Neighborhood Schools

Most Baltimore public high school students aren't offered Advanced Placement courses and only a tiny percentage are enrolled in them, according to a recent report by the Abell Foundation. Although the number of classes has increased significantly during the past five years, only 2 percent of high school students in Baltimore take Advanced Placement courses, compared with 13 percent in Washington and 17 percent in Dallas, the report says. "Baltimore is going in the right direction, but very slowly," said Robert C. Embry Jr., president of the Abell Foundation.

After a quarter century of court-ordered busing, Prince George's County officials believe they have the evidence to persuade a federal judge to relinquish control of their school system.In their hands is a report by four education experts that concludes busing no longer serves a purpose in a school system that has gone from three-quarters white to three-quarters black.School officials have done everything possible to end discrimination against black students, the experts said. Further, busing students from their neighborhoods to someone else's is doing little to erase segregation, and in some cases may be making it worse.

Baltimore County Superintendent Stuart Berger says he won't negotiate with a group that sued the school department last week to stop changes in the county's special education programs unless it drops the legal action.And the attorney for the group said yesterday that if Dr. Berger won't negotiate, she'll press for an injunction to stop the transfer of hundreds of disabled students from special education centers to neighborhood schools."If we were to agree to negotiate after the filing of a lawsuit, it would indicate that we were willing to negotiate only under that threat," Dr. Berger wrote in a letter to attorney Beth Goodman.

Several Anne Arundel County school board members are considering reviving parts of a controversial redistricting plan for Annapolis that would move minority children to schools closer to their homes and keep their communities intact.Joseph H. Foster, the board president, and others would not say specifically what they are planning, but said they were worried about communities where children are bused long distances."I am very concerned about the Annapolis feeder system," he said. "For a number of years, the county board has been concerned about neighborhoods that are split among several schools."

For three years, Erin Honey dutifully followed the rules at Broadneck Senior High and called her teachers "Mr." and "Mrs.""Now, all the teachers are saying things [to me] like 'You can call me Jill,' or 'You can call me Frank.' It's great," said the 1989 Broadneck High graduate, who reported yesterday to her alma mater for her first teaching job. "I can't wait for the first day of school. I get to make my own rules."Ms. Honey was among the 262 newly hired teachers who joined 3,771 veterans yesterday to begin getting ready for county students.

Baltimore County's fast-growing magnet school program has developed without any strategic plan and needs revisions from its application process to follow-up courses, according to a consultant's study.The study, being used by the school system as the basis for changes, calls for a more consistent screening process for applicants. More collaboration is needed between magnet schools and comprehensive schools, the report adds, and more magnet programs are needed to provide continuity in courses.

The Baltimore County schools cut enrollment at special education schools almost in half through the controversial "inclusion" program begun late last year.There are 709 children with the most serious disabilities -- called "level 5" -- in the county's five special education centers this school year, according to preliminary data presented to the school board. Last year, those schools had 1,371 students.The Chatsworth School in the Reisterstown area lost about 80 percent of its students. Enrollment there went from 261 students during the 1992-1993 school year to about 50 students this year.

With a new school year about to begin, Howard County officials face a daunting task: a general redrawing of school district lines that will put a public spotlight on emotional issues, from the racial balance in classrooms to pressure for new schools.A new elementary school in the crowded northeast part of the county could result, school officials say, but a major change in racial balance isn't likely, even if some children move from outlying schools to Columbia."There needs to be a general redistricting," school superintendent Michael E. Hickey said, noting the growing county population outside Columbia.

DENVER -- After 21 years of court-ordered school busing, the concept of neighborhood schools is on the way back in the Mile High City, but not without some concerns among Denver's minority groups.''I greet it with tempered happiness,'' says Aaron Gray, president of the city's school board, of a federal district judge's ruling barring further busing to combat racial discrimination. The judge found last month that the Denver public school system has satisfactorily eradicated ''vestiges of past discrimination . . . to the extent practicable.

The life I experience as a 30-year resident and homeowner in Northeast Baltimore is quite different from the picture painted recently in The Sun. I've worked in community development for 16 years and know the Northeast Baltimore neighborhoods well. I have seen them evolve from quasi-suburban outposts to sought-after places with distinct amenities and some of Baltimore's most interesting people. Yes, the neighborhoods of Ednor Gardens, Belair-Edison, Lauraville, and Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello share the problems of most urban neighborhoods, but these communities are popular homeownership destinations for young families and fertile ground for prosperous new businesses.