Pupils

CLUE BY CLUE, children's writer Ken Munro revealed the secrets of writing mystery books about familiar people and places during a visit Friday at Spring Garden Elementary School in Hampstead.Invited by fourth-grade teacher Erica Steele, he met with the fourth and fifth grades. The large audience was divided into four sessions of about 75 pupils and teachers.Even when speaking for the fourth time, his humor and enthusiasm remained strong. He was obviously delighted to share the author's life with children.

The Baltimore school system ranked second among the nation's 100 largest school districts in how much it spent per pupil in fiscal year 2011, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. The city's $15,483 per-pupil expenditure was second to New York City's $19,770. Rounding out the top five were Montgomery County, which spent $15,421; Milwaukee public schools at $14,244; and Prince George's County public schools, which spent $13,775. The Census Bureau also noted the first decrease in per-pupil spending nationally since 1977, the year the figures were first tracked.

A scene from the near future: Augustus Merryweather IV glanced up at the tapping on his office door. Harvey Carbunkle stood there in bowtie and shirtsleeves, smiling eagerly from behind horn-rimmed glasses. Augustus sighed. He hated this part of the job. It was never fun to let people go. He waved the young man to a seat and spoke without preamble. "Harvey, I'm afraid it's not working out." The eager face fell like a refrigerator from a moving truck. "You're firing me?"

In the beginning, there was just a man, a ball and a tire on a rope. Really, Alan Mills, now the Aberdeen IronBirds' new pitching coach, probably thought it was the beginning of the end. By the end of the 1989 season, Mills had pitched for four seasons, primarily in the New York Yankees organization, and he hadn't climbed out of Single-A. One coach in the organization spelled it out for Mills: like so many minor-league pitchers, he simply wasn't throwing enough strikes to make anything of himself.

Carole Janesko, principal of West Meade Elementary School, kisses Pam the Ham, a potbellied pig, at a school program. The smooch was bestowed Wednesday to recognize pupils' reading and test-taking efforts.

During the lazy, hazy days of mid-July, one wouldn't expect to find much going on at school. Families are vacationing or relaxing poolside, kids are sleeping late and hanging out at the mall. But at Mount View Middle School this week, 20 incoming sixth-graders will attend Camp PreView at the Marriottsville school. Special Education Team Leader Nan Brown started the camp three years ago for kids who need extra support to make the transition from elementary to middle school. According to Brown, some schoolchildren experience quite a bit of anxiety thinking about entering middle school, and she says the camp experience "eliminates a tremendous amount of fear" for pupils and their parents.

RUNNYMEDE Elementary School pupils collected 1,025 canned items for Carroll County Food Sunday. The Thanksgiving effort was held in conjunction with the school's emphasis on character traits. "We try to concentrate on a character trait each month, and November was kindness and cooperation," said Jill Millison, the school's guidance counselor and a food drive coordinator. Pupils began their drive Nov. 1 and took items to the cafeteria. By Monday, a day before the end of the drive, the pupils had collected more than 500 items.

RUBE GOLDBERG was an American cartoonist whose idea of fun was solving simple problems in ridiculously complicated ways.Long ago, Lolly Schorreck, Severn School sixth-grade science teacher, recognized the educational value of these funny solutions.So, she's challenged her pupils this year to "put cereal in a bowl" as Goldberg would have done it.On March 19 in the Great Room of Severn School, the pupils' working inventions will be on display from 1: 15 p.m. to 2: 15 p.m.The work is the culmination of an annual assignment by Schorreck, a 13-year veteran at Severn, who uses the project to explain all sorts of physical and scientific facts in an entertaining way.The pupils must name their inventions, and use at least eight steps and at least three simple machines (lever, wedge, screw, wheel and axle, gears or pulley)

The Maryland Center for the Book at the Howard County library, the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress and Weekly Reader Corp. are sponsoring a contest, "1999 Letters About Literature," in which pupils write a letter to an author -- living or dead -- explaining how the author's book changed their view of the world.Winners at the national level will receive $1,000 savings bonds. First-place winners in Maryland will receive $100 awards.Entries are divided into Level I, for pupils in grades four through seven, and Level II for grades eight through 12.The deadline for the contest is Dec. 18.An entry form may be obtained by calling the center in Columbia at 410-313-7750, or online at www.howa.

