School System

Shalini Uttamsingh has watched International Night at Fulton Elementary School grow from an event that featured a handful of countries and attracted a couple of hundred people last year, to a major production spotlighting 20 countries and drawing a crowd of about 500. The growth of the event over just two years also serves as a reflection of the shift in the ethnic diversity among the county's student population. "You got an insider's view to the culture," said Uttamsingh, a parent and co-organizer of the event.

The unanimous decision by Baltimore's Board of School Commissioners to name Andres Alonso as the next schools CEO signals a strong desire to move the system forward with a greater sense of urgency. Mr. Alonso, the top deputy for New York City schools, comes with impressive credentials and is known to be passionately focused on teaching and learning, although he is untested as the person in charge. An effective communicator, he can make his views and vision clear to those who are concerned about student success - but he will also need skills to navigate the tricky waters of state and city politics so that educational progress is not threatened or undermined.

School board cuts domestic-partner benefits, then OKs pacts The Baltimore County school board cut domestic-partner benefits last night before approving contracts recently negotiated with employee unions, bringing swift criticism from the head of the teachers union. "They made a big mistake tonight. I can tell you that teachers and other employees are upset about this," Cheryl Bost, president of the Teachers Association of Baltimore County, said in an interview a moment after the vote.

Angry about a decision they say was made without community consultation, local legislators and advocates are pressing the Baltimore County school board to scrap plans for a cell phone tower to be built at Randallstown High School -- a project that would pump an estimated $450,000 into the school system. State Sen. Bobby A. Zirkin said he plans to submit legislation designed to ban cell phone towers from school properties in the county and will file an injunction, if necessary, to stop construction of the 110-foot tower at Randallstown High on Offutt Road.

Anne Arundel Developer eyed for BRAC help Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold told Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown and the O'Malley administration's base closing and realignment subcabinet last week that he and the commander of Fort Meade are talking now about whether the developer of a 2 million-square-foot office complex on one corner of the post will help pay for road widenings and signal upgrades to handle increased traffic from the project....

A popular history teacher at Glenelg High School in Howard County has been charged with several sex crimes in which he is accused of exposing himself to one student in a classroom, sending suggestive computer messages to another and persuading a third to meet him at a park with the promise of alcohol. He is accused of abusing her. Joseph Samuel Ellis, 25, a graduate of the Howard County school system, was arrested at 10:30 p.m. Friday by Howard County police. He was released Saturday and is free on $150,000 bond.

Teachers frustrated by the length of the investigation process Frustrated by assault allegations that can take months to investigate, union leaders and teachers at a western Baltimore County elementary school are demanding that schools officials speed up the process to return innocent educators more quickly to their classrooms. Teachers also are increasingly troubled that some students are making false accusations because they have learned that the school system's policy is to immediately remove accused teachers from the schools while an investigation is conducted, Teachers Association of Baltimore County President Cheryl Bost said yesterday.

The pairs faced each other, with clipboards and pens in hand, ready for the first round. They would have minutes to quiz each other and jot down notes, before moving on to the next person. Who are you? What organization do you represent? Whom do you serve? Ready. Set. Go. Representatives from a mix of agencies, organizations and programs were on a mission to get to know each other. The hodgepodge of individuals who usually spend their days helping Carroll County residents in such areas as literacy, violence prevention, employment or education were getting some help of their own last week, and discovering the resources that might assist them in their jobs, and thus in better serving the community.

Wiretapping cave-in demeans Democrats In his column "Cowardly Democrats give in to president on NSA wiretapping" (Opinion * Commentary, Aug. 13), Bill Press notes that Congress "with the help of 16 Senate Democrats passed emergency legislation to authorize [President] Bush's past illegal, warrantless wiretaps" and thus "rewarded Mr. Bush's lawless behavior and gave him a free pass to continue doing legally what he had been doing illegally." As Mr. Press adds, "doing so was a huge, cowardly, shameful cop-out."

A contract involving a land swap totaling 51 acres is expected to be signed immediately, clearing the way for construction of a church in Long Reach village and most likely a middle school to serve the burgeoning western section of the county. The deal barely survived a critical test when the Planning Board approved an amendment increasing modestly the amount of land the church could consume, and leaving the door open for another adjustment if it can be justified. The increase, to 15 percent from 10 percent, was a far cry from what St. John the Evangelist Baptist Church had hoped for. But Joyce Henderson, chairman of the church construction executive committee, declared it sufficient.

