New Middle School

Elkridge parents want a bigger cafeteria-auditorium and more parking spaces than are planned for the new northeastern middle school set to open in 1995.Parents now have to drive too far to use Howard High School's auditorium for choir and band concerts, two parents told the Howard County school board yesterday."The new [eastern] high school is slated to be placed nearer Columbia, leaving our end of the county without auditorium facilities," said Linda Carey, a member of the architectural review committee for the new middle school.

Terrell Carr and his mother, Niesha Carr, have loved his experience at William C. March Middle School. From the Arabic classes in which he's excelled to the quality of the instruction, both have nothing but good things to say about the school. And they are disappointed that it might close at the end of the year. "It's kind of sad because it's the best school I've ever been to," said Terrell, a 13-year-old seventh-grader who was attending the fifth annual Baltimore City Public Schools Middle and High School Choice Fair, which brought the system's 64 middle and high schools together Saturday to showcase their offerings for parents and students.

Brooklyn Park should get a new middle school, even if it includes parts of the existing structure, and there's the possibility that the auditorium wing of the old building could be used for community meetings and performing arts, County Executive John G. Gary has said.Gary came close to backing the recommendation of architects Grimm and Parker for a new school. But he wants further studies to determine if it would be feasible to build a new school around the existing gym and cafeteria, and if the auditorium wing could be turned into a free-standing building.

After receiving several mailing pieces and listening to Baltimore County Council District 2 candidate Vicki Almond at many public forums, I feel it is time to get the facts out about the lack of need for a new middle school in Owings Mills ("Democrats line up for 2nd District seat," Aug. 16). This is not my opinion, but rather, the facts disseminated by the Baltimore County Department of Education which state: "Based on enrollment projections…The middle schools in this part of the county are under capacity, and the ten year projections do not indicate that more capacity is needed to accommodate middle school students at this time".

Carroll's Planning Commission began deciding yesterday what capital budget projects the county should fund next fiscal year.Emergency radio system improvements, studies on a county police force and expansion of the Eldersburg branch library could fall by the wayside, officials said.Money for a new middle school in New Windsor, a new park in Sykesville and property acquisition for new schools probably will be allocated.The commission met for a work session to review recommendations from Planning Director Edmund R. Cueman, Chief of Building Construction Tom Rio and budget analyst Gary Horst about which projects should be funded in fiscal year 1994, which begins July 1.Last month, the commission heard requests from various county department heads and others for money for specific projects.

While state and county education officials may have hit a philosophical stone wall on the need for a new middle school in South Carroll, area parents are forging ahead."

Land for new middle school purchaseLand has been purchased in New Windsor -- just west of town and on the south side of Route 75 -- for the new middle school.Money has already been allocated for the estimated $9 million project, which will include a library overlooking a courtyard and a two-part stage that will divide the cafeteria and the gym.Once the new school is finished, students at Elmer E. Wolfe Elementary in Union Bridge will occupy the old building while their school is being renovated.

West County parents will have one more chance this week to say where they think their children should attend elementary, middle and high school.Groups of parents began meeting last year to come up with their version of new school boundaries to accompany the opening this fall of a new middle school for the Fort Meade area.There's been nothing straightforward about the process since then. Some parents have made clear they don't want their children in Meade area schools at all.Here are the threads of the complicated debate:Parents on a redistricting task force had to decide which students would attend the new middle school and which students would go to 30-year-old MacArthur Middle School, both on Fort Meade.

The Carroll County Board of Education approved yesterday a school construction plan and budget that includes a new elementary school, a new middle school and additions on the three high schools in the fast-growing South Carroll and Mount Airy. The nearly $100 million, six-year plan also calls for equipment upgrades and expansion of career and technology programs. The addition of those priorities was a result of pleas from parents, teachers and school administrators at a public hearing last week on the construction plan, said Carroll interim School Superintendent Charles I. Ecker.

County and school officials have agreed to a revised schedule of building new schools and expanding others in a plan that will cost $101 million by 2003 -- a plan that also moves up projects such as a new high school in Westminster and a new middle school in Hampstead.But the schedule delays a new middle school in Westminster for two years, until 2002, and delays renovation of North Carroll Middle School until 2003.School board President C. Scott Stone was taken aback when Steven D. Powell, the county's director of management and budget, presented the plan, which the County Commissioners had approved earlier this month.

