School Program

I once read a startling account in Barbara Kingsolver's book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, about a youngster who was intrigued with his neighbor's harvest. As he dug in the garden, the neighbor asked, "Which vegetable, other than a carrot, would be considered a root vegetable?" The kid answered, "Spaghetti?" As startling as this answer is, I know of another child who thought that milk was cow's urine. It is disturbing to realize how ignorant some children are about their food. The Farm to School program, a promising nationwide program with participants in our region, wants to change that.

Nearly everyone can recall a first day of school, walking into a new classroom dressed in a smart-looking outfit and spiffy shoes and carrying a book bag full of supplies.Shepherd's Staff, an ecumenical ministry to the needy, wants to guarantee those memories for the many children whose parents can't afford the expenses associated with the opening of school.With its fifth annual Back to School program, the Westminster center expects to give away nearly 1,000 school kits and several hundred backpacks.

REGISTRATION IS open for the Kiwanis Foundation of Crofton's 19th annual charity golf tournament.The tournament will be held Monday at Walden Golf Club. Proceeds will benefit Young Children: Priority One, the major emphasis program of Kiwanis International.The $95 entry fee covers the greens fee and cart, plus beverages on the course, dinner and door prizes.Registration on tournament day begins at 11 a.m., with a shotgun start at 1 p.m. and dinner at 6: 30 p.m. Prizes will be awarded for a hole-in-one contest, for hitting closest to the pin, longest drive, putting, mulligans, skins game and 50/50.

ELEVEN JUNIORS and seniors were recently inducted into the Meade Senior High School chapter of the National Honor Society. Chosen on the basis of academic achievement, leadership and service, the students undertake a variety of activities in the school and the community. National Honor Society members offer tutoring, plan honor assemblies and volunteer at Sarah's House.The new inductees are: Christianne Alascio, Christopher Bles, Kathryn Entwistle, Justin Harris, Eric Kling, Chris Roberts, Michele Sorensen, Steve Spurlin, Joe Varela, Shanita Ward and Sarah Yalas.

WASHINGTON -- It felt for all the world like the end of school at James G. Birney Elementary.Young girls in satiny white dresses and boys fiddling with their mortarboards made a jittery procession in a graduation ceremony at this school in the southeast Washington neighborhood of Anacostia.There was just one problem: The school year was not altogether over.In about a week, the city will launch its largest summer school program, calling about one in five of its students back into the classroom for six weeks of additional drills in math and reading.

Howard County school board members approved a proposal yesterday for an alternative school that would serve the district's most troubled students.The "alternative learning center," which officials hope to open by fall 2000, would target students with behavioral and emotional problems and would house three programs.School staff members removed a program for emotionally fragile students from the original plan after school board members raised concerns about placing vulnerable children alongside disruptive ones.

In a long-awaited response to community criticisms of the emphasis on self-esteem over academics in Howard County's middle schools, top school system officials said yesterday they intend to refocus sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders on achievement.But in responding to separate evaluations of Howard's middle schools last fall by a citizens committee and outside consultants, the officials stopped short of endorsing such recommendations as grouping students in classes by abilities.Officials did announce that they will increase the time spent on basic instruction and establish tests and standards of performance for each middle school grade.

The NAACP went back to school yesterday with a pep rally at Dunbar High School in East Baltimore for its revitalized dropout prevention program.The Back to School/Stay in School program, which fell victim to budget cuts two years ago while the organization struggled to overcome a $3.2 million debt, is set to resume in September under Adrienne Watson, its 27-year-old national director.Watson said the program would link National Association for the Advancement of Colored People branches, schools, churches, businesses and community groups to develop activities to encourage young people to continue their educations.

The small, mop-haired 6-year-old wears glasses that make his eyes look big, but you can't see them much because he keeps his head down a lot. He barely speaks and, when spoken to, slips down in his chair. Sometimes, he slides under the table.That's when one of the therapists at Lansdowne's tiny Therapeutic After School Program -- one of two in Baltimore County -- will say something, very casually, to nudge the boy back into the group of six.School officials say the programs, run by Catholic Charities' Villa Maria organization, produce remarkable improvements in troubled children.

Eight-year-old Timothy Scherer wants to be a football player when he grows up, or maybe a soccer player.Last week, though, he got a taste of a different career -- as part of a new program that could spread to all Baltimore County schools. The Fifth District Elementary School third-grader and his class worked with a volunteer, a retired engineer, perfecting model cars they had built for a competition.The goal: a car safe enough to keep an egg intact even after a run down a steep wooden track that ends abruptly in a wooden wall.

