School Department

The Annapolis Board of Supervisors of Elections will vote Wednesday to decide on new polling places for the city's mayoral election in the fall, after Anne Arundel County school officials decided that allowing schools to be used as polling places would be disruptive and pose a potential security risk. Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell informed Annapolis Mayor Ellen O. Moyer last October that the county school system would no longer serve as polling places during the city's municipal elections, citing the use of schools' multipurpose areas, often used dually as gymnasiums and cafeterias, as disruptive during the school day. Maxwell also raised the issue of school security.

Baltimore schools CEO Andrés Alonso is right to bring in outside experts to determine whether some of the city's recent test scores were tainted by cheating. The issue of integrity in school test results is paramount in Baltimore, given the district's history of low achievement, and even more so now that teacher advancement and promotion will be tied in part to test scores. So it's somewhat curious that the union representing city school principals is criticizing a re-examination of the test scores as a waste of money; the school department reportedly is paying a leading data forensics company, Caveon Test Security, $275,000 to conduct the investigation.

Textbook supplies are more stable in Baltimore schools and some classes are smaller than in past years, according to an informal survey conducted by the Baltimore Teachers Union.But the survey -- which the union notes is not a scientific sample -- also said overcrowding exists in first- and third-grade classes, along with a shortage of classroom supplies in some schools, including first-aid supplies.And it indicates that fewer than a third of those who responded had received the AIDS-awareness training required of all school employees under school department policy.

A report last week recommending all charges be dropped against two city school department employees accused of tampering with student test booklets in order to raise their school's scores on state standardized exams is not only a personal embarrassment for schools CEO Andrés Alonso, who appears to have pursued the allegations long after it was obvious the city couldn't prove its case, but also a serious setback for the school system, whose credibility for...

The Baltimore County school board slammed the doors shut on an angry crowd of parents and teachers last night, putting a premature end to a tense meeting and a day of protest against school department policies.Although several hundred people had waited nearly three hours in a sweltering boardroom to air a variety of grievances, board President Rosalie Hellman refused to allow any of the public comments that usually follow the regular agenda."I generally entertain questions from the public at this time.

Somehow we just can't bring ourselves to join in the enthusiasm of the Baltimore Teachers Union and the school department over a new survey that purports to show things are getting better in city schools.The informal poll was conducted by the BTU, which sent out about 5,000 questionnaires to its members asking about class sizes, availability of textbooks, classroom and first-aid supplies. Only 300 teachers even bothered to reply, which should tell you something right there. And most of those who did listed such familiar complaints that it's a wonder anyone could take the report as evidence of progress.

Athletic directors at Baltimore City's 16 high schools had until Feb. 8 to respond to surveys from the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education concerning differences in boys and girls sports programs. According to yesterday's Evening Sun, the probe began as a result of a lawsuit filed by a female student at a city school alleging that the city schools deny female students equal athletic opportunities.Federal officials sent the school department a letter informing them of the investigation Dec. 27 and originally gave the school department 15 days to respond.

The Anne Arundel County school department has reinstated its high school varsity gymnastics program, after canceling the sport because of a lack of coaches and student participation. Annapolis and Severna Park high schools, which had struggled to find coaches by the season's Feb. 28 practice start date, have hired coaches to oversee their gymnastics programs. "I am pleased that we now have enough coaches to be able to field gymnastics teams at six of our schools and can proceed with the spring season," said school superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell.

Baltimore schools could be forced to lay off dozens of workers in non-teaching positions if the mayor requires cuts in personnel before the beginning of the new fiscal year, according to the deputy superintendent.J. Edward Andrews told City Council members yesterday that "a minimal number of potential layoffs" could result from early personnel cuts in the proposed $551.2 million school budget for fiscal 1992.But Andrews said layoffs could be avoided if the cuts are delayed until after July 1 and the start of the new fiscal year because the school system could then trim positions that become vacant over the summer.

About 110 sixth- and seventh-graders at Chesapeake Bay Middle School have the option of continuing at their current school until high school under a plan approved by the Anne Arundel County school board. The board voted to approve the superintendent's redistricting plan, which would return middle-schoolers from the Riviera Beach Elementary School area to George Fox Middle School but give sixth- and seventh-graders at Chesapeake Bay the option of remaining at the school. The board voted for the school department to provide transportation, despite protests from some board members over spending more money when the school department has an estimated $54 million shortfall.

