School Attendance

Op-ed writer John Clayton Young suggests that school should be optional for some students ("Why force a kid to go to school?" March 12). He claims a child shouldn't have to attend school if he or she doesn't want to and that forcing people to be there is a violation of their freedom. I couldn't disagree more. There are certainly other ways a child can get an education, acquire knowledge and learn to find his or her way in the world. But a general education opens a child's mind.

Sometimes, the same old solutions are inadequate for stubborn problems. New directions must be found. So it is with overcrowding in the Baltimore County Public School system. The county has too few bricks-and-mortar schools for the number of students attending. The problem is chronic and unlikely to improve - projections show county public school attendance rising in the years to come. Exacerbating the problem is the troubled economy, which is forcing parents to switch from private to public schools to save tuition costs.

Maryland is poised to join a growing number of states that are requiring students to stay in school until their 18th birthday, a shift that President Barack Obama urged during his State of the Union address in January. A measure to raise the compulsory attendance age — state students now must attend until they turn 16 — has cleared both chambers in the Maryland General Assembly. It needs final approval by the Senate, which is expected as early as today. Gov. Martin O'Malley has said he will sign the legislation, which would fully take effect in 2017.

In the hours after 17-year-old Daniel Borowy was shot in the cafeteria of Perry Hall High School on the first day of school in August, allegedly by a 15-year-old schoolmate, doctors at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore had to use more than 10 units of donated blood to replace what he had lost. Borowy, whose shooting prompted a broad review of safety procedures in Baltimore County schools, needed still more blood through three surgeries to repair his wounds, particularly the hole in his torso.

Carroll students showed up for class more often last year than any other year in the past decade, school officials reported Friday.The district's average daily attendance rate was 94.2 percent, up from 94.1 percent during the 1989-1990 school year, said Edwin L. Davis, director of pupil services/special programs."

Sometimes, the same old solutions are inadequate for stubborn problems. New directions must be found. So it is with overcrowding in the Baltimore County Public School system. The county has too few bricks-and-mortar schools for the number of students attending. The problem is chronic and unlikely to improve - projections show county public school attendance rising in the years to come. Exacerbating the problem is the troubled economy, which is forcing parents to switch from private to public schools to save tuition costs.

It's difficult to turn down an invitation to Juvenile Court to talk about your child's school attendance -- especially when a Baltimore police officer delivers it to your home.That strategy is at the heart of a new anti-truancy program launched this month by the Baltimore school system in cooperation with the courts, state and city agencies and local law enforcement.Plagued by up to 20,000 chronic truants, city officials have begun an aggressive campaign aimed at turning around some 400 youngsters with serious attendance problems.

A community panel has recommended four adjustments to elementary school attendance boundaries in West County as part of its plan for dividing the student population between the existing MacArthur Middle and Meade Area Middle, which is to open in 1997.The committee recommended:Send children from the Seven Oaks and Spring Meadows communities, who attend Odenton Elementary, to Meade Heights Elementary. School officials say that would lead to crowding at Meade Heights between 2002 and 2006.Shift children in the Harwood and Greenbriar neighborhoods from Jessup Elementary to Harman Elementary.

An Anne Arundel County schools redistricting committee is set to discuss at a public meeting tonight the school attendance boundaries at two Glen Burnie elementary schools. The redistricting committee will examine school attendance boundaries for Rippling Woods and Southgate Elementary schools with the aim of alleviating overcrowding at Rippling Woods and using new capacity being created at Southgate, the site of a continuing construction project, according to school officials. Both schools are located in the Old Mill High School feeder system.

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.

Maryland is poised to join a growing number of states that are requiring students to stay in school until their 18th birthday, a shift that President Barack Obama urged during his State of the Union address in January. A measure to raise the compulsory attendance age — state students now must attend until they turn 16 — has cleared both chambers in the Maryland General Assembly. It needs final approval by the Senate, which is expected as early as today. Gov. Martin O'Malley has said he will sign the legislation, which would fully take effect in 2017.

