School Employees

Baltimore school employees would be forced to take furlough days if the district has to absorb millions of dollars in education cuts outlined in the state's "doomsday" budget, city schools CEO Andrés Alonso said Tuesday as he prepared to present the fiscal year 2013 budget. In preparation for a massive cut to public education should lawmakers fail to approve higher taxes in a special session starting Monday, the school system has developed a plan to negotiate with labor unions to have employees take four unpaid days off. Alonso said the system found that the four furlough days, which would not include instructional days, would yield enough savings to hold school budgets untouched, a guiding principle of the system's budget.

As a recent letter to the editor noted, studies have shown that a gun in the home increases the risk of suicide, murder and accidents ("Arming school employees only raises danger," April 7). As a footnote to all the media coverage about the massacre that occurred in Newtown, Conn., it should be noted that had Adam Lanza's mother taken the precautions needed and necessary to having guns in her home with an unstable individual having access to them, just maybe this terrible shooting would not have occurred.

Baltimore County school leaders have paid a total of $150,989 in a settlement with two high-ranking employees who signed contracts with the former superintendent, even though the school system and new superintendent contend that the contracts were not legal. The two employees, who left voluntarily, had signed contracts with former Superintendent Joe A. Hairston before he retired that would have triggered payments of nearly a half-million dollars if his successor fired them. The county school administrators union criticized the agreements, and some experts questioned whether they were valid.

Policymakers charged with creating new gun laws should be guided by scientific evidence. Fortunately, there are data to inform them when considering the National Rifle Association task force proposal to arm more school personnel ("Gun advocates detail plan to arm teachers," April 3). We don't know whether more guns in schools will make schools safer. However, here is what we do know for certain: Each school staff member who becomes a new gun owner will create a more dangerous home.

Standing in a new library named in his honor yesterday, Baltimore school Superintendent Walter G. Amprey turned to thank the person who had made it all possible -- his wife, Freda.As director of the schools' employee assistance and wellness program, Mrs. Amprey and her staff of three created the $15,000 facility -- and voted to name it the Walter G. Amprey Employee Lending Library. School employees struggling with problems such as alcoholism, drug addiction and marital woes can find resources there.

City officials have scuttled a plan to dock school employees 10 days' pay and have begun to look elsewhere for savings to bridge a $23 million gap in the Baltimore school budget.Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke will meet with his budget advisers this week in an attempt to spread the burden of the deficit to all city agencies. The savings will range from a reduction in purchases to possible layoffs as a last resort, said Clinton R. Coleman, a spokesman for Mr. Schmoke.The city already has advised bond-rating houses that Baltimore will not proceed with the pay deferment plan in an attempt to cope with the budget shortfall, Mr. Coleman said.

Baltimore County parents and teachers are understandably uneasy about the safety of their children in the wake of recent back-to-back incidents involving students bringing guns to school. Last week an eighth-grader at Stemmers Run Middle School in Essex allegedly threatened his teacher and classmates with a handgun, and in August a shotgun-wielding Perry Hall High School student seriously injured another student on the first day of school. Several more threats - all, thankfully, false alarms - were made this week.

Please explain why Baltimore County school "leaders" agreed to pay $150,000 to the two school employees who were given contracts by former Superintendent Joe Hairston if the contract was illegal? (School system agrees to settlement with two employees," Aug. 13.) This makes no sense and is another example of unelected people making decisions for those whose taxes pay the freight! As a taxpayer, I resent this type of activity and expect the county executive to rescind this nonsense or Mr. Hairston to pony up to the county treasury.

Baltimore County school employees have reached a tentative agreement with the school system that would raise the contributions employees make to their health care plans over the next five years in exchange for guarantees that there will be no layoffs or furloughs for three years. Over the next five years, the county's contribution to their health care premiums would drop to 80 percent from 90 percent, which would bring school employees in line with other county workers. School employees who elect to join an HMO would pay less than those who choose the other plans.

Teachers and other groups of Carroll County school employees would receive a 2 percent across-the-board raise under the terms of tentative agreements between two school employees unions and the Board of Education.The Carroll County Education Association, which represents about 1,300 teachers, sent the proposal to its members Monday after two months of negotiating with the school board bargaining team."I think it's the best we can get," said Ralph C. Blevins, president of the teachers union.

