Superintendent

Carroll County school officials have discontinued use of a cafeteria checkout system with palm-scan technology after protests from parents who said the system violated their children's privacy. School Superintendent Stephen Guthrie announced his decision Wednesday to halt use of the system, called PalmSecure, and to ask officials to look at other options. His announcement came after a meeting with County Commissioner Doug Howard, who cited concerns among parents who worried about possible security breaches.

Adelfeus Cole sees a lot of kids who are unmotivated in the classroom. Tyana Palmer wants to know why the cafeteria can't serve students more vegetarian meals. And Kyle Rivers wonders whether Baltimore County will change its traditional school calendar. The high school students questioned Superintendent Dallas Dance about those issues Wednesday at his first of two planned "student town hall meetings. " Throughout the event, hands shot up from the crowd of about 70 students from a dozen schools gathered at Chesapeake High in Essex.

Howard County schools deputy superintendent of operations Ray Brown is retiring from the system effective Jan., 1, Howard County officials said Wednesday night. New Superintendent Renee Foose named Brown deputy superintendent in August, a month after her tenure began. A former schools chief operating officer, Brown replaced Mamie Perkins, who announced her retirement in July. Among Brown's duties were to oversee the school system's state-mandated Bridge to Excellence plan and its strategic planning.

Sterling S. "Spence" Keyes, a veteran educator who had served as acting superintendent for Baltimore public schools in the early 1970s and later held positions with the New York State Department of Education, died Nov. 8 of prostate cancer at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. The Odenton resident was 78. "Spence was always at the forefront as a person of color who held positions that heretofore had been held by whites. He was a trailblazer during changing times," said James M. Gaughan, mayor of the village of Altamont, N.Y., who had worked with Dr. Keyes at the New York State Department of Education.

Patrick J. Mongeon, a retired construction superintendent and Vietnam veteran, died Oct. 20 from kidney failure at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis. He was 60. Mr. Mongeon was born in Baltimore and raised on Marshall Street. After graduating in 1970 from Mount St. Joseph High School in Irvington, he enlisted in the Air Force. "He served several tours of duty but never talked about it. He suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome," said his daughter, Rebecca Mongeon of Elkton.

In her first 100 days on the job, Howard County schools Superintendent Renee Foose has revamped the system's legal services, established an office of accountability and called for revision of a redistricting proposal to shift hundreds of students to new schools, a move that some parents have decried. Foose is steadily imposing her management approach on the 50,000-student system as she attempts to fulfill promises to make it more transparent and accessible - directives spelled out in the entry plan she unveiled as she took over July 1. Perhaps the most controversial move she has made involves the redistricting plan.

Baltimore County schools should work to more quickly eliminate achievement gaps and ensure that discipline policies are applied consistently to all groups of students, according to recommendations made by the transition team appointed by Superintendent Dallas Dance. The report, presented to the school board Tuesday night, also urges the school system to review staffing levels and find more funding to renovate aging schools, among other recommendations. In his own report on his first 100 days, Dance said curriculum and school infrastructure will be the major focus over the next school year, along with having "tough, honest conversations.

Every day, more than 106,000 students cross the thresholds onto Baltimore County's school campuses and into our school buildings, and we assume responsibility not just for their education but also for their safety. In the first three weeks of this school year, two separate gun-related incidents have shaken our community and raised questions about the security of our schools. For the last seven school years combined, fewer than nine students have been caught with guns in our schools.

Baltimore County Public Schools' Superintendent S. Dallas Dance will be the featured guest of a Newsmaker Forum sponsored by the Baltimore Sun on Thursday, Sept. 13, beginning at 7 p.m. at the new George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology, 938 York Road, Towson. The forum, which is open to the public, will be moderated by Sun Maryland Voices editor Andrew Green. The event will feature a discussion with Dance about education issues, including those central to Baltimore County Public Schools, as well as opportunities for the public to ask questions of Dance.

New Baltimore County Superintendent Dallas Dance will be the guest at the next Sun Newsmaker Forum this Thursday, when he will answer questions from the public about his plans for the school system and the decisions he has already made. Mr. Dance's appointment caused a stir in Baltimore County; he is just 31 years old, has never been a superintendent before and has no experience in Maryland schools. The state had to provide the county a waiver to hire him because he lacks the three years of classroom teaching Maryland law requires.