Middle School

Absenteeism soared in Anne Arundel County schools Friday after a week of rampant shooting rumors apparently spooked parents. More than half of the students at two high schools stayed home. Across the system, absences quadrupled at Arundel high schools and increased more than fourfold at middle schools compared to the final day before the holiday break last year, schools spokesman Bob Mosier said, attributing the spike to the rumors. By Tuesday, principals at five high schools and one middle school sent home letters to parents dispelling false reports that a shooting was planned for Friday, one week after a mass shooting in Connecticut that left 20 elementary students and six school employees dead.

Editor: Whatever happened to teen centers, CYOs and high school mixers? How do the teens (16-19) of Harford County socialize these days? Facebook, texting and interactive gaming! They boast about having hundreds, even thousands of Facebook friends, but in reality how many do they actually physically see and do social activities with? There is nothing for most teens to look forward to on the weekends. Of course, there is the mall, spending time in local restaurants, which can be costly!

Who is Shawn Nowlin? Or perhaps we should be asking: Why can't the Baltimore school system answer that question? It's been almost two weeks since Nowlin, who worked in some still-undetermined capacity at a Baltimore elementary and middle school, was charged in the rape of a 15-year-old girl he supposedly was counseling but instead impregnated. Prosecutors in Harford County, where the 27-year-old Nowlin lives, said he identified himself as a vice principal or "dean of students" at Hazelwood Elementary/Middle School in Northeast Baltimore — an obviously ludicrous title unless you believe there are also provosts of the playground at this level of the education system.

Otis B. Read III, a Boys' Latin School teacher and coach and former head of its middle school, died of cancer Wednesday at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. He was 75 and lived in Mays Chapel in Timonium. Born in Ipswich, Mass., he was the son of a Baptist minister who founded Open Bible Tabernacle in Hamilton and a homemaker. He came to Boys' Latin as a 10th-grader and graduated from the school in 1955. While there, he learned to play lacrosse. He then earned a degree at the Johns Hopkins University, where he was a member of the 1957 national championship lacrosse team.

Adelfeus Cole sees a lot of kids who are unmotivated in the classroom. Tyana Palmer wants to know why the cafeteria can't serve students more vegetarian meals. And Kyle Rivers wonders whether Baltimore County will change its traditional school calendar. The high school students questioned Superintendent Dallas Dance about those issues Wednesday at his first of two planned "student town hall meetings. " Throughout the event, hands shot up from the crowd of about 70 students from a dozen schools gathered at Chesapeake High in Essex.

From Liz Atwood: If your tween doesn't have a smart phone or tablet yet, I'll bet it's on the Christmas wish list. Yet as pervasive as mobile devices are, I was still astounded to see a new study from the Verizon Foundation that shows more than one third of middle school students are doing their homework with the help of a smart phone or tablet. The study found smartphone use crossing income levels and ethnicity. Nearly a third of children from the poorest households said they used smartphones for homework.

In "Harvest of disappointment: Good intentions weren't enough to make a garden thrive at on Baltimore school," (November 23), Bess Keller wrote a compassionate and thorough account of the garden project at Guilford Elementary/Middle School - lessons learned about deficiencies in processes. I would like to make a few suggestions for the future of the garden project. •Overall Goal: Increased educational experience and development of new skills that can one day be applied in creating new small businesses or working in high tech jobs at existing corporations and laboratories - and to increase "a chance at a decent life.

World-renowned surgeon Benjamin Carson has been named president of the board overseeing the East Baltimore Community School Inc.--the educational institution spurred by the revitalization of the city's Middle East community, including a new elementary/middle school that will anchor the community. The appointment of Carson, director of the pediatric neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, was announced by Hopkins on Monday.  He started his new post effective Dec. 1, and took over for David Nichols, former vice dean for education at Hopkins' School of Medicine.

A Holabird Middle School student was disciplined after an inoperable starter pistol was found in his locker Wednesday, Baltimore County schools officials said. The Dundalk school sent a letter home with students about the discovery of the gun, and an investigation involving county police indicated that the student did not plan to threaten or hurt anyone, schools spokesman Charles Herndon said. A starter pistol shoots blank shells or caps and is typically used at sporting events. "Possession of such a device is still a serious offense, however, and the school has taken appropriate disciplinary action," the letter signed by Principal Julie Dellone states.

When the mother of a 15-year-old girl said she was having behavior problems with her daughter, a prosecutor says, Shawn Edward Nowlin offered to take her in and help the girl work on her issues. But detectives allege he had sex with the girl and impregnated her, leading to his arrest on charges of second-degree rape, sex abuse of a minor and second-degree assault, according to Harford County prosecutor Lisa Marts. Marts said Nowlin had identified himself as a school administrator and a child and family counselor.