Nursery School

A Northeast Baltimore day care center is facing a state investigation after employees apparently left a 3-year-old girl locked in the dark, empty nursery school on Friday afternoon and went home for the weekend. Staff at the Harford Heights Nursery Center in the 3800 block of Hamilton Ave. apparently failed to notice that Takira Harris was still in the building at the end of the day. The girl's father, Earl Harris, 29, said he was 10 minutes late picking up his daughter, and when he arrived at Harford Heights, the building was locked.

Virginia Lee Berlau, a homemaker and nursery school teacher, died Tuesday of a brain tumor at her Timonium home. She was 64. A member of Timonium United Methodist Church, she taught in its nursery school for 15 years and its Sunday school for 22 years. She was also active in its Women's Circle. Born in Baltimore and raised in Rosedale, the former Virginia Lee Canapp was a 1956 graduate of Kenwood High School. She attended the Patricia Stevens Finishing School. She enjoyed watching Orioles baseball, Ravens football and University of Maryland basketball games.

At 8:45 in the morning, parents drop off their children in front of Hammond High School. A group of students waits at the door for them. Without embarrassment, the kids kiss their parents goodbye and take the hands of their teen-age teachers. For these 3- and 4-year-olds, Hammond High is nursery school. At five high schools in Howard County, a nursery school or day care center doubles as a "lab" for Early Childhood Development (ECD) students. The program addresses the statewide teacher shortage by allowing students to take education credits with them to Howard Community College.

No matter what else Baltimore Raven Michael McCrary accomplishes on the football field or in any future career, it's going to be tough to top what he did when he was barely out of diapers. All little Michael did was make sure private schools, retail stores, swimming pools, hospitals, and virtually every other type of business across America could not discriminate on the basis of race. Kind of makes sacking New York Giant Kerry Collins pale by comparison, doesn't it? Of course, in this sweeping civil-rights milestone, Michael did have a bit of help from his parents and his lawyers, not to mention seven Supreme Court justices.

When Gloria Paar began teaching first grade, Harry S. Truman was president, space remained unexplored and the Beatles were yet to be formed. Now, after half a century of teaching, first in elementary schools and then in a nursery school, Paar, 73, is about to retire for the second time, grateful to have found a vocation she enjoyed. "I never said I was going to work," Paar said. "I always said I was going to school." Unlike many people who spend years trying to pick a career, Paar knew from the time she entered first grade in Southwest Baltimore that she wanted to be a teacher.

YMCA Camp Letts to present session on women's wellness YMCA Camp Letts will present its "Women's Wellness Weekend III" on April 20-22 at the camp on Rhode River in Edgewater. In addition to campfires, hayrides, trail riding and a ropes course, spa services such as massage, facials and manicures will be available, as will programs on health issues, healthy cooking, financial planning and aerobics. The $150 fee includes lodging, food, sessions, workshops, entertainment and camp activities, with proceeds to benefit Camp Letts.

THIS PAST YEAR was a time of growth for St. James Nursery. Since 1974, thousands of 3- and 4-year-olds have gotten a head start on their education by attending preschool at St. James Nursery in Mount Airy. When last fall's enrollment surpassed classroom space, the school made it a priority to expand the number of classes available to area children. An addition to the nursery school building or portable classrooms were deemed not feasible. So the school looked at using existing properties in the community, said Ellen Bonde, St. James Nursery director for 14 years.

EXPERTS on education -- the greater their distance from the classrooms, the greater their expertise about teaching -- are in full huff about grade inflation, social promotions and low test scores. Nationally, presidential candidate George W. Bush -- the "C" student at Yale -- pledges to push states to require standardized tests in reading and math for all students in grades three through eight. School districts would be ordered to publish the results, presumably without pictures of the kids who fail.

GOOD GRIEF! Such was the reaction of Jane Soverns on hearing that Charles Schulz, the cartoonist and creator of Snoopy and the "Peanuts" comic strip, was retiring. Schulz's last new strip will be published Feb. 13, but there will be no retirement for Snoopy -- at least at St. John Cooperative Nursery School on West Maple Road, where he is the longtime mascot. As soon as school director Soverns heard the news, she decided to have a Salute to Charles Schulz Week. Last week, children in five classes celebrated Snoopy with craft activities, videos, stories and food, all centered on the beloved beagle.

Ruth S. Gordon, who founded Greenwood Nursery School and Kindergarten during World War II, died Friday of heart failure at Stella Maris. She was 82.Since 1980, Mrs. Gordon had lived at St. Elizabeth Hall, a retirement community near Stella Maris in Dulaney Valley. She formerly resided in Towson.In 1944, Mrs. Gordon and her first husband, Paul C. Clifford Sr., established Greenwood Nursery School and Kindergarten, one of the first accredited nursery schools and kindergartens in Maryland, on Norwood Avenue.