Parent Volunteers

JUDY QUEVEDO was busy coordinating the chaos Wednesday evening as student performers and stagehands put the finishing touches on the Chesapeake High School theater group and vocal music department's presentation of "The Sound of Music."An experienced parent volunteer, Quevedo should be used to the excitement that precedes a production -- but not so."I am in the middle of an adrenalin rush that has been building as we get closer to curtain time," she said. "We can relax on Monday."The Broadway musical, based on the experiences of the von Trapp family, was previewed for a matinee audience yesterday.

The students marveled at the streamlined classrooms with sleek black video monitors and phones near the teacher's desk. Boys and girls trailed their hands along the cool blue glazed tile walls of the corridors, peeking into every room and around every corner.But the first day at Oklahoma Road Middle School yesterday, for all its gleaming new surfaces and spacious accommodations, was not without a little nostalgia for the once-crowded school they left last week."We liked the cubbies better," said Megan Nolf and several other seventh-graders who were getting a tour of the girls locker room at the Eldersburg school.

THE HAMMOND HIGH Boosters gratefully acknowledge the hours of time and the expertise given by parents and friends of the school. Without the dedicated efforts of these many volunteers, the school could not offer as rich an experience to its students.Of course, Hammond is particularly lucky in having parent volunteers. There are so many, their names have to be spread over several columns or the column would read like a phone directory.So here's a tip of the ol' hat to Becky Griffin, Sue Hanson, Maria Kyritsopoulos, Cindy Jones, Peter Jones, Mutsuko Kennerly, Marge Lally and Jeanette Lazarofsky.

Despite busy working lives and children going in different directions, some Maryland families volunteer together as a way to do good and feel good, create a caring spirit and, in the bargain, maybe learn how to pour a little concrete or fix a toilet."

Friday morning found students at Eldersburg Elementary School laboriously writing, coloring and painting cards and presents for Christmas instead of studying science and social studies.Parent volunteers wandered around the four open space suites helping students sponge paint brown paper bags that would hold their Christmas present to their parents and making sure gifts had names on them. Little hands were colored red, green, yellow and blue from the paint.Students who had finished decorating a craft sat at their desks coloring and writing cheery messages to area nursing home residents using marking pens provided by a parent volunteer.

Costly SettlementYour Sept. 7 article about the cost of settlements for Maryland homebuyers was right on point on an issue that touches every current or prospective Maryland homeowner. Our extraordinarily high housing cost make it difficult to find decent, affordable housing.Many studies have demonstrated that the American Dream of homeownership creates stability and pride in local communities. Realtors have long made it a priority objective to assist low- and moderate-income homebuyers in finding affordable housing.

Red tape, an improved economy and lost momentum finally took their toll on the parent volunteers at Jessup Elementary School who thought they could enclose the open spaces that once were the educational rage faster and cheaper than school officials.The Anne Arundel County Board of Education has taken over the $100,000 project."We would have loved to have seen the volunteers pull this off, but everything worked against them," said Ralph Luther, director of operations and maintenance for county schools.

Red tape, an improved economy and lost momentum finally took their toll on the parent volunteers at Jessup Elementary School who thought they could enclose the open spaces that once were the educational rage faster and cheaper than school officials.The Anne Arundel County Board of Education has taken over the $100,000 project."We would have loved to have seen the volunteers pull this off, but everything worked against them," said Ralph Luther, director of operations and maintenance for county schools.

When children need help, parents should get involved -- but not all parents know how to help or where to get help, school officials say.A program beginning soon in Glen Burnie could help change that. Four elementary schools are about to begin a 16-week pilot effort aimed at matching parents with the resources they and their children need, inside and outside the school system.Administrators at Richard Henry Lee, Freetown, Marley and Woodside elementary schools will identify children and their families and refer those who accept the offer to what are being called "home visitors," said Patricia Barton, the Oakwood Elementary School guidance counselor who runs the Anne Arundel County school system's Parent Involvement Center.

Today is the first day of school for public school children. It is also the first day of "real school" for my youngest.I'm told the experience is comparable to such parental traumas as the first set of stitches or the first broken bones among the offspring.So, today I am the brave-faced parent, waving at a shaking youngster, smiling mightily (in hopes that my daughter's last look at me is a pleasant view and that she'll want to come home afterward) and joking with the neighbors about all the bonbons I'm going to consume now that I have the time to eat them.