Schools In Maryland

Committee kills bill giving women right to nurse in public Legislation that would have guaranteed women the right to breast-feed in public was killed yesterday by a House of Delegates committee. The action by the Environmental Matters Committee came just a day after a similar measure won unanimous approval in the full Senate. About half the states in the country have such laws. The proposal was prompted in part by a Reisterstown woman who was asked not to breast-feed her child on a bench in a toy store.

If Ellen R. Sauerbrey has her way, Maryland parents will get a $2,000 tax credit or state-paid voucher good for tuition at any private school in the state.It's the most radical of several voucher proposals in the nation -- and goes well beyond the one limited voucher plan actually in place in Milwaukee.Mrs. Sauerbrey's proposal, part of a package of plans designed to give parents more "choice" in education, would almost certainly face a legal challenge from civil libertarians concerned that it presents church-state entanglement in violation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

DURING the 2000 legislative session of the Maryland General Assembly, the Glendening administration rammed through legislation that will cripple our state's public education system for years to come. The bill, signed into law last month, requires the payment of the prevailing wage on school construction projects. This construction wage is almost always the union rate - meaning higher expenses for our taxpayers. This prevailing wage law means ailing public schools in Maryland, pure and simple.

As part of a nationwide effort to curb media violence, Maryland's attorney general is asking elementary school students rather than their parents to turn off violent television shows and videos today.Students across the state are being urged to write letters expressing their views about violence in the media and how it affects them, as Maryland's contribution to the nation's second Tune Out the Violence Day.The effort is sponsored by the National Association of Attorneys General."I believe it is time our kids make their voices heard on the barrage of violence piped into their homes each day," said Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. "Last year my message was to parents.

Maryland's first year-round public school opened for business yesterday in West Baltimore with bawling kindergartners, relieved parents and refreshed teachers, freshly shined shoes and newly braided hair.Except for some extra razzmatazz at Robert W. Coleman Elementary School, including banners and confetti, it was like any other opening day. But this was a muggy Aug. 1 -- a month before other public schools in Maryland open.Some parents welcomed the experiment in year-round schooling, designed to save money and to attack the "academic atrophy" that occurs over long vacations.

When Gov. Martin O'Malley shuttered five schools in Maryland last week after the discovery of several suspected cases of the swine flu, the closures seemed prudent given how little was known about the virulence of the disease and its ability to spread. Most of what we did know was ominous: It was a strain that had never appeared before in humans, it struck healthy, young adults, it appeared nearly simultaneously in countries around the world, and it was already responsible for more than 20 deaths in Mexico and one in the United States.

With the Maryland treasury flush with cash, Gov. Parris N. Glendening is considering sending state aid for the first time to private and religious schools for computers and books, a spokesman said yesterday.Although the governor has not made a final decision, he has sent signals to people interested in the issue that he is leaning toward what would be a significant change in state policy.Such a move would likely ignite a debate on state government's proper role in assisting private and religious schools.

Results released this week show that every pupil at Summit Park Elementary School in Baltimore County passed either the reading or math portion of the Maryland School Assessment - a success rate matched by few schools in Maryland. All 164 of the school's third-, fourth- and fifth-graders scored proficient or higher on at least one part of the test. All but three pupils passed both the math and reading exams. Educators at the school - located less than a mile north of the Baltimore City line and just east of Greenspring Avenue - attribute the strong performance to an all-around commitment to education from teachers, parents and pupils.

Hammond Middle School was one of six in the state to be selected as a 2008 Maryland Blue Ribbon School of Excellence. "This is such an honor and wonderful affirmation for the Hammond staff, students and parents," Principal Kerry McGowan said in a statement. "Everyone has worked so hard to make sure our students are achieving. We feel like we just got the very best holiday gift possible, tied up with blue ribbon." Hammond was able to distinguish itself after 95 percent of the school scored at proficient or advanced levels in reading on the 2008 Maryland School Assessments, a 6-point increase from 2007.

Representatives from Jewish schools in Baltimore and Baltimore County agreed yesterday to join Maryland's Catholic schools in their campaign seeking public money for private education."