I certainly hope School Board President Neil Duke isn't implying that schools CEO Andrés Alonso is the only school department employee whose work "takes place both after hours and in troubled parts of the city," and thus requires security ("Overtime costing schools millions," March 2). I am a teacher in the city, and several times a week I am asked by my female colleagues at our Southwest Baltimore school to walk them to their cars in an unpatrolled, poorly lit parking lot after having stayed in the building until well past sundown working.

The U.S. Constitution's guarantee of free speech doesn't include the right to yell "Fire!" in a crowded theater, and neither should the Maryland state constitution's guarantee of an adequate, free public education cover all misbehaving students who deliberately set fires in public schools. Baltimore schools chief Andres Alonso says he has the authority to enforce a zero-tolerance policy and permanently expel students involved with arson or explosives. That may seem harsh, but he insists that you can't have a functioning school system where setting fires is considered acceptable behavior.

A lawyer for the mother of Christopher Jones, the Crofton teen who died in an apparent eruption of suburban gang violence, has notified the Anne Arundel County school system of the family's intention to sue for failing to protect the 14-year-old from gangs at school. "The mother is almost as mad at the school department as she is at the six kids," said Richard L. Jaklitsch, attorney for Jenny Adkins, the mother of Christopher Jones. "They made numerous promises to her. The school didn't live up to a single one."

For three generations, Baltimore's Meyerhoff family has enriched the cultural and civic life of this city through innumerable philanthropic gifts to its schools, hospitals, museums, parks, libraries and the magnificent symphony orchestra hall that bears its name. But now, as leadership passes to a new generation, the family has set itself an even more ambitious goal: to help Baltimore's beleaguered middle class by encouraging more such families to move to the city and stay here. The effort, if successful, could be the Meyerhoffs' greatest legacy and one that would go a long way toward reversing Baltimore's long-standing ills.

The Annapolis Board of Supervisors of Elections will vote Wednesday to decide on new polling places for the city's mayoral election in the fall, after Anne Arundel County school officials decided that allowing schools to be used as polling places would be disruptive and pose a potential security risk. Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell informed Annapolis Mayor Ellen O. Moyer last October that the county school system would no longer serve as polling places during the city's municipal elections, citing the use of schools' multipurpose areas, often used dually as gymnasiums and cafeterias, as disruptive during the school day. Maxwell also raised the issue of school security.

An Anne Arundel County charter school is awaiting state approval to move to a larger facility, though it has conceded that plans to expand to a high school must be postponed for another year. Officials from Chesapeake Science Point Public Charter School told the county school board that the school's finances are secure enough to obtain a new 15-year lease for a larger building, which will be paid for in part by a $250,000 grant from County Executive John R. Leopold and a $1.2 million contribution from the landlord, Doug Legum.

An era is ending at Belle Grove Elementary School. You can tell by the wallboard and insulation stacked in the hallway.Nearly 20 years after the walls dividing 12 classrooms came down, introducing a limited version of the open-space school, the walls are going back up. The experiment that came from California via then-superintendent Edward J. Anderson is being undone."

Figures may speak for themselves -- but sometimes you have to listen very carefully to understand what budget figures are saying.Take the city's education budget, for example.Back in January, school officials proposed a budget of $551.2 million for fiscal 1992.The Schmoke administration ultimately cut the school department's budget request, leaving a total of -- $722.6 million.The arithmetic seems wacky, but the Board of Estimates yesterday received a $722.6 million school budget that had been slashed by the administration and still wound up higher than the original request made in January.

Noting the looming $46 million schools budget deficit, Anne Arundel County Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell told the school board that expected budget cuts will be "untenable" and will likely include furloughs, staffing cuts that will result in larger class sizes and salary decreases. "Less teachers, less salaries, furloughs, [larger] class sizes," Maxwell said. "There is nothing in this economic climate that will allow us to do anything about that. We're talking about some significant issues in our budgets.

About 110 sixth- and seventh-graders at Chesapeake Bay Middle School have the option of continuing at their current school until high school under a plan approved by the Anne Arundel County school board. The board voted to approve the superintendent's redistricting plan, which would return middle-schoolers from the Riviera Beach Elementary School area to George Fox Middle School but give sixth- and seventh-graders at Chesapeake Bay the option of remaining at the school. The board voted for the school department to provide transportation, despite protests from some board members over spending more money when the school department has an estimated $54 million shortfall.