NEWS
January 30, 1997
TEMPTATION KNOCKS LOUDLY on the doors of middle-school students whose parents are still at work when they return from school. These three or four hours provide a window when teen-age pregnancy happens, when juvenile crime soars, when children become crime victims, when teens use drugs. Without structure, these are some of the pitfalls awaiting latchkey children.Although it may sound childish to youths who feel like adults trapped in children's bodies, middle-school students could benefit from after-school programs that provide recreation and academic help.
FEATURES
By Susan Reimer | May 18, 1997
I CONSIDER MIDDLE school to be a holding pen for adolescents and respite care for their beleaguered parents, and my only complaint with this system is that they don't keep the kids overnight and on weekends.Eleven to 14 is a difficult age, and I wonder if educator Maria Montessori was not correct when she visualized sending these kids to work on farms until they had completed all the physical and emotional changes that make them so unpleasant in close quarters, such as your kitchen while you are making dinner.
FEATURES
By Susan Reimer | October 8, 1996
JOE AND HIS jailhouse lawyer, Paul, never know when to shut up.These two middle-school boys, who will some day talk themselves into a prison term for a parking ticket, can alibi and negotiate until you wish you were deaf.And that's exactly what they were doing as they attempted to prepare me for a worst-case scenario, report card-wise."A 'C' means average. It means you are like everyone else," said Paul, talking fast and following me around the kitchen as I tried to ignore him. "You want Joe to be like everyone else, don't you?
FEATURES
By SUSAN REIMER | June 4, 1995
I am on record as not looking forward to the middle-school years.I have asked every mother I know if there is a way -- short of the institutionalization of my children or me -- that I can get out of being the parent of a middle-school child, and I have been told repeatedly that there is not.The years 11 to 13 are not pretty, but there is no way to get to blossoming young adulthood except through them.My dismay deepened the night of the middle-school open house for incoming sixth-graders. I was looking for an educational vision for children who have mastered reading and writing, and what I got was something that looked like parents' day at summer camp.
NEWS
By Suzanne Loudermilk | October 23, 1994
Floyd, a German short-haired pointer, knows all about drugs. But that's his job.The friendly dog sniffs out big bundles and even minute amounts of illegal narcotics during his hours working with the state police.He also has another job. He gives demonstrations of his tracking skills with his trainer, Tfc. Ed Karr.The duo delighted middle-school students who were attending a youth drug summit last week at Camp Ramblewood in Darlington."He loves people and loves food," Trooper Karr said. "He gets better treats than me and a chauffeur eight hours a day."
NEWS
March 9, 1993
Middle school conference scheduledThe Maryland Middle School Association Spring Conference will take place at North Carroll Middle School, 2401 Hanover Pike, Hampstead, Friday from 7:10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m."Leadership for Social Reform" will be the topic of this year's meeting. The conference provides the background and setting for middle-level educators to discuss and share strategies, ideas and programs aimed at the middle-school student.It is estimated that 600 to 800 educators will gather to select from 90 presentations.
NEWS
By Brent Jones | December 2, 2007
In a cramped engineering classroom at the Johns Hopkins University yesterday morning, 40 students set out to solve problems. A firetruck had to be able to navigate through a forest. A school bus needed to traverse rural areas. A stadium had to be able to withstand a tropical climate. Upperclassmen engineering majors might have struggled to find solutions, but these students, none of whom was older than 14, found answers in about three hours. "That's the purpose of engineering, to improve people's lives," said Asya Shaw, 11, a seventh-grader at Mount Royal Elementary/Middle School.
NEWS
By Linda Linley | January 4, 2004
On Wednesday afternoons, Bryn Mawr School sophomore Lindsay Hamilton can be found in the Roland Park branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library helping Masuma Islam with her homework. Sitting at a small table in the basement, Lindsay goes over Latin, math and other assignments with Masuma, who attends Roland Park Middle School. Lindsay also teaches her organizational skills and memory tricks. "I'm more comfortable asking Lindsay questions," said Masuma, 11, a sixth-grader from the city's Remington neighborhood who has been working with Lindsay since October.
NEWS
By Mary Gail Hare | November 30, 2000
When Mayor Jonathan S. Herman asked the Sykesville Town Council what to discuss with Carroll's school superintendent today, members all had the same answer: air conditioning at the middle school. Charles I. Ecker will meet with officials from all eight towns in the next few months to discuss municipal concerns with the school system. Although temperatures are hovering near the freezing point, Ecker will probably hear a lot about heat today. Herman, a father of four school-aged children, will relay several complaints about temperature and air quality at Sykesville Middle School.
NEWS
By Howard Libit and Mike Bowler | July 16, 2000
EMMITSBURG - While Maryland children were enjoying summer vacation last week, many of their teachers and principals were in seminar rooms searching for ways to improve reading instruction. A primary concern: the lagging performance of middle-schoolers. Teams from middle schools in all 24 of the state's systems gathered at Mount St. Mary's College for the fourth annual Maryland Reading Network conference, while 100 public school principals focused on reading at a three-day session in suburban Baltimore.