Survey Results

A survey of Baltimore students, teachers and parents shows an overall perception that city schools were safer and more welcoming in the 2005-2006 school year than in the year before. But the survey also highlighted the need for the school system to do more to improve safety in middle schools, where 46 percent of pupils said student possession of weapons such as guns or knives was a "moderate" or "major" problem. Forty-one percent of middle school pupils also noted problems with student alcohol and drug abuse.

The chairman of the Carroll County Democratic Central Committee filed a lawsuit yesterday under the Maryland Public Information Act, demanding all records related to a state delegate's survey on how Carroll should be divided into five commissioner districts. Martin Radinsky, a member of the redistricting committee that worked six months to create a map dividing the county into five commissioner districts, said he repeatedly asked Del. Tanya T. Shewell, a Carroll County Republican, for the results of an informal survey she conducted last year on map options for the new districts.

A RECENT FRONT-PAGE STORY IN The New York Times, written by a student at an Ivy League college, reported that many women at Ivy League colleges have already decided that they will "put aside their careers in favor of raising children." Louise Story, a graduate of Yale and the Columbia School of Journalism and presently a graduate student at Yale, retooled her master's thesis for a hot-button trend story while working at the Times this summer, and it was published last month. She reported that 60 percent of the Yale students who responded to her e-mail query said that "when they had children, they planned to cut back on work or stop working entirely."

Finally, a safe response to what can be a horribly dangerous situation. "There is nothing more stupid nor dangerous than tailgating on the Big Bay Bridge!" wrote Pete Nelsen, a resident of Kent Island. He noted that if an accident occurs, or if a driver needs to swerve while driving the spans, there's no shoulder. He recommends one of two safe options: "Swallow pride, bury ego, whatever you have to do and MOVE OVER. ... Let `Stupid One' pass" But what if traffic is too heavy for you to move over?

Supporters of Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley are crowing about poll numbers showing the mayor well ahead of Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan in the race for next year's Democratic gubernatorial nomination. The internal O'Malley poll, conducted by GarinHartYang Research Group of Washington, showed O'Malley with 50 percent support among likely primary voters. Duncan had 28 percent, and 22 percent were undecided. The results of the poll, which had a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points, were similar to those in a Sun Poll conducted in April, which found O'Malley beating Duncan 45 percent to 25 percent, with 29 percent undecided.

Maryland's state employee pension system, which had such poor investment returns three years ago that it finished last in a national ranking, now falls among the top half of its peers. The state's 46th-percentile ranking in a Wilshire Associates survey comes after a period of reform in which the system's top officials were replaced and investment procedures were overhauled. The survey results, announced yesterday, compare the system against other large public pension funds for the fiscal year that ended June 30. The pension system's fortunes changed significantly as it posted a $3.5 billion gain for the fiscal year - a 16.16 percent rate of return on investments.

Despite the disruptions of a financial crisis that threatened their school system with insolvency, Baltimore's students made gains in every grade and nearly every subject area on this year's statewide exams, in many cases outpacing students in the rest of the state. "This chart speaks volumes about the work that went on this year," said an exuberant Bonnie S. Copeland, the school system's chief executive officer, pointing to a bar graph showing scores moving steadily upward. "For all of the challenges confronting the system this year - the financial issues, layoffs, the talk of layoffs and a myriad of banner headlines that forecasted the demise of the school system - we stayed focused on teaching and learning."

The Anne Arundel County teachers union released results yesterday of a recent survey showing that voters think education is a more pressing issue than the economy or the county's growth and, separately, would support a tax increase, if needed. The phone survey of 819 randomly selected Anne Arundel voters found that a majority was in favor of a slightly higher income tax rate that would cost the average household an extra $75 a year. The tax-increase question was not specifically linked to education.

The results of a $248,000 survey commissioned by the Howard County school system show that although parents are generally satisfied with educational offerings, teachers have serious doubts about the district's leadership. Sixty percent of teachers responding to the survey - which was given to thousands of parents, support staff, administrators, students, instructors and district-level managers in May - indicated low confidence in Superintendent John R. O'Rourke and his staff to "provide the leadership and resources" they need.