Jessup Elementary

An unusual number of cancer cases at Jessup Elementary School has triggered an investigation by county health officials.Seven staff members at the 630-student school have contracted cancer, including atleast five teachers, officials said.No student is involved in the investigation.Health officials are trying to determine whether the cancer cases are related, said Evelyn Stein, spokeswoman for the Anne Arundel Health Department.Ifthe cancer cases appear related, investigators will look for asbestos, lead-tainted water or other environmental problems, she said.

Ten elementary schoolchildren were taken to the hospital yesterday afternoon after a school bus accident in front of Jessup Elementary near the Howard County line, Anne Arundel County police said. About 3:10 p.m., county police and fire units responded after the bus and a Volkswagen collided on Jessup Road, said Sgt. William Collier. He could not say late yesterday what caused the crash. Collier said some students were taken by ambulance to North Arundel Hospital, all with minor injuries.

Jessup Elementary School is getting more teachers' aides, and students from two colleges are gaining classroom teaching experience as part of a state program to strengthen education.The state Department of Education gave the county school system $40,000 in June to form an 18-month partnership with Anne Arundel Community College and Towson State University.Anne Arundel is the second community college in the state to join with a university and a public school system in a Professional Development School, which seeks to simultaneously train teachers and the students who will become teachers.

Shortly after sunrise yesterday, 16-year-old Tiffany Roberson was up, dressed and filling green and white balloons with helium at Arundel High School in Gambrills to welcome back her fellow students. Her summer had ended a few hours earlier. The student government president was up until 3 a.m. finishing homework for her Advanced Placement English class. "But then I was up again at 4 because I was excited about school," the senior said. Roberson was among the more than 75,000 students who started a new year fueled by anticipation and adrenaline in Anne Arundel County, one of five area jurisdictions that started classes yesterday.

A crisis in the British royal family pushed Jessup Elementary School clean off the ABC Evening News one evening in late February, bitterly disappointing students and their families and teachers gathered around their sets.Then ABC used the Jessup footage two months later to demonstrate the nationally acclaimed Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP). Only one problem: ABC never mentioned the school or its home district, Anne Arundel County, by name."Fifteen seconds of my face," laughs one teacher, "but not my 15 minutes of fame."

When she was a young girl, Margaret Regina loved storybooks. She laughed at the antics of Curious George, and she loved the rhymes of Dr. Seuss. Now, Regina and her friends in the Senior Program of Arundel Lodge are helping children at Jess- up Elementary School in Anne Arundel County experience the joy of reading through a fund-raising and literacy partnership begun last fall. Arundel Lodge, based in Annapolis, is a nonprofit rehabilitation facility for adults with chronic mental illness.

School's friends to flip hamburgers in fund-raiserParents, teachers and the principal of Jessup Elementary School will work the counter from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. today at the Jessup McDonald's, Route 175 next to the Truckers Inn.The occasion is a fund-raiser for the Jessup Elementary School Renovation Project. The project will receive about 20 percent of the evening's proceeds.POLICE LOG* Severn: A home in the 1600 block of Disney Road was broken into Thursday. Police do not know what was taken.

Name: Steve Kendall of SevernVolunteer Work/Interests: Mr. Kendall, part owner of a Gambrills office-cleaning business, has lived in the county for 14 years.He is a member of the Provinces Civic Association, where he has served as vice president for the past two years, as well as chairman of numerous committees. He is a past-president and now is vice president of the Jessup Youth Organization. He is co-chairman of the Ways and Means Committee of the Jessup Elementary School PTA, where two of his three children attend.

Ten elementary schoolchildren were taken to the hospital yesterday afternoon after a school bus accident in front of Jessup Elementary near the Howard County line, Anne Arundel County police said. About 3:10 p.m., county police and fire units responded after the bus and a Volkswagen collided on Jessup Road, said Sgt. William Collier. He could not say late yesterday what caused the crash. Collier said some students were taken by ambulance to North Arundel Hospital, all with minor injuries.

A shift in educational philosophy is prompting general and potentially costly remodeling of schools across the region. Many teachers, parents and students want walls.Throughout the late 1960s and early '70s, the construction of open classrooms took hold in schools, the idea being that about 100 students and their three or four teachers would mingle, learning together and sharing ideas and lesson plans.What happened instead was that many children were distracted by students in other classes and teachers going over unrelated work a few feet away.

