Student Member

The Howard County school board's unanimous vote in favor of partial student voting rights means that the way is clear for legislation to be drafted and sent to the General Assembly that would give students a voting voice in school policy. But Thursday's vote did not come without discussion - and it appeared at times that the decision would again be delayed because of disagreements. In its final action, the board retracted several rights that it had agreed to in a straw vote. That action had included granting the student member the right to vote on land transfers, bids and contracts.

Student board finalists are both from HowardFor the first time in at least nine years, both finalists for the Maryland State Board of Education's student member slot are from the same county -- Howard.Rebecca Gifford, a Wilde Lake High School junior, and Michael Romano, a River Hill High School sophomore, were picked as finalists from among 12 students across the state. One will be selected to represent Maryland students on the state board for the 1998-1999 school year.The student member slot was created in 1985.

It is unfortunate that your article about the most recent Howard County school board meeting did not cite the testimony of the board's student member ("Howard Board of Education votes to request removal of member Dyer," June 10). She poignantly and compelling recounted her many encounters with board member Allen Dyer, personally, by phone and by email. His purpose was to persuade her to vote for him for BOE chairperson and he told her that with her vote and that of the two newest board members, a tie vote would occur.

Anne Arundel County's Board of Education on Wednesday promoted three-year board member and vice president Patricia Nalley to president and promoted second-year board member Teresa Milio Birge to succeed Nalley as vice president. Nalley worked as an elementary school teacher for 31 years and also served as principal of Davidsonville Elementary School. Birge, a county resident for more than 35 years, volunteers at Seven Oaks Elementary School in Odenton and is a member of the school's PTA. In addition, the terms of former board president Ned Carey and board member Enrique Melendez have expired.

IT'S BEEN a heady year for 15-year-old Shannon Christmas.In the spring, city high school student leaders elected Shannon to represent them on the new Baltimore school board. Since then, he's been an active, albeit nonvoting, commissioner. He's participated in the hiring of an interim chief executive officer and the search for a new one. He's helped forge the city-state school "partnership," reorganize the central administration and put in place a new method of evaluating teachers.Shannon was interviewed between final examinations at City College, where he is a sophomore.

The next student elected to the Howard County school board likely will have the right to vote on curriculum and some policy issues because the county's delegation to the General Assembly approved a proposed change in state law. "I think we're pleased to see that it's passed. It's certainly something that the students of Howard County have wanted for a while. That's exciting," said Diane Mikulis, the school board chairman. Wossen Ayele, this year's nonvoting student board member, also applauded the vote.

While many of his classmates were soaking up the sun and hanging out with friends this past summer, Jeffrey Chunlong Xing, 17, a senior at River Hill High School, was working long hours in a laboratory at the Johns Hopkins University. All of that work has paid off for the Clarksville teenager, who recently was named a finalist in the Intel Science Talent Search - a prestigious honor often referred to as "the junior Nobel Prize." Xing is one of 40 with the opportunity to earn the top prize: a $100,000 scholarship.

With a pen in one hand and an expressionless look on her face, Ann DeLacy sat silently in the audience at Thursday's school board meeting as she watched the representatives of the Howard County Home and Hospital Association and the Howard County School Food Service Association sign memos of understanding on negotiated agreements with the school system. Moments earlier, when the time came for DeLacy, president of the Howard County Education Association, to sign labor contracts for teachers and support staff, she did not use the pen. Because negotiations to establish a mandatory union fee have not been completed, she declined to sign the agreements.

It has been a whirlwind school year for Wossen Ayele, the student member on the Board of Education. Ayele, who graduated Thursday from Atholton High School, will hand over the reins this week to the next student board member, Andrew Gavelek, 16, a junior at Reservoir High School. "Wossen has been an outstanding young man," said Roger Plunkett, the school system's business, community, government relations officer, who works closely with the student member on the board. "He does his homework.

  The Baltimore County school board on Tuesday night voted down a new discipline policy that would have attempted to reduce the number of suspensions. The new policy, first discussed by the board in February, was designed to encourage staff and teachers to intervene with students before they are suspended and would give principals more flexibility in how they deal with bad behavior. Baltimore County has one of the highest suspension rates in the state with about one in 10 students sent home for bad behavior each year.   A disproportionate number of African American and special education students are also suspended.