Magnet Programs

Sudbrook Middle School will reopen in 1994 with three academic magnet programs, but the Baltimore County school board this week eliminated a proposal for a fourth concentration -- in physical education and athletics.Board members said they killed the physical education proposal because it might be interpreted as existing for the sole purpose of attacting black youngsters to the Pikesville-area school and because including four magnet programs seemed like too ambitious a beginning.The board also gave its initial OK to a proposal for a 1994 magnet program in mathematics, science and computer science Parkville High School on the northeast side of the county.

As a ninth-grader, Michelle Blair of Crofton has plenty of time to figure out what career to pursue. Yet, while taking classes in Anne Arundel County's BioMedical Allied Health magnet program at Glen Burnie High School, she's already considering a possible career in medicine. And though she might not follow in the footsteps of her mother, Diane, who is a nurse, Michelle says, "I am hoping this program will help me narrow [my choices] down. It's given me the experience to see what I like and what I do not like.

Baltimore County, responding to a sometimes-critical study, plans to expand its magnet school programs, but at a much slower rate than during the first three years of the popular initiative.No new magnet programs will open next fall. But at least two additional high school programs will be proposed for September 1997, school administrators say, responding to a consultants' study that found gaps and inconsistencies in the system."We plan to improve, modify and expand our programs," said the magnet schools director, Anita Stockton.

As Anne Arundel school officials outlined the system's planned Performing Visual Arts program for high schools, they stressed to parents the kind of students they're looking to enroll: those with an unbridled energy and passion for their art. Many parents who listened to the information session Tuesday night could relate. "If you have one of these kids in your house, you'll know it. And hopefully, people will take away that this is an elite program for that particular child, and they will encourage those children to participate, "said Nicole Dunn of Millersville, whose ninth-grade daughter Bria has a recording studio at home.

The Baltimore County public school system today announced the opening of the application period for magnet programs, which concentrate courses in one subject area. The school system said that applications for elementary magnets were available today and can be downloaded from the school system's Web site -- at www.bcps.org/offices/omp -- or obtained by mail or in person from any Baltimore County public school or office. Applications for secondary schools will be released on Oct. 8, though high school applications can be obtained in advance at the High School Magnet Fair, planned for 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday at Patapsco High School at 8100 Wise Ave. in Dundalk.

Seeking to remove the differences in how pupils are selected for magnet schools, Baltimore County educators last night proposed one policy for the entire system.The proposal calls for the 27 county schools with magnet programs to choose pupils primarily through a centralized random lottery, replacing a variety of methods."We haven't had any countywide policy before this," said Phyllis Bailey, associate superintendent for educational support services. "This will carry out consistency in all schools."

Baltimore County school officials clarified a budget document Monday, saying that they will not remove any teachers from magnet schools next year, although they are doing an audit of those sites' resources. The administration's clarification of the proposal came after an outpouring of protests from parents and students at one of the county's two arts magnet schools, George Washington Carver School for the Arts and Technology in Towson. The proposed budget that Superintendent Joe A. Hairston presented to the board a few weeks ago calls for 37 magnet teachers to be "redirected" to curriculum offices to create specialists and supervisors.

Baltimore County's magnet programs survived a threatened moratorium when the school board quietly sidestepped the issue last night.Before a largely pro-magnet crowd could even express its support, board President Paul Cunningham made a brief statement dismissing the idea of a moratorium."

Baltimore County's magnet schools may be losing some of their attraction.For a short time last week, the school board entertained a budget amendment that would have halted five new magnet programs, even as letters of acceptance were on their way to prospective students.When that was defeated 5-4, board members moved to put a moratorium on future magnet programs. Tabled for now, the motion is due to come up again next week.Appearing out of nowhere, the amendment introduced by board member Dunbar Brooks took other board members, magnet school principals and Superintendent Stuart Berger, a strong proponent of magnet programs, by surprise and left them groping to understand the intentions of a board that has nurtured its magnets.