Declining revenues at the Erickson School of aging studies left University of Maryland, Baltimore County administrators few choices. Despite the increasing need for such expertise in a fast-graying America, the program attracted only a modest number of students and donations were down. Laying off a significant share of its faculty recently may have been a financial necessity in these tough economic times, but it's a shame. This field has tremendous potential for growth, and the demographics of the country explain why. The program was created four years ago with a $5 million donation from the Erickson Foundation, an outgrowth of the Catonsville-based company of retirement communities, and a matching state grant.

I once read a startling account in Barbara Kingsolver's book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, about a youngster who was intrigued with his neighbor's harvest. As he dug in the garden, the neighbor asked, "Which vegetable, other than a carrot, would be considered a root vegetable?" The kid answered, "Spaghetti?" As startling as this answer is, I know of another child who thought that milk was cow's urine. It is disturbing to realize how ignorant some children are about their food. The Farm to School program, a promising nationwide program with participants in our region, wants to change that.

Nominating commission holds public meeting The School Board Nominating Commission of Anne Arundel County will hold a public meeting 7 p.m. Tuesday at Anne Arundel Community College, 101 College Parkway, West Campus, Cade Building Room 219. No public testimony will be accepted during the administrative meeting. Information: sbncacc@gmail.com. Redistricting discussed The Anne Arundel County Public Schools' Redistricting Committees looking at school boundary lines for the Mountain Road corridor in Pasadena and the area south of the South River will meet this week.

There is nothing simple about building an underwater robot to probe for salinity or look for water creatures. Wires come loose. Cameras fall off. Measuring string sinks to the bottom. "It's fun, but it's kind of frustrating," said Edwin Pena, who will enter eighth grade at Annapolis Middle School this month. Edwin and a dozen other rising seventh through ninth-graders spent the past two weeks building underwater devices made of PVC pipes, duct tape and small motors. The students sent the crude Remote Operating Vehicles, or ROVs, on missions to collect water samples and take pictures.

A nationwide grant program awarded Chesapeake High School a new $4,000 piano for its choral students last week. The Pasadena school was one of 20 winners nationwide to receive grants from My Hometown Helper, an arm of General Mills. The piano was unveiled Wednesday in a ceremony that also included a mini-concert by Rachel Franklin, a classical and jazz chamber pianist and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra lecturer. A new grant cycle began Friday. Communities can apply for one-time grants for projects such as building playgrounds, buying band uniforms and expanding town sidewalks.

Harford County public schools will hold a dedication ceremony for the new Patterson Mill Middle/High School at 2 p.m. today. A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new playground at Hickory Elementary School will be held at 2:45 p.m. Wednesday. Information: 410-588-5203. Magnet program event set for Thursday Harford County public schools will hold a presentation on the magnet program for eighth-graders at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Edgewood High School. The Science and Mathematics Academy at Aberdeen High, the Global Studies/International Baccalaureate Programme at Edgewood High and the 19 career programs at Harford Technical High in Bel Air will be showcased in a video by Harford Cable Network.

.. In seven years, seven children have been injured while walking to class at William Paca Elementary-Middle School in East Baltimore. One died of his injuries. But now the daily commute will be safer for children at William Paca and six city school campuses, as well as other schools statewide. Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown, Mayor Sheila Dixon and other state officials met at William Paca yesterday afternoon to announce $3.67 million in federal grants for the Maryland Safe Routes to School program.

Pupils at Youth's Benefit Elementary School perused the school grounds before settling on a barren area by the Fallston school's front entrance to plant a garden. After the space was tilled, they planted native plants, such as bee balm, hydrangeas and black-eyed Susans. Next, they spread mulch. They also set up two barrels to collect rainwater that drains from the roof of the school. Just a few days after planting the garden, they saw results. "I think the children have some sort of magic powers," said Karen DeHart, a teacher in the gifted-and-talented program at Youth's Benefit.

Members of the Annapolis city council joined with parents and a few school board members this week in voicing hope that the Board of Education - at last - will fund the rigorous International Baccalaureate Middle Years program for middle school pupils. Those in favor of the program, a precursor to the International Baccalaureate diploma program for high school students, have advocated for years, only to have their hopes dashed when the County Council cut the program from the budget for the three years in a row. When the school board formally adopts its fiscal 2007 budgets Wednesday, members will have the discretion to fund the Middle Years program at three county middle schools for the coming school year, though the County Council cut $146,000 from the school budget for the curriculum.

As he circled the block yesterday, searching for parking at a West Baltimore elementary school, Lt. Col. Terry W. Virts, a NASA astronaut and featured morning guest, received assistance from unlikely sources. "Some of the [kids'] moms were waving at me, telling me which way to go," said Virts, who was dressed in his blue NASA uniform. "Then the kids, they knew my name as I was pulling up. They were so well behaved. That's pretty impressive." Yesterday, Virts visited Rosemont Elementary School as part of the NASA Explorer School program, which was created to stimulate interest in science, mathematics and technology.