New School

Nickel Mines, Pa. -- As light snow swirled, the only sounds that could be heard on the country lane were the scrape of mortar on brick, the tap of a hammer and the whine of a power saw. In a field between two houses, down a drive marked "no trespassing," more than a dozen men could be seen one day last week laying bricks, pounding nails and cutting planks to build a new one-room schoolhouse. The schoolhouse is rising a few hundred feet from where the West Nickel Mines Amish School stood.

When school opens tomorrow, fifth-graders from Prospect Mill Elementary School will take their seats in middle school. And it's not because they skipped a grade. With capacity at 140 percent, Prospect Mill will send its fifth-graders - 165 students - to Southampton Middle School to relieve crowding. The middle school's classrooms opened up after some of its students were moved to the new Patterson Mill Middle/High School. The opening of the $70 million school complex and an earlier schedule for high-schoolers are among the changes awaiting the 40,000 students in Harford County public schools, when the 2007-2008 school year gets under way tomorrow.

The opening today of an $18 million Hanover school will mark the end of a bittersweet journey for a former student who remembers when it was a segregated three-room schoolhouse. Irene Hebron and her future husband, Frank, started first grade together at Harman Elementary School in 1933. Frank Hebron returned after graduate school to teach at Harman. He later became principal of the new school when it was built in 1955, and he became supervisor of county schools in 1962. Frank Hebron died of a heart attack in 2001, but his wife believes he will be watching over the dedication of the new Frank Hebron-Harman Elementary School.

High school basketball fans no longer will be turned away from a stuffy, overcrowded gym at North County High School in Glen Burnie. The school's new $5.45 million gym, which opened to students last week, has plenty of room and enables the school to host tournaments and other sporting events. The 1,600-seat gym is a big improvement over the unair-conditioned one where students have had to practice, play and watch games since North County High opened in 1990 in the former Lindale Middle School.

After her husband died, Barbara Austin said she couldn't afford school supplies for her son and stepson. She looked for deals in the weekly advertisements, but rarely found items that were affordable, she said. So when the Westminster resident heard about a program that gives out free school supplies, she signed up. "I'm low on money, so there are some things that I just can't do right now," said Austin, who lives on Social Security benefits. "If this program didn't exist, my kids wouldn't get some of the things they need for school."

Saying the county Board of Education's $38 million estimate for a new Westminster high school is "out of whack," the county commissioners yesterday voted unanimously to put a $30 million spending limit on the project.The move is likely to force the school board to rethink its plans for the 1,200-student school, possibly eliminating a football stadium, commissioners said. Athletic teams would then need to share Westminster High School's stadium until more money becomes available."A $30 million school ought to be pretty nice.

THE OPENING of the new Lime Kiln Middle School in Fulton on Monday was a tremendous success. PTA President Debra Blomme reports that everything went off without a hitch.Blomme and parents Steve and Terry Ullman sneaked into the property the night before and painted giant leopard paw prints with industrial-grade paint -- the kind used for highway marking -- on the middle school driveway, leading all the way up to the front door. The leopard is the school's mascot.Blomme and parent Karen Ely began the job at 6 a.m. a few days earlier.

DURING THE election season, I watched Julia Walsh Gouge's red, white and blue elephant ride down the streets of Westminster, and I thought, "That is what small-town politics are all about."Parents pulling together to push for a new school that is desperately needed are also a big part of small-town politics.Over the next few weeks there will be plenty of opportunities to participate in the push for a new Westminster high school.A group called Citizens for Schools has launched an organized, focused campaign to remind planning and zoning officials and the county commissioners that Westminster needs a second high school -- one that has been promised for years.

Amid the cheers of about 300 alumni, politicians and well-wishers yesterday, the first bricks were laid in the long-awaited project to convert Wiley H. Bates High School, Annapolis' former blacks-only school, into a community center and apartments for senior citizens.During an upbeat groundbreaking ceremony, alumni from as far back as the first graduating class, that of 1936, gathered under a giant white tent decorated with balloons in the old school's colors, purple and gold.They laughed and breathed sighs of relief that the school they love, which had been left to fall into ruin since it closed in 1981, will again become a symbol of pride in the community.

WE'VE ALL seen the television commercial: A man takes his son and daughter shopping for school supplies. Dad dances through the aisles with glee, and the kids follow scowls on their faces. In the background, you hear a song: "It's the most wonderful time of the year. "Howard County schools open in 12 days , and west Columbia neighbors are preparing for the new school year with mixed feelings.Amy Holcomb, 10, is entering the fifth grade at Swansfield Elementary School. She echoes a sentiment shared by most children when she says, "I sort of want to go back to school, but I don't want summer to end."

