School Activities

The county public school system has established an activity program designed to encourage senior citizens' involvement in school activities.The program provides seniors with free admission to most athletic events, music concerts and dramatic performances.The Senior Citizen Activity Program Pass is available for any county resident over the age of 62.The application form can be obtained at any local public school or in the Public Information Office atthe Department of Education.Information: 992-0500.

Faced with the threat of Hurricane Irene, county school officials have canceled all weekend events at the schools and planned to inspect the buildings and grounds Sunday to decide whether the schools will open for the year on Monday morning, as scheduled. An alert sent to parents Friday afternoon announced that all school-sponsored activities, including athletic practices, were canceled for the weekend in anticipation of the storm. In addition, school system maintenance workers will inspect buildings and grounds on Sunday, the alert stated, and any change in the school schedule will be announced "early Sunday evening.

Closings for Thursday, Sept. 30, 2010 Aleph Bet Jewish Day School Normal schedule on Friday . Baltimore County schools. Early Dismissal. Note: Closing two hours early. . Carroll County schools. Early Dismissal. Note: Carroll County Public Schools will be closing two hours early due to flooding. . Cecil County Schools. Early Dismissal. Note: Middle and high schools will be dismissed at 12:00 and elementary schools will be dismissed at 1:00.

Closings for Thursday, Sept. 30, 2010 Aleph Bet Jewish Day School Normal schedule on Friday . Baltimore County schools. Early Dismissal. Note: Closing two hours early. . Carroll County schools. Early Dismissal. Note: Carroll County Public Schools will be closing two hours early due to flooding. . Cecil County Schools. Early Dismissal. Note: Middle and high schools will be dismissed at 12:00 and elementary schools will be dismissed at 1:00.

UNDERAGE drinking is a criminal shame. It's dangerous for everyone, not just the kid who takes a drink. That message must be understood by minors, by law enforcement officers, by parents and especially by the public schools. So the students of Liberty High School who got caught drinking at house parties on New Year's Eve should endure the full consequences of their decision to attend -- and to stay -- at parties where kids were drinking. About 20 teen-agers have been implicated, including students active in sports and extracurricular activities at the Eldersburg school.

Three more students and one former student have been charged in connection with the fight at Columbia's Wilde Lake High School that preceded a teacher's death almost three weeks ago, Howard County police said late last week.Friday's announcement brings to 12 the number of minors and adults facing charges in connection with the May 14 incident.According to a District Court commissioner, police issued a summons Friday for the arrest of former Howard High School student Sharee Lynne Robertson, 18, who lives in the 7900 block of Rustling Bark Court in Elkridge.

Jonathan BakstSchool: Howard High SchoolHometown: ColumbiaAge: 17Jonathan ranks No. 1 in a class of 264 students, one of about 10 seniors who hold a perfect grade-point average -- this with a load full of difficult gifted-and-talented and honors classes, and a spot on the varsity soccer team.The 6-foot, 3-inch senior was captain of the soccer and indoor track teams this year. He also plays varsity lacrosse for the school and club soccer outside of school for a traveling team.He is a National Honor Society member and a Maryland Distinguished Scholar semifinalist.

Name: Katy Agro, 14, of Pasadena.School: Chesapeake High School.Accomplishments: Katy is on the honor roll at her school with a B-plus average.Although just entering her freshman year, Katy is already involved in various school activities.She belongs to the chorus, the American government class' pilot program in volunteer leadership, and the Interact Club, where as a member she was involved in fund-raising events for Hurricane Andrew victims and is currently a representative for the school at Rotary Club meetings.

Year-round schools could probably save money, but don't appear to be worth the trouble. There are no clear educational benefits. Before Maryland tries a year-round calendar -- as Gov. William Donald Schaefer has urged -- costs and benefits need to be weighed much more carefully.Experts say it takes 18 months to talk through a year-round calendar with the community and develop a plan for smooth implementation. The impatient governor's desire to start an experiment before he leaves office is a recipe for failure.

The living room in our house is a little unusual. A basketball hoop hangs on the far wall over the door.I take a pass and cut to my left. The sofa sets a perfect screen. Behind it, I go up for my jump shot. The ball hits nothing but net. I purse my lips and make that sweet sound. ''Swish.'' The crowd goes crazy.Actually, the hoop exists only in my imagination. So do the goal posts. I drop back to pass . . .These slow-motion fantasies are all that now remains of my modest high school athletic talents.

