National Education Association

William Carr,95, an educator who brought an international outlook to his 15 years as executive secretary of the National Education Association, died March 1 at a hospice in Denver.A native of England who saw the world as his classroom and the body politic as his class, he spent most of his career with the National Education Association, the group representing teachers, administrators and other school personnel. He was its executive secretary, the chief administrator, from 1952 to 1967.Jean Margaret Maxwell,81, who helped establish the New York School of Social Work at New York University in the 1950s and the San Diego State University School of Social Work in the 1960s, died Feb. 22 at the Casa de Manana retirement community in San Diego.

Many educators are looking to President-elect Barack Obama to revise a much-maligned federal initiative requiring annual tests to chart the progress of every school in the country. But with a faltering economy and two foreign wars dominating the attention of the administration-in-waiting, even the sharpest critics of the No Child Left Behind law are resigned to waiting their turn. "I think it will take us a while to do this," said Joel Parker, director of education policy and practice at the National Education Association, a teachers union.

We conclude this season's Gardener of the Week feature with Tom Blanford, an employee for the National Education Association in Washington. When he moved into his rowhouse three years ago, he confronted a back yard of bare gravel surrounded by a chain-link fence. Today it is an Asian-inspired retreat from the noise and bustle of the city. You can read about his garden and see more pictures tomorrow at baltimoresun.com/gardener. To read a complete calendar of the home and garden events for this month, go to baltimoresun.

We conclude this season's Gardener of the Week feature with Tom Blanford, an employee for the National Education Association in Washington. When he moved into his rowhouse three years ago, he confronted a back yard of bare gravel surrounded by a chain-link fence. Today it is an Asian-inspired retreat from the noise and bustle of the city. You can read about his garden and see more pictures tomorrow at baltimoresun.com/gardener. To read a complete calendar of the home and garden events for this month, go to baltimoresun.

MEMO TO the Orioles:It's a splendid place, but you've got to do something about the floor in the main concourse. It's as slippery as an ice rink.* * *IN A CAMPAIGN to leverage more funding for education, public school teachers' organizations sometimes end up stepping on their own messages.A recent publication from the National Education Association and a current cable television commercial from the Teachers Association of Baltimore County point out that society has been spending a lot on building prisons in recent years while showing reluctance to spend more of the taxpayers' dollars on public education.

Services for E. Jeannette Smith, a retired teacher at elementary schools, will be held at 11 a.m. tomorrow at the Grace Presbyterian Church, 2604 Banister Ave.Mrs. Smith, who was 73, died Saturday of cancer at her home on North Carrollton Avenue.She taught in the primary grades of six public schools in Baltimore from 1937 until her retirement in 1976.The former Ethel Jeannette Day was born in Baltimore and graduated from Coppin State College, where she was elected to an honor society, the Circulus Scholorum.

Leanna Mae Webster, 67, Howard educatorLeanna Mae Webster, a retired Howard County educator and former Coppin State College dean, died Sunday of brain cancer at her Glenwood home. She was 67.She retired in 1990 from Wilde Lake Middle School in Columbia, where she had taught for eight years. She was principal of Longfellow Elementary School from 1979 to 1982 and had been a reading specialist in Baltimore and Howard public schools.She was born Leanna M. Barnes in West Baltimore and was a 1946 graduate of Douglass High School.

CAN YOU IMAGINE a situation in which the pupils raise more money for public schools by selling candy and magazines than elected officials raise through local taxes?Floyd County, Kentucky, in 1988.Can you imagine a school district so short of money that it couldn't hire nine badly-needed teachers, a counselor, people to teach art, music and physical education, and regularly ran out of chalk and paper?Bell County, in the poor mining region of southeastern Kentucky.But that was before Bell and 65 other Kentucky counties filed a lawsuit arguing that it violated the rights of many thousands of children to have their educational system spend well over $3,000 per pupil in metropolitan suburbs, but less than $1,800 per student in wretched Appalachian counties.

NEW ORLEANS -- Delegates at the National Education Association's convention voted overwhelmingly yesterday against merging with the American Federation of Teachers, frustrating plans to create a stronger organization to fight what union leaders see as an unprecedented assault against public education.The vote, which would have created the largest union in American history with 3.3 million members, is a serious blow to the leadership's designs of creating a unified voice to combat a wave of critics, most notably supporters of vouchers, a growing movement to allow use of taxpayer money to pay for students to attend private schools.