Of the three incumbents seeking re-election to the Baltimore County Council, Kenneth N. Oliver might be facing the toughest primary battle. Six Democratic opponents are working to unseat the two-term councilman. They are campaigning on how to spur economic development, improve schools and enhance public safety. Oliver is running on what he has done for constituents. With no Republican candidate in the race, the tight Democratic primary will likely determine who represents the district that includes Woodlawn, Randallstown, Owings Mills and Reisterstown.

For families across the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore, months of waiting will come to an end today when officials detail plans to close several schools. "We are all absolutely worried," said Gil Jasinski, whose 10-year-old daughter, Sarah, attends St. Clare Elementary School in Essex. "I don't understand any of this. Why is the church shutting down these schools, when they should be promoting them?" Facing rising costs and declining enrollments - challenges confronting parochial schools from the Midwest to the Northeast - the archdiocese is expected to close several of its 64 schools and reorganize the system of 22,700 students.

Schools Superintendent Sydney L. Cousin unveiled a $99.9 million capital budget last week that would include money for a variety of projects, such as a new school in northeastern Howard County that is slated to open in 2013. The amount of the 2011-2012 budget will likely increase in the coming months, according to Cousin. The school board must approve a version of the capital budget by Oct. 6, when a draft must be submitted to the State Construction Program staff. The school system will approve a final budget by June.

In the days leading up to tomorrow's start of the new school year, educators around the county put final touches on their classroom decor, worked out scheduling kinks and made sure immunization records were in order. But at Marley Middle School in Glen Burnie, furniture is still being assembled, some textbooks remain stacked in cardboard boxes, and photos and awards line a hallway floor, waiting to be hung. Visible through the many large windows is a pile of rubble, being moved by giant construction cranes, that serves as a reminder of the school's recent past.

The Carroll County school board voted yesterday to push back by a year the planned construction date for a $26 million middle school in South Carroll while school planners re-evaluate enrollment projections. School officials hope that delaying construction of the school until at least 2007 and gaining another year of enrollment data to study will prevent the county from building a school that could open half-full. In approving the district's 10-year blueprint for school construction and renovation projects, the board also agreed to accelerate plans for the renovations of three aging elementary schools.

Calvert School sixth-graders Stacey Collins and Taylor Adams were so excited about moving into their new middle school building yesterday that they had already cleared out their lockers and were waiting in a basement classroom for word to relocate. About 9:45 a.m., carrying backpacks, laptop computers and a shopping bag filled with gym clothes, basketball shoes and a dry-erase board, the two 12-year-olds linked arms as they walked along a paved pathway to the new building. Led by a bagpiper playing "Amazing Grace," the entire school of nearly 400 pupils, faculty and staff joined the parade to the three-story building for a ceremonial ribbon-cutting.

If the state doesn't contribute about $6 million toward a new middle school in the Sykesville area, Carroll's capital budget for the next fiscal year may have to be gutted to pay for it, county planning officials said yesterday."

Terrell Carr and his mother, Niesha Carr, have loved his experience at William C. March Middle School. From the Arabic classes in which he's excelled to the quality of the instruction, both have nothing but good things to say about the school. And they are disappointed that it might close at the end of the year. "It's kind of sad because it's the best school I've ever been to," said Terrell, a 13-year-old seventh-grader who was attending the fifth annual Baltimore City Public Schools Middle and High School Choice Fair, which brought the system's 64 middle and high schools together Saturday to showcase their offerings for parents and students.

The Howard County Board of Education - under scrutiny for alleged violations of state open- meetings laws - decided at its regular meeting last night not to pursue legislation that would repeal three local laws and make it easier for members to meet out of public view. The board's general counsel, Mark Blom, said there was no need for the proposal because it offered only legal clarity, which is expected to come from a court ruling. The board is being sued in the county Circuit Court over its alleged violations.

The Harford County Board of Education voted last night to move 548 students next year to alleviate crowding in three Bel Air-area schools. The board approved all 15 points of a redistricting plan presented last month by school administrators to reduce crowding at Forest Hill Elementary, Southampton Middle and C. Milton Wright High schools. Ninth-graders will be allowed to stay at C. Milton Wright High through graduation. The board also amended other proposals to allow fourth- and seventh-graders to stay at their schools - if parents provide transportation.