Magnet Programs

Just how effective is the squeaky wheel?White parents at Hillendale Elementary School found plenty of grease available when they complained that their children were denied admission to the new, high-tech Cromwell Valley Elementary School magnet program because of their race.Suddenly, Baltimore County school officials are promising to pump hundreds of thousands of dollars into Hillendale -- which is predominantly black -- and possibly make Hillendale a magnet school, too.Some Hillendale parents were surprised that they were able to extract the promises after only one meeting with Superintendent Stuart Berger.

Cybil Stroh and Elizabeth Arthur started college yesterday.Today, they're going back to high school.Along with 31 other Baltimore County seniors, Cybil and Elizabeth will split their days between high school and Dundalk Community College in a new Parallel Enrollment Program (PEP) for students with time in their high school schedules.Cybil and Elizabeth, for instance, will start their days at 7:45 a.m. at Dundalk High, then, four days a week, walk a few blocks to the college at 9:25 for a 75-minute class and at 10:45 head back to high school for the rest of the day.Each needs only four high school credits to graduate.

Cybil Stroh and Elizabeth Arthur started college yesterday.Today, they're going back to high school.Along with 31 other Baltimore County seniors, Cybil and Elizabeth will split their days between high school and Dundalk Community College in a new Parallel Enrollment Program (PEP) for students with time in their high school schedules.Cybil and Elizabeth, for instance, will start their days at 7:45 a.m. at Dundalk High, then, four days a week, walk a few blocks to the college at 9:25 for a 75-minute class and at 10:45 head back to high school for the rest of the day.Each needs four high school credits to graduate.

The Anne Arundel County School System on Tuesday night fielded questions from parents and students about the county's upcoming Performance Visual Arts magnet program for high schools, a first-time endeavor that will offer students a chance to work with arts professionals while extending their school day four times a week. About 100 parents from throughout the county listened to the school system's presentation at Old Mill High School in Millersville. The program is set to launch for ninth- and 10th-graders in August and will be housed at Annapolis and Broadneck high schools.

When the technology magnet program was put in place at the county's two newest high schools, athletic coaches around the county cringed.Under the program, students on the west side of U.S. 29 may enroll at River Hill, or on the east side at Long Reach, under educational auspices; in reality, they may be enrolling merely to join a better athletic program, or to get away from a coach or program they do not like.Coaches see in this program a wide opportunity for recruitment of athletes, or for the creation of super teams.

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.

THE RIVER Hill High School chapter of the Maryland Technology Honor Society has been visiting middle schools to tell the future high school students about the Technology Magnet program. Senior Aneesha Griffin is leading a committee of society members whose mission is to inform students about the program. Howard County's Technology Magnet Program offers a combination of regular high school studies and technology courses. Students take a normal program and participate in school activities at Long Reach or River Hill high schools.

A popular Howard County high school technology magnet program with a waiting list of nearly 300 students last year is dramatically underenrolled this year, officials said yesterday.But, they said, they would like to see the program expanded next year as planned -- with modifications.If the school board approves the plan, students would be able to take one cluster of the program's five offerings at Columbia's Oakland Mills High School, said Richard Weisenhoff, coordinator computer-related instruction, in a report to the school board last night.

WHY IS the technology magnet program the hottest thing going in Howard County's school system?This is the program that schools officials once worried might flop for lack of interest. They could not have been more wrong.Interest has far surpassed expectations, but the program is too new to expand to accommodate everyone. The result is a lousy lottery system and angry eighth-graders who once believed their applications and minimal math requirements would guarantee admission.A promotional blitz touted the program as come one, come all. Officials modified that signal in recent months, but too late.