Wolfe Elementary

The successful effort by a group of parents to shift the fifth grade from New Windsor Middle School back to Elmer Wolfe Elementary was a valuable learning experience for Carroll County's education community, not to mention the public at large.The most important lesson here: Conventional wisdom is often wrong. Even though the county's school bureaucracy had decided to retain fifth graders at New Windsor Middle School and Superintendent Brian Lockhard had twice upheld that finding in his former job as deputy superintendent, a persistent cadre of parents decided not to accept that decision and appealed to the Board of Education, which reversed the administration's decision.

More than half of Carroll County's schools are being recognized by state education officials for their performance on the Maryland School Assessments last spring, county school officials announced yesterday. In all, 22 of the county's 41 public schools are being awarded cash or certificates. Title I schools will receive financial awards through funding provided under the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Other schools will receive certificates acknowledging their achievement.

SUNDAY WILL BE A special day for students at Elmer Wolfe Elementary School in Union Bridge.The bright, modern new school, which opened for students last month, will be dedicated with a ceremony at 2 p.m. Sunday.Elmer Wolfe students spent the last several years learning in the old New Windsor Middle School building. While the Elmer Wolfe staff did its best to make the temporary quarters feel like home, the old, multistory building was hardly an optimal place to study.Of course, much the same could have been said about the old Elmer Wolfe Elementary.

Winners have been announced for Carroll County public schools' annual media festival for students in all grades. PHOTOGRAPHY DIVISION Best of show (selected from all first-place winners): "Rustic Fence Post," Allyson Lethbridge, Northwest Middle; "The Singer," Jay Vette, Mount Airy Elementary; "Steel Wheel," Brittany Lethbridge, Elmer Wolfe Elementary. First place Experimental: K-2, color, "Reflections," Alexandra Julian, Carrolltowne Elementary; 3-5, color, "Icy Trees in Reflection," Brianna Stefanelli, Hampstead Elementary.

A Union Bridge mother wants to make one thing clear: Not everyone agrees with the six parents leading the push to start a fifth grade at Elmer Wolfe Elementary School so those children don't have to attend New Windsor Middle School.Elmer Wolfe is the only school in the county that doesn't yet have a fifth grade. It never has had one, but it will in September 1995 when expansion and renovation begin.The six parents appealing to the school board don't want to wait that long: Their children will be in fifth grade in the fall, and they maintain that they're too young to be plunged into a school with grades six through eight.

Renovation plans that would make 63-year-old Elmer Wolfe Elementary School look brand new have been scrapped in favor of a brand new building.The Carroll County School Board approved yesterday the schematic documents that detail the construction of a larger, more modern elementary school on the grounds of the current school in Union Bridge."

The new Elmer Wolfe Elementary School in Union Bridge will be ready for students in a few weeks, after a series of cost-related setbacks postponed its opening by a year.By all accounts, the result has been worth the wait."It's a sharp building," said Lester P. Surber, a supervisor in Carroll's school facilities department. "It will be a major asset to the community."The $6.5 million school, designed for 600 students, is on the site of the original Elmer Wolfe Elementary School, which was built in 1931 and demolished two years ago.Since then, Elmer Wolfe students and staff have been housed in temporary quarters at the old New Windsor Middle School.

The new Elmer Wolfe Elementary School is going back to the drawing board, after school officials agreed Friday to a list of changes that should bring the project in line with the $6.4 million budget.This spring, bids to rebuild the Union Bridge school came in at about $1.6 million over budget, a result of a rise in costs between the original design and the approval of state money.Architects will rework the changes into a new set of specifications in time for contractors to bid on it in the fall and break ground before winter, said Vernon Smith, director of support services for Carroll County schools.

Name.. .. .. .. .. .. ... .. .School assignmentSherrill S. Blackiston.. .. ..Spring Garden ElementaryJudith A. Clark.. .. .. .William Winchester ElementarySylvia M. Griswold.. .. .. .. Spring Garden ElementaryCharlene F. Handley.. .. .. .. .. .. .Westminster HighAnn S. Harden.. .. .. .Carroll County Education CenterMiriam J. Larson.. ... .. .. .. ..Hampstead ElementaryPatricia B. Lichtfuss.. .. .. .Robert Moton ElementaryGretchen O. Milchling.. .. .. ..Elmer Wolfe ElementaryElizabeth A. Miller.

