School Department

As one of Howard County's highest-ranking Republicans, state Sen. Marty Madden feels compelled to be involved in the local issue that matters most to his constituents -- public education.He has virtually no direct role in the struggles to guarantee equity and fairness in county schools -- but he knows that won't matter to his constituents.His approach is both local and global. He urges his colleagues, Republican and Democrat, to honor the county's tradition of nonpartisanship in matters of education.

Martin O'Malley, a Baltimore city councilman, was complaining about lack of improvement in student achievement in the first year for the nine ''Tesseract'' schools -- schools run by a private firm under contract to the city.''I only have a four-year term,'' he said, ''so my time for patience is growing thin.''He's not alone. Patience is quite thin all around.The Tesseract experiment (the name comes from a children's science fiction book) is now nearing the end of its second year. Achievement-test results are available only from the first year.

Howard County school officials are stepping up efforts to curb what they call an alarming trend: the disproportionate -- and increasing -- number of black elementary school students being suspended.Black students comprise just 14 percent of the county's elementary school population.A relatively small number are suspended each year.But their involvement in incidents leading to suspension continues to rise -- from 33 percent of such incidents in the 1990-91 school year, to 50 percent in the 1991-92 school year, and 52 percent last year.

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.

In a dramatic break with traditional methods of public schooling, Baltimore yesterday formally hired a private company from Minneapolis to begin to run nine public schools in September.The plan was announced last month. The five-year contract was approved yesterday on a 3-2 vote by the Board of Estimates. It is worth an estimated $26.7 million in the coming school year.For that price, Education Alternatives Inc. promises improved student performance, a custom-designed curriculum, and jjTC teacher and student-teacher in every classroom along with an array of high-tech equipment.

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."

Yesterday's assault on a teacher at Baltimore's Booker T. Washington Middle School "was horseplay that got out of control" and not a planned, malicious attack, according to a school department spokeswoman.But the school principal will recommend suspension for the eight students, who were detained overnight at a youth center in Laurel after they allegedly attacked the teacher while he escorted them to class after they had eaten lunch in the cafeteria.The students were scheduled for a hearing before juvenile authorities this afternoon.

A pilot program that uses computers to help Baltimore children learn to read and write is a success and will be continued, say city and school department officials.But an expansion of the IBM Writing to Read program beyond FTC the current 38 elementary school pilot is still being discussed by the city school board, along with how much IBM will be paid for the program's first year.The first-year contract called for a payment of between $400,000 and $2.9 million, depending on how well children performed in the program.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The students at Quarterfield Elementary School know him as Mr. Lee, the custodian who keeps their school in tip-top shape. But his kindness to them - say, buying a lactose-intolerant student without any money a juice drink when all her free lunch would afford her was milk - and his gentle nudging to pick up their trash or pay attention to their teachers is how Cain Lee has won them over. When he walks down the hall, carrying a box of equipment or pushing a broom, the students shout his name.

The threatening text messages started in the summer, before school even began. By the time classes started at Annapolis High School this year, Lashon Patterson's daughter was so traumatized that each morning she begged, almost always in tears, to ditch school. "You've got all of annapolis after you," says one of the text messages. "All the skaters hate you. All of a-high hates you. ... I'm going to split you in the [expletive] jaw and when you're on the ground. I'm going to kick you in the ribs until the cops come and arrest me."