Students And Teachers

The local coordinator of the International Education Forum is "desperately" seeking host families for two Spanish high-school boys and their teacher due to arrive in Pasadena tomorrow evening.The three, who are part of a larger group of exchange students, were left without lodging when their hosts canceled at the last minute, explained Sharon Harrigan, the program coordinator.The students are two boys, ages 15 and 16. Their teacher is a 34-year-old woman.They are among a group of about 30 students and teachers who will spend three weeks in the area.

I have attended Towson High School for four years, and the change in class size this year was a dramatic shift. Your recent article made clear how cutting 200 high school teachers in the Baltimore County School System has negatively affected students and teachers ("Baltimore County high schools see class sizes grow," May 12). Thirty-two percent of classes have more than 30 students this year, a 22 percent increase in one year. This will not only make it hard for students to get individualized attention, but the classes will also become more challenging for teachers.

Baltimore schools CEO Andrés Alonso wants residents to shovel sidewalks in their neighborhoods to provide safe passage for students going to school next week. "It is absolutely necessary for the community to help out in terms of sidewalks throughout the city," Alonso said. "We have 83,000 kids, and they are not all going to be driven to school. You have 10-year-olds walking. Unless the sidewalks are done, we have a problem. It is not a problem that the city and the schools can solve.

Editor: It is indeed welcome news that the Harford County Public Schools, on the initiative of Superintendent Dr. Robert Tomback plans to fortify the offerings of advanced placement courses to students (As noted in The Aegis editorial, "Cause for concern" published Feb.17) but one has to wonder if we have seen this pattern before. In Harford County Public Schools, a positive public relations pitch drives almost everything and reports of increased AP enrollment is seen as a positive public relations tool for the local school system.

Maj. Dan Wood was showered with thunderous applause as he rounded every corner of Ellicott Mills Middle School. The Howard County school's technical education teacher, who recently returned home from a stint in Afghanistan, marveled at the sight of students, faculty and staff who lined up Monday on both sides of the school's hallways and, in a ritual usually staged for students departing for high school, formed a gantlet of praise. A member of the Maryland Army National Guard, Wood has taught at the school for nearly 20 years.

Barbara M. Dandridge, Caught between a mandate to attend an extra day of school yesterday and the lure of carefree spring vacations, Howard County students and teachers struggled and many succumbed. Schools found 20 percent to 50 percent of their students absent on a Monday, a weekday that rarely sees an absentee rate greater than 10 percent, said Patti Caplan, spokeswoman for Howard County public schools. Students were not the only ones eager to begin their spring breaks. More than 660 teachers were absent yesterday, compared with an average of 300 to 350 for a normal Monday.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - This morning, when students walk past the palm tree outside Al-Nidimiyah High School after an unplanned 40-day break and go into the classroom, the lesson plan in national culture class will be different. No longer will teacher Ali Abid stand before a portrait of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and glorify him as the latest in a line of great leaders going back to the caliphs who followed the prophet Muhammad. "We are going to say this is the end of this man," said the 36-year-old Abid, sounding neither sad nor happy about Hussein's fall from power.

Once the domain of New Agers and suburban moms, yoga has become firmly planted in Baltimore's inner city, and now researchers believe the ancient practice may help elementary school students cope with the stress of growing up in impoverished, violent neighborhoods. Researchers and lay people alike think yoga may help adults reduce stress. The popularity of the practice has surged, and it's used as therapy for cancer patients and battered women, and as a treatment for back pain and depression.

I have attended Towson High School for four years, and the change in class size this year was a dramatic shift. Your recent article made clear how cutting 200 high school teachers in the Baltimore County School System has negatively affected students and teachers ("Baltimore County high schools see class sizes grow," May 12). Thirty-two percent of classes have more than 30 students this year, a 22 percent increase in one year. This will not only make it hard for students to get individualized attention, but the classes will also become more challenging for teachers.

Science teacher Ginny Fair has kept a note pad next to her bed since North Carroll High School switched to an innovative schedule of four 90-minute class periods a day."I find myself waking up in the middle of the night with ideas in my head, which I haven't done in years," the 22-year veteran said. "I was at a point where I was beginning to burn out. I think the change is positive."Not everyone at North Carroll High is as enthusiastic as Ms. Fair, but most staff members and students interviewed at least preferred the new setup to the old one, in which students had seven 48-minute classes a day.In education circles, the new concept is called the "four-mod day."

