Parole Elementary

There's no telling who might show up at the Robinwood Recreation Center Tuesday mornings.Amelia Bedelia might drop by. Sometimes members of The Babysitters Club show up. And one afternoon, a vampire rabbit named Bunnicula stopped in for a bite.Characters from many children's books have been showing up from 11 a.m. to noon as Hillsmere Elementary School teachers spend an hour each week reading to kids from ages 5-12 and a few adults who enjoy a good story."I really wanted to do this program," said Hillsmere special education teacher Charlene Smith.

With the help of her new classmates, Sladjana Savic, 8, is not only surviving but enjoying life in a country where nothing is familiar and no one speaks the language of her war-torn homeland.Last month, a local church group helped Sladjana and her family escape the gunfire and bloodshed in Bosnia for life in Annapolis. The group found them housing, jobs and a car. But all worried how Sladjana would fit into third grade. She could barely speak a word of English.Then Sladjana met her classmates.

Third-graders take 1st, 2nd place in King contestTwo West County third-graders have been awarded first and second place in a countywide essay contest on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.Natasha Wright, a student at West Meade Elementary School at Fort Meade, won first place with her answer to the question: "What would Dr. King say if he visited your class?""I think Martin Luther King Jr. would say . . . I know everyone in here works together and you all have a dream maybe to be a doctor, teacher or even a minister," Natasha's essay reads.

Election judges at a predominantly black precinct in Annapolis mistakenly required voters to fill out personal information- including party identification and address - during the first several hours of primary voting Tuesday, Anne Arundel County's top election official said yesterday. Joseph A. Torre III said that the chief judge at Mills-Parole Elementary School asked voters to fill out "contingency voter authority cards" between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. Those forms are supposed to be used only if the electronic poll books are unusable, Torre said.

Anne Arundel County school board members are likely to continue tinkering tomorrow with their plan to redraw school attendance boundaries.Some board members are uneasy about parts of the proposal, especially a recent amendment to pull four communities south of Annapolis out of the Mills-Parole Elementary School attendance area and place them in Edgewater Elementary.Parents in four predominantly white neighborhoods have been clamoring for more than a decade to send their children to the mostly white Edgewater school instead of to the predominantly black Annapolis school, saying they are part of Edgewater.

County school board members usually spend their time figuring how to pay the school system's bills. But today, they're set to receive a $54,000 rebate from the Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.With more than 20 items on the agenda for the daylong meeting, board members will pause long enough to receive a check -- a reward for installing a thermal storage cooling system at Southern Middle School in Lothian.The BG & E Cool Reserve Incentive Program pays rebates to industrial and commercial customers who install the energy-saving systems, and Southern Middle is the first recipient of money from the program.

'Small Wonders' National juried exhibition runs through Tuesday, Dec. 28, at MFA Circle Gallery, 18 State Circle, Annapolis. Exhibit features more than 80 artists. Open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Closed Mondays. Information: 410-268-4566. 'Small Paintings' Exhibit runs through Friday, Dec. 31, at Main St. Gallery, 216A Main St., Annapolis. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sundays-Mondays and Wednesdays-Fridays, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays. Information: 410-216-7166 or mainstreetfineart.

Senior insurance A senior health insurance program (SHIP) will be offered the first Tuesday of every month at the Arnold Senior Activity Center, 44 Church Road, Arnold. Call 410-222-1922 for appointment. Joint replacement Joint School will provide a free educational opportunity for patients considering total joint replacement surgery or learning more about joint replacements. The program will be held at 4 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month beginning Wednesday. Reservations are requested by calling 410-553-8282.