For those who believe Phelps Luck Elementary School paraeducator Donna Schulze is too outspoken or too uncompromising on issues relating to her profession, she's got a message for you: Too bad. "If I see something, I'm going to speak up," said Schulze, 59, who was named this month as the national Education Support Professional of the Year by the National Education Association. The NEA award comes with a challenge - Schulze will be called upon to advocate for its organization's 484,000 education support professional members, and will travel to state, regional and national conferences as an ambassador.

Absenteeism soared in Anne Arundel County schools Friday after a week of rampant shooting rumors apparently spooked parents. More than half of the students at two high schools stayed home. Across the system, absences quadrupled at Arundel high schools and increased more than fourfold at middle schools compared to the final day before the holiday break last year, schools spokesman Bob Mosier said, attributing the spike to the rumors. By Tuesday, principals at five high schools and one middle school sent home letters to parents dispelling false reports that a shooting was planned for Friday, one week after a mass shooting in Connecticut that left 20 elementary students and six school employees dead.

A Baltimore school staff member was injured Monday during an altercation with a woman who pulled out a knife when she was informed she couldn't visit a student, according to city school officials. The school system lauded the rapid actions of school employees who stopped the unsupervised visitor, at a time when school systems across the country are being especially vigilant after a mass shooting at a Connecticut school Friday in which 20 children and six school employees were killed.

It's time Maryland taxpayers expressed their outrage over the ongoing incompetence in the Baltimore City school system. Taxpayers fund a great deal of what is going on in Baltimore City, yet what are we getting in return? A vibrant school system is essential to any community that wishes to be successful. The most recent debacle was the hiring of someone to counsel kids who had not been properly vetted by the school system before being allowed to interact with vulnerable young people ("City school system broke policy in hiring of Nowlin," Dec. 7)

For Erica Hamlett-Nicholson's 11-year-old son, Shawn Nowlin was his most trusted confidant when the Hazelwood Elementary/Middle School fifth-grader suffered from depression caused by his parents' separation. For Duanelle Woodard's nephew, he was the guidance counselor who helped him secure placement in a high school of his choice. And for Antoine Jackson, Nowlin was the heavy-handed administrator who suspended his son for the first time in his academic career. But Nowlin was a hall monitor, not a child and family therapist as he claimed, according to Harford County prosecutors and Baltimore City school officials.

When the mother of a 15-year-old girl said she was having behavior problems with her daughter, a prosecutor says, Shawn Edward Nowlin offered to take her in and help the girl work on her issues. But detectives allege he had sex with the girl and impregnated her, leading to his arrest on charges of second-degree rape, sex abuse of a minor and second-degree assault, according to Harford County prosecutor Lisa Marts. Marts said Nowlin had identified himself as a school administrator and a child and family counselor.

A Harford County high school teacher who was arrested last month after being accused of slapping a 16-year-old female student on the buttocks was found dead of a gunshot wound in his home last night. Brian Norman, 34, a history teacher at North Harford High School in Pylesville, was discovered in his home in the 1600 block of Denise Drive in Forest Hill shortly before 8 p.m. by friends concerned for his well-being, Harford County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Monica Worrell said. Norman was arrested Nov. 13 and charged with a fourth-degree sexual offense, second-degree assault and threatening school employees with bodily harm.

Following a report condemning the Anne Arundel school system's handling of child abuse cases, Maryland's school superintendent expressed amazement that many teachers interviewed did not recognize signs of abuse or realize it is their responsibility to report it.Yesterday, the county schools took the first step toward changing that.During two half-hour seminars at the Carver Staff Development Center in Crofton, 262 new teachers and more than 700 custodians became the first school employees to receive new handouts listing steps to follow if they suspect a student has been abused.

Baltimore County parents and teachers are understandably uneasy about the safety of their children in the wake of recent back-to-back incidents involving students bringing guns to school. Last week an eighth-grader at Stemmers Run Middle School in Essex allegedly threatened his teacher and classmates with a handgun, and in August a shotgun-wielding Perry Hall High School student seriously injured another student on the first day of school. Several more threats - all, thankfully, false alarms - were made this week.

Each day while getting dressed, Elkridge Elementary School para-educator Adrienne Grein slips on one of the most important items of her wardrobe — a pedometer, which is part of a popular health and wellness program that has become a hit in the Howard County school system. The program is called Virgin HealthMiles, and it encourages employees to get in shape and stay healthy through everyday activity, even on the job. The program is part of a school system effort to create a wellness culture and help employees play an active role in taking care of their health.