretaries, instructional assistants, custodians, school bus drivers and food service workers. "Over the course of the last year we've recognized there are many issues that we share," said Sheila M. Finlayson, president of the Teachers Association of Anne Arundel County, at a news conference Wednesday.

Corita M. Oduyoye, the assistant principal at Running Brook Elementary School, was honored Saturday as Assistant Principal of the Year by the Maryland Association of Elementary School Principals."

It's lunchtime at Southampton Middle School, and the roar from hundreds of adolescents spills out of the cafeteria and into the halls.Tracy Hollenshade and Laura Wienholt shout to make themselves heard. Tracy taps Gina Panza on the shoulder to get her attention. "Hello, Gina, how are you?" she asks.Gina claps her hands, her brown braid bobbing through the white plastic helmet she wears because of her cerebral palsy.L Laura and Tracy, both 12 and in seventh grade, are ecstatic."Oh Gina, that's really good," Laura says, clapping back.

With stiff competition for limited money in the county's education budget, from classroom supplies to new buildings, it might seem like a mistake for the Carroll County Board of Education to ask for money to staff "timeout" discipline rooms in 10 schools.Suspend the troublemakers and let them and their parents deal with the consequences, rather than burdening the school budget, would be one hard-line response.That reasoning, however, misses the point that schools have always had to deal with problem pupils whose behavior does not justify the more drastic suspension-expulsion process.

Negotiations with Howard County teachers on a new contract are not going well and may end up in an impasse, according to the school superintendent."Within the next 24 to 48 hours, we will have an impasse declared or a handshake," said county Superintendent Michael E. Hickey in an interview. "I think the chance is we're going to an impasse."State Superintendent of Schools Nancy S. Grasmick can declare an impasse when she determines that the county and the teachers union have met enough times to be able to reach an agreement.

Negotiators for school clerks, instructional assistants and nurses asked the Carroll Board of Education for a 7 percent raise Friday.They also requested a study that could give licensed practical nurses the increased salary and professional classification they are seeking.The union stressed the need to give senior employees a fair shot at promotions and to maintain language that allows a fired employee to get a third-party to arbitrate a decision by a school administrator.Edwin Davis, director of pupil services, represented the board at the talks.