The first statewide teacher survey shows that Maryland has a remarkably satisfied teaching corps, three-quarters of whom feel positive about their work, the resources they are given and their schools' efforts to help every student. Most teachers don't feel they have enough say in the decisions that are made in their schools, or on the district level, however, and they say their school districts should increase the mentoring and support of new teachers. Only a third of new teachers said they had a mentor, a key point as the Maryland General Assembly considers legislation that would extend the length of time it takes a teacher to get tenure and would require more mentoring.

The first statewide teacher survey shows that Maryland has a remarkably satisfied teaching corps, three-quarters of whom feel positive about their work, the resources they are given and their school's efforts to help every student. Most teachers don't feel they have enough say in the decisions that are made in their schools, or on the district level, however, and they say their school districts should increase the mentoring and support of new teachers. Only a third of new teachers said they had a mentor, a key point as the Maryland General Assembly considers legislation that would extend the length of time it takes a teacher to get tenure and would require more mentoring.

The Howard County Police Officer of the Month award, which highlights the achievements of the nearly 400 employees on the force, offers insight into criminal activity by students in the county's highly rated school system. Since the start of the 2006-2007 school year, two school resource officers have been chosen for the distinction in The Beat, a publication of the Howard County Police Department Office of Public Affairs. Summaries of the officers' accomplishments detail gang activity and theft at Hammond and Reservoir high schools.

Incoming ninth-graders in Howard County will no longer have to meet academic eligibility requirements to participate in fall extracurricular activities under a revised policy approved by the school board last night. The change is a shift for the school system, which had been one of the few in Maryland to have such standards. The new "Academic Eligibility for High School Extracurricular Activities" policy takes effect next school year with current eighth-graders. The school system had instituted ninth-grade eligibility requirements in 2000 under the assumption that pupils can meet high academic standards once the bar is raised.

The smile hasn't left AhnHee Strain's face in a long while. And Strain has a lot to be happy about. The 17-year-old recently got her own car to drive to Glenelg Country School, where she is a junior. She went to her first prom last weekend. And she's a starting midfielder for a Dragons girls lacrosse team that is two wins away from repeating as the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland's C Conference champion. Glenelg Country, which earned the top seed in the league's season-ending tournament with a 7-0 conference record, will host St. John's-Prospect Hall in a tournament semifinal at 5:00 today.

They look like ordinary sixth- and seventh-graders. Sitting at their desks, they laugh and poke fun at each other, cross their legs awkwardly and look around the classroom. But ask them how they've spent practically every Tuesday and Thursday after school for the past six months, and you might be surprised. Thanks to a collaboration with the City of Aberdeen and the 21st Century Community Learning Center -- and the guidance of teacher Nitrease Quickley -- these Aberdeen Middle School pupils have designed and built a Web site for and about the children of Aberdeen.

The students at Lansdowne Middle School who beat up a sixth-grader last month may have to deal with the police if they get into a fight again.Starting Monday, administrators will call police whenever a fight breaks out. Within as little as 10 minutes, officers will arrive and write up juvenile citations for the children involved and send them for an informal juvenile arbitration hearing."

With her school locked down by the sniper shootings, one Prince George's County principal organized a diversion for her increasingly restless pupils: Popsicles and hopscotch. The 712 children at Barnaby Manor Elementary School, near the District of Columbia line, needed more relief than inside recess, so Principal Laura Barbee scheduled afternoon parties this week. The "Shutdown Socials," as Barbee calls the 20 minutes of playfulness, are among a host of activities that principals across the region have instituted as the school lockdowns enter their third week.

Justin Smith, a lanky 18-year- old with light-brown dreadlocks, is scrunched into a child-sized chair at the Woodlawn library holding up a paperback book: Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen in The Case of the Surfing Secret. The series, about sleuthing twin sisters, is not his usual choice of reading material, but it is a favorite of Rachel Brown's, 9, and she is Justin's audience for the day. He reads the book aloud while other teen-agers nearby point to picture books, play with puppets and read stories to younger children who came to the library with their parents.