A retired city schoolteacher who alleged she was forced to retire after blowing the whistle on testing improprieties at the elementary-middle school where she worked has been awarded $293,000 by a Baltimore Circuit Court jury. The award for Joyce V. Dunston was reduced to $210,000 because of a legal limit on awards. The defendant, the city school board, is expected to appeal the decision, according to Howard J. Needle, an attorney representing Dunston. The school system had no comment about the verdict delivered Friday.

Two Baltimore County high schools are among five nationwide to receive awards for arts education, school officials announced Thursday. The Carver Center for Arts and Technology, in Towson, and Patapsco High and Center for the Arts, in Dundalk, were named "national schools of distinction in arts education" by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. This is the first time multiple schools from one district have been honored the same year, said Darrell M. Ayers, the center's vice president of education.

The largest school-based swine flu immunization effort in the Baltimore region will begin in Howard County today, when the first of more than 3,000 students will receive the sought-after vaccine. The county plans to immunize 1,300 students at three elementary schools this week and an additional 1,800 students at two high schools next week with injectable doses. The only other school system in the area that has immunized students is Harford County, which had a smaller-scale effort that reached 703 students over the past two weeks.

A growing number of Howard County schools have reported flu-related absences greater than 10 percent this school year. The school system has had 27 instances this school year in which a school had a rate of absence that exceeded 10 percent, the level when system officials notify the Health Department. The school system has closely monitored the absences. At Hollifield Station Elementary, for example, 21 percent of the kindergartners were absent one day last week, but overall less than 10 percent of the school's pupils were absent.

Carroll County school officials are scheduled to host several community meetings next week, giving parents the chance to talk with various staff members. Superintendent Charles I. Ecker and school board President Barbara Shreeve plan to hold a town meeting Tuesday at the newly opened Manchester Valley High School, at 3300 Maple Grove Road in the Manchester area. The event, which begins at 7 p.m., represents a chance for an open dialogue with the community and parents, according to school officials.

The Howard County School System and an advocacy group that focuses on Hispanic student achievement plan to renew a partnership Friday with the hopes of lowering dropout rates and encouraging academic success. The school system and Conexiones will officially sign the partnership at Long Reach High School in Columbia. "The Hispanic population throughout the county has been increasing - we want to make sure that we have an open, welcoming environment for Hispanic students," said Superintendent Sydney L. Cousin.

Fifteen Anne Arundel County school bus routes were delayed Monday morning after the discovery that several school buses were damaged by apparent vandalism, police and school officials said. Police were dispatched to the 1400 block of Odenton Road, a lot where school buses are parked, and found that the electrical lines of 14 buses had been cut, said Justin Mulcahy, a police spokesman. "The buses were all inoperable," said Mulcahy. "It looks like the electrical lines were cut, unfortunately."

The swine flu vaccine will be distributed when it becomes available to every student in Howard County with parental consent, the county's health officer said last week. Dr. Peter L. Beilenson said the process probably would occur in early November and would take two weeks. Parents must give written permission for their children to receive the vaccine. "It's always going to be the parents' choice," said Patti Caplan, a spokeswoman for the county school system. "We have to have a signed form from the parent in order to get the vaccine."

Howard County school system officials are considering four redistricting options that would eliminate an open enrollment practice and alleviate crowding in some schools, including in the western part of the county. The options for next school year were shared last week with the public during regional meetings at Centennial High and Hammond High. The meetings attracted close to 150 people, according to Joel Gallihue, the system's manager of school planning. The first option being considered would eliminate the open enrollment clause that allows students in the Greenbridge neighborhood to choose to attend either River Hill High or Glenelg High.

The Howard County school system has entered into a new contract with the company used by the county for its garbage and recycling efforts, saving the school system an expected $40,000 in its first year. Under the new contract with Jenn-Kans, a small trash-disposal company based in Tuxedo, there will also be additional savings based on the amount of recycling done by the school system, which was not included in its previous contract with Waste Management. The switch, which took effect July 1, is the result of talks between the school system and the county over the past year, according to Ken Roey, the school system's executive director of facilities.