Op-ed writer John Clayton Young suggests that school should be optional for some students ("Why force a kid to go to school?" March 12). He claims a child shouldn't have to attend school if he or she doesn't want to and that forcing people to be there is a violation of their freedom. I couldn't disagree more. There are certainly other ways a child can get an education, acquire knowledge and learn to find his or her way in the world. But a general education opens a child's mind.

Clutching a portfolio and a messenger bag with a city schools logo, Monique Robbins knew her unannounced visit to the homes of chronically absent students in West Baltimore on a recent misty evening might seem ominous. So when she was met with narrowed eyes and a defensive stance, she was ready. "I'm just a volunteer and a member from the community, here to let you know that whatever you need help with to get your child to school this year, we have resources," Robbins said, almost in one breath, to the first parent to open the door a sliver.

When a student is chronically absent from class, school officials rightly hold parents responsible. Because school attendance in Maryland is compulsory until age 16, parents have a legal obligation to make sure their children show up for classes. If they don't, the courts can step in and compel them to comply with the law's requirements. But a case reported Monday by The Sun's Erica Green demonstrated what happens when that is taken to an extreme. The city has hauled more than 400 parents into court this year because of their children's chronic truancy, and in a dozen cases, the parents have received sentences.

I applaud the Supreme Court's decision to scrap the "Miranda warning" nonsense ("Supreme Court says suspects must tell police they want to be silent during interrogation," June 1). If it was needed in the past, it is needed no more. With its ubiquitous appearance in several decades worth of TV police and lawyer shows, I'm willing to bet that if a poll were conducted, asking each respondent to complete these two sentences often heard on the TV, "You have the right to remain . . ." and "Oh say, can you see . . .," many more people would be able to complete the first than they would the second, and could go on to explain the rest of the warning.

A report last week that Montgomery County officials now favor raising from 16 to 18 the minimum legal age at which students can drop out of school signals a growing awareness that Maryland's future depends on a well-educated work force capable of competing in a global economy. Along with Baltimore City and Prince George's County, Montgomery County's support means there will now be a substantial bloc of lawmakers in the General Assembly ready to back toughening the requirements for school attendance to ensure that Maryland doesn't fall behind.

A county commissioner and education administrator are expected to testify today before a House committee on legislation intended to crackdown on truancy in Carroll schools. Commissioner Julia W. Gouge and Pupil Services Director Edwin L. Davis plan to support the bill, sponsored by the Frederick County delegation, that would allow police officers to issue citations when they have "probable cause to believe" that a student is unlawfully absent from school.The citation wouldmake truants subject to a civil fine of up to $25 for a first violation; $100 thereafter.

Sparked by a 16.4 percent student dropout rate last year -- more than three times the 5.2 percent rate statewide -- the Baltimore school system is revamping its vocational education curriculum and making other reforms that might retain students, the city schools superintendent, Walter G. Amprey, said yesterday.Dr. Amprey said he shook up the school system's vocational education office earlier this week because it had failed to offer alternative programs to students, many of whom end up dropping out of school because they are bored with academics.

An Anne Arundel County schools redistricting committee is set to discuss at a public meeting tonight the school attendance boundaries at two Glen Burnie elementary schools. The redistricting committee will examine school attendance boundaries for Rippling Woods and Southgate Elementary schools with the aim of alleviating overcrowding at Rippling Woods and using new capacity being created at Southgate, the site of a continuing construction project, according to school officials. Both schools are located in the Old Mill High School feeder system.

Come the end of August, thousands of city youngsters will be returning to school. But for many of them, it will feel as if they hardly left. This year, about 22,000 students attended the city's monthlong, half-day summer learning programs. Only a fraction of them came to make up courses they failed. Most were there to take advantage of enrichment courses in reading, math and the arts designed to help them retain skills learned the previous year and give them a leg up on the next. The purpose of summer school has changed since 2003, when the city adopted a policy of social promotion that allowed students to pass no matter how poorly they performed in the classroom.