Jeffers Hill

A group of parents and community members is appealing the Howard County Board of Education's decision to redistrict a Columbia neighborhood of children from one elementary school into two others to relieve crowding. Waterloo Elementary School parent Barry Budish and three others will stand before the state Board of Education at a hearing today in opposition to the school board's most recent redistricting rulings. The board set several new boundary lines in March. Under the new boundaries, Waterloo Elementary School will get 180 Rockburn Elementary pupils.

Under a canopy of vines and greenery, snakes wove their way between trees, poison-dart frogs rested on the ground, monkeys hung from limbs and colorful butterflies perched in the branches. In a clearing, dozens of children gathered to learn about creatures of the rain forest. These 8- and 9-year-olds weren't in the wilds of Brazil, but in the third-grade area at Triadelphia Ridge Elementary School in Ellicott City. While the animals in the foliage were all plastic, rubber or stuffed, those brought to the school by Nick Fuhrman, a ranger with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, were real.

NINE-YEAR-OLD Leon Little III, like many kids his age, dreams big: "I want to be a basketball player and a doctor," he says. But unlike most 9-year-olds, Leon is turning some of his big dreams into reality. A fourth-grader at Jeffers Hill Elementary School, Leon founded the local nonprofit advocacy group Young Kids Against Violence (YKAV) in October with the support of his mother, Sherl White, and with fellow classmates Jordan McGill and Walter Richardson. On April 24, "The Oprah Winfrey Show" came to Columbia to tape a segment, which aired yesterday, about Leon's work with YKAV.

After listening to parents voice their opposition and offer suggestions on redistricting recommendations earlier this week, Howard County school board members and administrators responded last night. The board took some suggestions into account and rejected others during its second work session on the redistricting plan. In the plan unveiled in January, Associate Superintendent Maurice F. Kalin suggested moving 144 pupils from Waterloo Elementary School to Jeffers Hill Elementary School.

As Howard County school board members considered a proposal last night to redistrict several hundred students, they discussed whether it is fair to let open-enrolled pupils stay in crowded buildings while children living in the immediate neighborhoods are moved elsewhere. In his redistricting recommendation for the next academic year, Maurice F. Kalin, associate superintendent of planning and support services, proposed that pupils open-enrolled at Jeffers Hill Elementary School be sent back to their assigned schools.

Several Howard County school board candidates used last night's final debate before the primary election to criticize incumbent Stephen C. Bounds' decision to apply for out-of-state superintendent jobs while running for re-election. The political forum, sponsored by four school Parent-Teacher Associations, drew about 30 people and all 17 actively campaigning candidates to Long Reach High School in Columbia. Four candidates will advance past the primary on Tuesday to the November general election.

JEFFERS HILL Elementary opened on Feb. 17, 1975. Since then, about 10,000 children have attended the Long Reach school. On Monday, pupils, teachers and administrators who have passed through its halls will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the institution that was named for the neighborhood it serves. An open house, with cake and punch, will be held at 6 p.m. Cub Scout Pack 914 and Girl Scout Troops 811, 1283, 2202 and 2304 will present the flag at 7 p.m. After local dignitaries present awards and plaques, a student chorus, led by teacher Sarah Bluth, and the fourth- and fifth-grade string ensemble, led by Margo Guillory, will play.

A Howard County school official recommended last night redistricting changes that would affect fewer students than proposed earlier. But the plan presented to the Board of Education would mean school changes for several dozen students who were not on the original redistricting list. Also last night, a task force recommended a three-year, $2.7 million plan to improve teacher recruitment and retention. In his redistricting proposal for next academic year, Maurice F. Kalin, associate superintendent of planning and support services, outlined a plan that includes ideas he shared with parents in December, with some modifications.

Some northeastern Howard County and Columbia parents are preparing to battle a possible school redistricting plan next fall.For parents at Jeffers Hill and Waterloo elementary schools, it would be a familiar fight. A possible redistricting plan for their area is similar to one that they protested when it was proposed last year. Implementation of that proposal was postponed."There will be some kind of organized opposition" if the same redistricting concept is proposed for next fall, said Barry Budish, president of the Waterloo Elementary parent-teacher organization.

A Howard County school official has outlined a possible redistricting plan for next fall that is similar to one parents fought last school year.Maurice F. Kalin, associate superintendent of planning and support services, told parents last night that some of his "preliminary thoughts" on school boundary changes are the same as those he originally recommended for the current academic year.Those possible changes include redistricting the 175 pupils in the Nottingham Village area from Rockburn Elementary School to Waterloo Elementary; redistricting the 65 pupils in the Dark Hawk and Davis Road area from Waterloo Elementary to Phelps Luck Elementary, and redistricting the 145 pupils who live in the Dobbin Road area from Waterloo Elementary to Jeffers Hill Elementary.