Towson Catholic High School's shiny 2009 yearbook went to press long before the school abruptly shut its doors in July for financial reasons, but the title proved to be prophetic: "On the Road." "TC," the yearbook begins, "is a school filled with students who are going places." Indeed, the closing scattered 163 students to different schools around the region. On Sunday, many of those students gathered in Parkville for a festive reunion. They swapped hugs, shared laughs, bought discounted Towson Catholic gear while they still could - and picked up copies of that last-ever yearbook, the Hilltop.

Loyola University is launching a new school of education that will focus on solving problems in urban schools and on forging practical relationships between the university and Baltimore's public school system. The school, which Loyola will dedicate at a ceremony this evening, will house a research center dedicated to innovation in urban education. University officials hope the center will attract top-notch faculty and students with an interest in making practical improvements to Baltimore schools, said Peter Murrell, dean of the school of education.

St. Paul's School for Girls opened on Sept. 16, 1959, with 89 girls who studied in a building that resembled a "little L-shaped ranch house." The cafeteria was the heart of the school, the place where the girls ate, held dances and attended their senior prom. The hockey field was so rough the team had to toss rocks from the field before the girls played. Today, the school in Brooklandville has 440 girls and 100 teachers and staff. Its facilities include state-of-the-art science labs, a cafe and an artificial turf field.

She sat at the steering wheel, her face as eager as a student's on her first day of class. Susan Keyes has been driving bus No. 860 for Harford County public schools for seven years, and at 6:20 a.m. Thursday, she idled the big engine in front of the spanking-new Bel Air High School. She was waiting for Robert Tomback, the new superintendent, to get on. It was the first day of the new school year, and it all had a bittersweet feel. To her left, Keyes could see the partially disassembled husk of the old Bel Air High, which is slated for demolition next week.

As Maryland's public schools reopen for a new year during a time of economic turmoil, some systems are taking tough measures to stem the fiscal bleeding, such as furloughing employees, denying teacher pay raises and increasing class sizes. In Anne Arundel County, a generally well-regarded school system of 74,000 students, teachers and students returning for the first day of school today will be getting a sort of inadvertent lesson in economics. The recession has translated into teachers being furloughed for three days, larger class sizes in some middle and high schools and the savings of $50,000 by forgoing new textbooks in Anne Arundel's 120 schools.

The Howard County Board of Education approved recently the schematic design for the Hammond Elementary School and Hammond Middle School renovations and 100-seat expansion. Construction on the project, which is scheduled to be completed August 2011, is expected to combat overcrowding of schools along the U.S. 1 corridor, according to school system officials. "This is needed and helpful in balancing the [U.S. 1] growth," said Joel Gallihue, the school system's manager for school planning.

It has the look of a classic urban parochial school: no-frills architecture, granite walls and stairs pounded by saddle shoes. And now, nearly four decades after the last pupil at what was then St. Ann's School closed a composition notebook, the three-story building at Greenmount Avenue and 22nd Street is being readied to accept a new school. Some of Baltimore's best-known philanthropists and charities - led by Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti and his wife, Renee - have donated $7 million to renovate the building to accommodate Mother Seton Academy, a 15-year-old school now housed in a Fells Point convent.

The Baltimore County school board approved about $8 million in contracts last night for the new West Towson Elementary School. Among those approved were contracts for electrical and mechanical work, including lighting and wiring, as well as plumbing, ventilation and air conditioning. Other items involved athletic equipment and classroom items such as projection screens and chalkboards. The board voted in favor of two contracts tied to West Towson, dealing with site testing and improvements, at its last meeting.

Baltimore County school officials will move forward with plans to build new facilities for Dundalk High and Sollers Point Technical High after a unanimous school board vote Tuesday night. The new buildings would be constructed at the current Dundalk High site, officials said. School officials determined the projected cost of building new schools was close to what has been estimated for renovations and replacements in the old facilities, said Michael Sines, executive director of physical facilities.

Baltimore County schools officials proposed last night that a new school be called West Towson Elementary. The name was suggested after a review of historical records of the area where the facility is to be built, and with input from the five school communities that will be affected by it, said Lyle Patzkowsky, an assistant superintendent. The recommendation was made to the Board of Education during a work session. School officials settled on West Towson because the new building, to be constructed next to Ridge Ruxton School on Charles Street, will serve greater Towson, Patzkowsky said.