A high school English class at Baltimore City College will be featured in a virtual field trip Tuesday afternoon at 1 p.m., where students and teachers nationwide can go to the Folger Shakespeare Library and discover techniques for reading and understanding Shakespeare language.  An English I class at City was filmed for the documentary film, which will be featured on PBS and online in the coming weeks. According to a description of the fim, we'll see "a  high school classroom in Baltimore to see students grappling with the language of Shakespeare and using performance to discover meaning, take a trip backstage with professional actors rehearsing for a Shakespeare performance, see original documents relating to Shakespeare's life and times, and enjoy special behind-the-scenes access to the Folger.

After he graduated from the old Sollers Point Junior-Senior High School in 1953, Ed "Eddie" Bartee went to work forBethlehem Steel Corp.in Sparrows Point, where he became a representative for the steelworkers' union and was responsible for a $2 million budget. "That was a lot of money for a poor boy with a high school education," Bartee recalled Saturday. "I owe it all to my teachers. ... There's no question that the training I got carried me a long way. I'm thankful. I'm blessed.

From Dean Jones Jr. and Andrea F. Siegel: A Glen Burnie High School English teacher was arrested Thursday and charged with sexually abusing three female students over the past two years, Anne Arundel County police said. Jeffrey Robert Sears Jr., 29, of the 400 block of Luther Road in Glen Burnie, is facing more than a dozen criminal counts, including sexual abuse of a minor, sexual solicitation of a minor and assault. He was held Thursday in lieu of $3 million bail. The allegations involve three girls who were ages 15 and 16 at the time of the sexual activity that occurred between November 2009 and October of this year, police spokesman Justin Mulcahy said at a news conference held jointly by police and school officials.

Maj. Dan Wood was showered with thunderous applause as he rounded every corner of Ellicott Mills Middle School. The Howard County school's technical education teacher, who recently returned home from a stint in Afghanistan, marveled at the sight of students, faculty and staff who lined up Monday on both sides of the school's hallways and, in a ritual usually staged for students departing for high school, formed a gantlet of praise. A member of the Maryland Army National Guard, Wood has taught at the school for nearly 20 years.

Gabriella Polsinelli still recalls the heartbreak she felt when her favorite aunt died of breast cancer five years ago. She was a sixth-grader at the time and didn't really understand the disease. But watching her Aunt Maria transform from a vibrant woman to a frail, skinny and sickly one left a lasting impression on young Gabriella. With her aunt's memory still strong, Polsinelli has became a teenage advocate for breast cancer awareness, raising money each year for the cause.

Despite Maryland's reputation for having the best schools in the nation, there's still plenty of room for improvement in how all 24 of its local school districts prepare their students for college and the work world. The school reform movement that has begun to turn around the prospects of students in Baltimore City holds lessons for every other jurisdiction in the state, and it's essential those lessons take hold if Maryland is to maintain its No. 1 ranking nationally for educational excellence.

ELDERSBURG - Students and teachers hoping to provide encouragement to soldiers involved in "Operation Desert Shield" have written many letters and cards.First-graders have corresponded with Sgt. John Burton, their teacher's brother. In addition, Burton provided fifth-grade students with a list of soldiers who are not receiving mail in hopes that they will establish pen pal relationships.

For decades, visitors arriving at Benjamin Franklin High School at Masonville Cove have been greeted by a brick wall. And for years, city school leaders said Tuesday, that has sent the wrong message to the Curtis Bay neighborhood, a struggling area whose community high school has long fought to stem its dropout rate. In a celebration Tuesday, past and present Benjamin Franklin students removed the first brick from the walled-over entrance of the school's original building, which next year will house a newly constructed wing of administrative and community offices.

A national study on the quality of student teaching at schools of education ranks two of the three programs examined in Maryland as weak. The National Council on Teacher Quality, which ranked a random sample of three institutions in each state, gave Mount St. Mary's University and Salisbury University "weak" ratings and University of Maryland, Baltimore County a rating of "good. " The council spent two years working on the study, which looks at the student teaching experience at 134 institutions of higher education.

For decades, visitors arriving at Benjamin Franklin High School at Masonville Cove have been greeted by a brick wall. And for years, city school leaders said Tuesday, that has sent the wrong message to the Curtis Bay neighborhood, a struggling area whose community high school has long fought to stem its dropout rate. In a celebration Tuesday, past and present Benjamin Franklin students removed the first brick from the walled-over entrance of the school's original building, which next year will house a newly constructed wing of administrative and community offices.