"A Welcome to Columbia" is the theme of a Columbia Association essay contest for elementary and middle school pupils.Entries -- in the form of a letter welcoming a 10-year-old to Columbia -- should be 50 to 100 words long, typed or printed neatly on one page.The entry should include name, address and phone number, along with age and grade.Entries should be sent to the Columbia Association, 10221 Wincopin Circle, Suite 100, by June 25. Information: 410-715-3161.Pub Date: 5/02/99

The Baltimore City school board voted Tuesday to pass the district's proposed $1.31 billion budget, which includes a decrease in the per-pupil funding for charter schools. As the amount spent on students in traditional schools increases, the system's 33 charter schools will see their per-pupil expenditures drop by $257 from 2012, for a total of $9,007. The overall amount for charters, however, has steadily increased as their populations grow. The charters are funded differently than traditional schools.

Southern Anne Arundel County residents whose children would be affected by the redistricting of three elementary schools offered emotional testimony before the county school board Tuesday night, with most arguing that the redistricting isn't necessary. Dozens turned out for the hearing at South River High School regarding Superintendent Kevin Maxwell's recommendation, which would shift some pupils from Central to Davidsonville and Mayo elementary schools to relieve overcrowding. Most speakers were parents of pupils at Central Elementary.

Nicole Pace told the school nurse that her daughter was deathly allergic to peanuts and had her 5-year-old's allergist provide Hillcrest Elementary School in Frederick with a pre-measured dose of medicine, just in case. But a cafeteria worker - unaware of the danger peanuts posed to the girl, Liana - gave her a peanut butter sandwich. "The child immediately began experiencing an anaphylactic reaction; her airway and eyelids began to swell, and she became lethargic and confused," according to court records.

Go purple, or go to the library. That was the warning some teachers issued to parents at Roland Park Elementary/Middle School regarding student participation at Friday's Ravens-sponsored pep rally in advance of the team's conference championship game Sunday against the New England Patriots. "Students must wear purple or Ravens attire to attend, as there will be many TV cameras there," one teacher wrote to parents in an email obtained by The Baltimore Sun. "Not wearing purple or Ravens attire means making a choice not to attend.

An Anne Arundel County Schools committee voted Tuesday night to move pupils from several communities in Riva to Mayo and Davidsonville elementary schools to ease crowding at Edgewater's Central Elementary School. Under the proposed plan, Central students from the Waterford, Annapolis Landing and Berkshire communities would be moved to Davidsonville Elementary. Central students living along Muddy Creek Road down to Wolfe's Reserve and south of Central Avenue from Muddy Creek Road to the Mayo boundary would move to Mayo Elementary.

Dr. Joseph Giardina, a retired Baltimore County dentist who was an early advocate for understanding the educational needs of dyslexic students, died of kidney failure Sept. 9 at his Phoenix, Baltimore County, home. He was 82. Born in Baltimore and raised on West Fayette Street, he was a 1948 graduate of Polytechnic Institute, where he played football. He remained active in the school's alumni association. While in the Army and serving in Germany, he also competed on a military football team.

THE GIVING SPIRIT OF Christmas is flourishing at Oklahoma Road Middle School. Pupils at the Eldersburg school have been working to create a town scene dubbed Winter Wonderland.More than a dozen pupils in a group called the Partners Club have spent the past two weeks working on the display, which covers about 50 square feet. Pupils in the club spend time during their skills class working with pupils in teacher Lois Dolan's Learning for Independence class.I visited the Winter Wonderland display last week as the children were putting finishing touches on their work.

IT LOOKED LIKE a run on the bank during a recent Monday morning at Elmer Wolfe Elementary School. But the pupils were in the school's cafeteria making deposits in their savings accounts at the Big Bad Wolfe Bank. It wasn't play money, either. "It's their money and they are proud of it," said Lisa Monthley, who helps coordinate the program for New Windsor State Bank. "It's different banking with your peers." The program helps pupils understand the meaning of saving money, Monthley said.

Baltimore school system officials and charter leaders are at odds over how to address an anticipated funding disparity — an issue that led to a contentious court battle five years ago. In the district's proposed fiscal year 2012 budget — expected to be adopted by the school board Tuesday — charters will receive $9,300 per pupil, compared with the traditional schools' $5,000 per pupil. The district's allotment to charter schools will also increase by $13 million over last year because of a surge in enrollment numbers.