When she was a young girl, Margaret Regina loved storybooks. She laughed at the antics of Curious George, and she loved the rhymes of Dr. Seuss. Now, Regina and her friends in the Senior Program of Arundel Lodge are helping children at Jess- up Elementary School in Anne Arundel County experience the joy of reading through a fund-raising and literacy partnership begun last fall. Arundel Lodge, based in Annapolis, is a nonprofit rehabilitation facility for adults with chronic mental illness.

A BIG ELECTION IS SET tomorrow at Whittier Elementary School in Frederick. And later in the spring at Jessup Elementary, in Anne Arundel County, and at dozens of other schools across Maryland. About 40,000 Maryland kids are expected to cast their ballots in libraries and classrooms for the 1999-2000 Black-Eyed Susan Book Awards, a contest sponsored by the state's school librarians, known these days as media specialists. The plebiscite, in its ninth year, is all about books, and the issues in the campaign are the things kids look for in literature: intriguing plots, adventure, mystery, mysticism, humor and "coolness," an ineffable quality known only to the young.

A shift in educational philosophy is prompting general and potentially costly remodeling of schools across the region. Many teachers, parents and students want walls.Throughout the late 1960s and early '70s, the construction of open classrooms took hold in schools, the idea being that about 100 students and their three or four teachers would mingle, learning together and sharing ideas and lesson plans.What happened instead was that many children were distracted by students in other classes and teachers going over unrelated work a few feet away.

A crisis in the British royal family pushed Jessup Elementary School clean off the ABC Evening News one evening in late February, bitterly disappointing students and their families and teachers gathered around their sets.Then ABC used the Jessup footage two months later to demonstrate the nationally acclaimed Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP). Only one problem: ABC never mentioned the school or its home district, Anne Arundel County, by name."Fifteen seconds of my face," laughs one teacher, "but not my 15 minutes of fame."

Jessup Elementary School is getting more teachers' aides, and students from two colleges are gaining classroom teaching experience as part of a state program to strengthen education.The state Department of Education gave the county school system $40,000 in June to form an 18-month partnership with Anne Arundel Community College and Towson State University.Anne Arundel is the second community college in the state to join with a university and a public school system in a Professional Development School, which seeks to simultaneously train teachers and the students who will become teachers.

About 300 Anne Arundel County students at risk of failing or dropping out of public schools will receive a boost from a program aimed at changing their behavior while teaching them computer skills.The program, paid for by a $287,000 federal grant awarded last week, will have students working by video conferences with counselors and mentors on projects they choose. They also will share ideas with other students and use the Internet to find resources. The network will be set up next year."We have tried many different approaches with at-risk students.

A job flipping burgers at McDonald's is a rite of passage for many American kids. Now, their teachers are getting into the act.For the second week, Jessup Elementary School staff members spent three hours behind the counter at the McDonald's Restaurant on Route 175 and Pocomoke Road yesterday to raise funds for their school and foster school-business partnerships.The school's fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade teachers, along with the speech therapist, media specialist and the principal, worked from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., serving burgers and fries and shakes.

PTA raising funds to divide roomsThe Jessup Elementary School PTA is starting its annual fund-raiser today, with this year's proceeds tentatively earmarked for the volunteer effort now under way to build walls to divide open classrooms.The drive will last until Oct. 18. School children will be soliciting parents, family members and friends to donate money by buying candy and gift wrap. Half of the money raised goes to the company and half goes to the PTA.Last year, the drive raised $7,000, and parent leaders said they hope to surpass that figure this year.

School Board Must Back VolunteerismAs you know, during the last school year, the Jessup community has attempted to work with the Board of Education (( to renovate Jessup Elementary School through the use of volunteers and massive business partnerships.The renovation included a sprinkler system, walls to eliminate an antiquated "open classroom" concept, new carpet, a "state of the art" computer lab and air conditioning the gym and cafeteria.This project would have led the way in showing other communities that, with their involvement, they could not only take an active part in improving their children's learning environment but also save the county an enormous amount of taxpayers' dollars.