Services for Virginia Lee Thompson, a retired educator, will be held at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow at the Faith Christian Worship Center, 125 N. Hilton St., where she had worked as a counselor and principal of the Mark of Excellence Christian Academy.Miss Thompson, who lived on Kenshaw Avenue, died Saturday at Levindale after a long illness. She was 59.She retired in 1988 after a year as a worship center counselor at the Christian academy and two years as its principal.From 1966 to 1984 Miss Thompson worked in the Baltimore school system.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Senate voted yesterday to confirm the nominations of Margaret Spellings, a domestic policy aide for President Bush, to be secretary of education, and Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns to be secretary of agriculture. Senate Democrats delayed until next week confirmation votes on two Cabinet nominees, Condoleezza Rice to be secretary of state and White House Counsel Alberto R. Gonzales to be attorney general. Democrats said they want a debate on Rice's role, as national security adviser, in formulating the U.S. policy on Iraq and are seeking more answers from Gonzales on the administration's policy on treatment of detained terrorists.

Charen's attack on NEA ignores critical facts Mona Charen's column "Liberals' lies leave our kids confused"(Opinion * Commentary, Sept. 2) leaves me confused about her unjustified criticism of the National Education Association's (NEA) guidance to teachers about the anniversary of Sept. 11. Although it's true, as Ms. Charen says, "that all of the individuals who attacked this country on Sept. 11 were Arabs," it is also true that our president sees fit to invite the Saudi hierarchy to his ranch.

NEW ORLEANS -- Delegates at the National Education Association's convention voted overwhelmingly yesterday against merging with the American Federation of Teachers, frustrating plans to create a stronger organization to fight what union leaders see as an unprecedented assault against public education.The vote, which would have created the largest union in American history with 3.3 million members, is a serious blow to the leadership's designs of creating a unified voice to combat a wave of critics, most notably supporters of vouchers, a growing movement to allow use of taxpayer money to pay for students to attend private schools.

Leanna Mae Webster, 67, Howard educatorLeanna Mae Webster, a retired Howard County educator and former Coppin State College dean, died Sunday of brain cancer at her Glenwood home. She was 67.She retired in 1990 from Wilde Lake Middle School in Columbia, where she had taught for eight years. She was principal of Longfellow Elementary School from 1979 to 1982 and had been a reading specialist in Baltimore and Howard public schools.She was born Leanna M. Barnes in West Baltimore and was a 1946 graduate of Douglass High School.

William Carr,95, an educator who brought an international outlook to his 15 years as executive secretary of the National Education Association, died March 1 at a hospice in Denver.A native of England who saw the world as his classroom and the body politic as his class, he spent most of his career with the National Education Association, the group representing teachers, administrators and other school personnel. He was its executive secretary, the chief administrator, from 1952 to 1967.Jean Margaret Maxwell,81, who helped establish the New York School of Social Work at New York University in the 1950s and the San Diego State University School of Social Work in the 1960s, died Feb. 22 at the Casa de Manana retirement community in San Diego.

It was Education Day for the women of Hadassah at Congregation Beth El in Baltimore. And the topic was TV."I'm just a regular viewer, but I'll tell you what's new," said Selma Pollack, one of 150 at the conference. "In the past, if I found a show objectionable, I just turned it off -- I didn't watch. But now, I watch."I watch until I have the names of every single sponsor. And then I write to those sponsors, telling them I won't be buying their products anymore, because of their involvement with the show.

Charen's attack on NEA ignores critical facts Mona Charen's column "Liberals' lies leave our kids confused"(Opinion * Commentary, Sept. 2) leaves me confused about her unjustified criticism of the National Education Association's (NEA) guidance to teachers about the anniversary of Sept. 11. Although it's true, as Ms. Charen says, "that all of the individuals who attacked this country on Sept. 11 were Arabs," it is also true that our president sees fit to invite the Saudi hierarchy to his ranch.

AMERICANS want change, not more talk of change. This was made clear on Nov. 3 when fed-up residents of 14 states -- including California, Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Texas -- voted to limit the number of years their representatives can serve in Congress.If the Clinton team's election strategy was to focus on the economy, its governing strategy should be to focus on the real dissatisfactions that have led to the term-limits movement. The new administration will be under intense pressure from or ganized interest groups -- ranging from the AFL-CIO and National Education Association (NEA)

AMERICANS want change, not more talk of change. This was made clear on Nov. 3 when fed-up residents of 14 states -- including California, Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Texas -- voted to limit the number of years their representatives can serve in Congress.If the Clinton team's election strategy was to focus on the economy, its governing strategy should be to focus on the real dissatisfactions that have led to the term-limits movement. The new administration will be under intense pressure from or ganized interest groups -- ranging from the AFL-CIO and National Education Association (NEA)

MEMO TO the Orioles:It's a splendid place, but you've got to do something about the floor in the main concourse. It's as slippery as an ice rink.* * *IN A CAMPAIGN to leverage more funding for education, public school teachers' organizations sometimes end up stepping on their own messages.A recent publication from the National Education Association and a current cable television commercial from the Teachers Association of Baltimore County point out that society has been spending a lot on building prisons in recent years while showing reluctance to spend more of the taxpayers' dollars on public education.