The Baltimore County school system will receive a nearly $6.5 million, three-year federal grant to improve student achievement and increase educational options for children through magnet schools. Funded by the U.S. Education Department, the Magnet Schools Assistance program provides competitive grants to help local school systems create magnet schools operated under a court-ordered or federally approved voluntary desegregation plan. About 50 school districts nationwide will share more than $108 million in the program.

Twenty-two Baltimore County Public Schools students from seven high schools have been named semifinalists in the 57th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Local students include: Dulaney High School — Jungbin Choi, Christopher Flower, Daniel Iachan, He Liu, Arjun Rao, Michael Roy, Yuchao Sun and Liangcheng Tao. George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology — Helen Zhao. Loch Raven High School — Olivia Cypull and Emily Ruppel. Towson High School — Matthew Bender, Morgana Jenkins-Houk, Emma McDonald, Jonathan Peake, Timothy Riley and Benjamin Weksberg.

A statewide arts education group has named Anne Arundel Schools Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell as its arts advocate for 2010, citing his creation of an arts magnet program at an Annapolis middle school and other arts-related initiatives. The Arts Education in Maryland Schools Alliance plans to honor Maxwell at a conference at Towson University on June 3. "Dr. Kevin Maxwell's commitment to arts education has resulted in vibrant learning [and] teaching environments that prepare Maryland's school children to think creatively, innovate, problem solve, collaborate, communicate and compete successfully in the 21st century global economy," the alliance said in a statement.

Baltimore County school officials clarified a budget document Monday, saying that they will not remove any teachers from magnet schools next year, although they are doing an audit of those sites' resources. The administration's clarification of the proposal came after an outpouring of protests from parents and students at one of the county's two arts magnet schools, George Washington Carver School for the Arts and Technology in Towson. The proposed budget that Superintendent Joe A. Hairston presented to the board a few weeks ago calls for 37 magnet teachers to be "redirected" to curriculum offices to create specialists and supervisors.

In one classroom, students pore over wires and switches, a complicated array of materials used to produce a working version of a mazelike circuit diagram on the projection screen. In another - actually not a classroom at all, but the woods behind a greenhouse - students poke insects, yell about a deer sighting and shriek as a tick finds its way up an exposed leg. The two very different experiences are part of a summer program for students attending the new science, technology, engineering and math magnet program at North County High School next month.

Schools official pleads guilty to solicitation An administrator of Baltimore County school magnet programs has pleaded guilty in a Pennsylvania court to sending sexual messages in an Internet chat room to someone he believed was a 13-year-old girl, authorities said yesterday. David Sean Lukes, 34, of Stewartstown, Pa., pleaded guilty last week in the Court of Common Pleas in York County, Pa., to attempted unlawful contact with a minor, attempted corruption of a minor and solicitation to commit indecent assault, said Senior Deputy Prosecutor Kelley Brewer.

Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens is pushing for a math-and-science magnet program for Meade High School, and she says a major county employer - defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. - is ready to become a partner in the effort. "Northrop Grumman ... has made a firm commitment on the magnet school," Owens said Monday in Crownsville before the Maryland Military Installation Strategic Planning Council, a consortium of local, state and federal officials overseeing military growth in Maryland.

Specialized magnet programs designed to give students greater educational opportunities and create greater racial balance will open in at least six Baltimore County high schools in September.Another 10 schools are developing magnet proposals for future years, officials said yesterday as they outlined their ambitious, if sketchy plans.The magnet programs will allow students with special interests to choose an alternative to their local schools.Two of the six schools will be countywide magnets; the others will be regional.

With 10,000 students this year, Baltimore County's young rTC magnet programs continue to thrive in two dozen schools and to elicit so much interest that it takes two fairs to show them off.Although there will be no new programs next fall, the 25 programs created in the past three years will continue to offer students the choice of focusing on a particular subject while completing required courses.Magnet programs in the eastern area of the county will be on display tonight at Kenwood High School, 501 Stemmers Run Road, and those on the west side Thursday at Lansdowne High School, 3800 Hollins Ferry Road.