Parents Of Students

Board to hold a session tomorrow on school boundaries The Board of Education of Howard County will hold a public work session on proposed boundary line adjustments at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow in the boardroom of the Department of Education, 10910 Route 108, Ellicott City. Information: 410-313-6682 or 410-313-7197. Special education students' options to be discussed The Office of Special Education of the Howard County Public Schools will hold a Transition Planning Evening from 7 to 9 o'clock today at Wilde Lake High School, 5460 Trumpeter Road, Columbia.

Relations between Baltimore City and Montgomery County legislators showed signs of further strain last night after the issue of race was introduced into the debate over the $254 million city school settlement.Sen. Brian E. Frosh, a liberal Democrat from Bethesda, took to the floor of the Senate last night to defend the Montgomery delegation in the wake of published comments by Baltimore Sen. Barbara A. Hoffman that opposition to the settlement "comes across as racist."A clearly angry Frosh said he found Hoffman's comments, as reported in Sunday's Washington Post, "so offensive that I could do nothing but respond."

It's not hard to imagine why parents of students in Brentwood Park whose children are on the boards to be walkers when the new Red Pump Elementary School opens this fall. The school is across Vale Road from the neighborhood, and Vale Road is a busy road. Moreover, drivers don't always show the care and caution they should when on our roadways, especially at the commuting times that coincide with walking to school times. Still, the problem isn't one that's unique to the Red Pump school and the neighborhoods it will be serving.

School boundary changes to be topic of hearing Tuesday The Howard County Board of Education will hold a public hearing about proposed boundary line adjustments at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the boardroom at the Department of Education, 10910 Route 108, Ellicott City. Those who wish to present testimony are asked to limit their presentation to three minutes and provide 15 written copies of the testimony at the time of the hearing. A public work session about proposed boundary line adjustments will be held at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7 in the boardroom.

Anne Arundel County police are investigating a reported sexual assault of a female student in a girls bathroom at Arundel Senior High School. The school system received an anonymous call on its hotline around 3 p.m. Monday — about an hour after school dismissal — alerting officials to a possible sexual assault earlier in the day, police and school officials said. The school system reported the call to the police, said Maneka Monk, schools spokeswoman. Neither police nor school officials said what time of day the reported sexual assault took place.

Baltimore school officials unveiled a $1.174 billion budget plan Tuesday, which they said focuses on academics with a new science team to implement curriculum, programs for advanced students and a shifting of staff in the central office. Enrollment is projected to increase in traditional schools by about 2,500 students, causing per-pupil funding to decrease by $40 from last year to $5,190. The annual amount could change if the system doesn't see the projected increase in students.

Anyone hearing the ACLU's position on single-sex education would think something troubling is afoot in almost every town in America. The ACLU claims that single-sex education is an unlawful form of discrimination and that its supposed benefits are based on pseudoscience. In a supposed conspiracy to oppress children, the Catholic Church operates hundreds of single-sex schools across America. A handful of states have opened boys' and girls' schools themselves. The ACLU's lawyers allege that this practice amounts to gender apartheid, a misogynist attempt to hold women back.

The parents of students at Wilde Lake High School who went to the press ("School offered $30 for names," The Sun, Jan. 10) with the story of the food fight should be ashamed of the example they have set for their children. They have taught them not to address things directly, but rather to go to the press with their grievances. Neither the food fight nor the "aftermath" was significant or newsworthy events at Wilde Lake High School. I have two sons, a junior and a senior in the school.

A lack of evidence led a Baltimore jury to rule that two principals were not negligent in a $1.3 million bullying lawsuit against the city school system, but jurors said they were also conscious of a snowball effect that could subject systems around the country to a barrage of lawsuits. "This weighed heavy on us because we realized what we did would affect systems nationwide," said Carl Armstrong, who served as Juror No. 6 in the four-day trial. "We took that heavily into consideration, because we knew we could open the possibility of lawsuits — from past, present and future parents of students — against schools across the country, and Baltimore City would have been at the forefront.

In one of its first actions as caretaker of the school system's finances, the Baltimore school board adopted temporary rules yesterday requiring bids for all nonemergency contracts over $15,000.It was an initial step in the separation of the school system from City Hall, required by legislation intended to streamline school management and improve education. Previously the Board of Estimates handled the school system's contracts.Also yesterday, the board hired roofers and consultants; spent $977,000 on bread for school meals; paid the Abell Foundation $35,200 to help defray the cost of educating 18 city children at the Baraka School in Kenya last year; and resolved a minor bid dispute as it approved its first contracts.