The Carroll County commissioners yesterday approved the appropriation of $10,000 to $20,000 to pay for additional design plans for a full-size gym at the new Elmer Wolfe Elementary School in Union Bridge.But the commissioners won't make a final decision on whether to go ahead with the construction of the new gymnasium until they receive bids for the project, said Richard Soisson, the county recreation and parks director.Building the gym and a separate activities room would cost $675,000. The cost of the gym alone would be about $400,000, Mr. Soisson said.

After educating 8-year-old Joshua Trett at General Wolfe Elementary School for the past four years, city school officials say it's time for him to move on - to another school nearly twice the distance from his family's rowhouse. With crowding an issue at General Wolfe, city school officials say they have to move those pupils who don't belong. Although Joshua lives closer to his old school, he lives within Commodore John Rodgers Elementary's zone. He might as well have been assigned to Timbuktu, as far as his mother is concerned.

TODAY MARKS MY first Neighbors column for Northwest Carroll. As a Uniontown resident, I have always made it a point to read Judy Reilly's weekly column. We will all miss Judy, and I have big shoes to fill. Many of you who kept in touch with Judy will receive calls and visits from me. One of the first things I wanted to do was to introduce myself to the principals of the six schools in this area. My visits yielded so many good stories I felt as if I were back in Florida covering the school beat for the newspaper I used to work for. The day I called Mary Stong, principal of Elmer A. Wolfe Elementary School in Union Bridge, she was very happy.

Sure, Brandon Eckard plans to be the next Michael Jordan when he grows up. But he wants to go to college before joining the NBA -- in case he has to fall back on being a lawyer or businessman -- and if he doesn't get a basketball scholarship, that means hefty tuition payments.That's why he's saving now. Brandon, a 9-year-old at Elmer A. Wolfe Elementary in Union Bridge, won a fourth-grade essay contest yesterday on the importance of saving money."Another reason why I should save for the future is because I need to buy a house and pay taxes," he wrote in his essay.

SUNDAY WILL BE A special day for students at Elmer Wolfe Elementary School in Union Bridge.The bright, modern new school, which opened for students last month, will be dedicated with a ceremony at 2 p.m. Sunday.Elmer Wolfe students spent the last several years learning in the old New Windsor Middle School building. While the Elmer Wolfe staff did its best to make the temporary quarters feel like home, the old, multistory building was hardly an optimal place to study.Of course, much the same could have been said about the old Elmer Wolfe Elementary.

When Carroll County's 36 public schools open for a new academic year today, some changes will be obvious.Linton Springs Elementary School will become more than a construction project as students fill the gleaming hallways and inaugurate the playground. Displaced Elmer A. Wolfe Elementary School students, who attended the old New Windsor Middle School for the past three years while their outdated school was being rebuilt, will find a new and improved home school.The county school system will welcome about 150 new teachers and more than 600 additional students this year, bringing enrollment to more than 26,000.

The new Elmer Wolfe Elementary School in Union Bridge will be ready for students in a few weeks, after a series of cost-related setbacks postponed its opening by a year.By all accounts, the result has been worth the wait."It's a sharp building," said Lester P. Surber, a supervisor in Carroll's school facilities department. "It will be a major asset to the community."The $6.5 million school, designed for 600 students, is on the site of the original Elmer Wolfe Elementary School, which was built in 1931 and demolished two years ago.Since then, Elmer Wolfe students and staff have been housed in temporary quarters at the old New Windsor Middle School.

The winners of the 1997 School Media Festival have been announced.Best of Show winners in photography were Jennifer Warner, North Carroll Middle, first; Jessica Boyd, Westminster High, second; and Tiffany Tarbet, Elmer Wolfe Elementary, third.First and second place winners, awarded in color and monochrome by category and grade, were:Life Study -- Grades K-2: Caitlin Costello, Mount Airy Elementary, first; Ashby Haines, Manchester Elementary, first; T. J. Desmond, Manchester Elementary, and Allyson Lethbridge, Elmer Wolfe, (tie)

The winners of the 1997 School Media Festival have been announced.Best of Show winners in photography were Jennifer Warner, North Carroll Middle, first; Jessica Boyd, Westminster High, second; and Tiffany Tarbet, Elmer Wolfe Elementary, third.First and second place winners, awarded in color and monochrome by category and grade, were:Life Study -- Grades K-2: Caitlin Costello, Mount Airy Elementary, first; Ashby Haines, Manchester Elementary, first; T. J. Desmond, Manchester Elementary, and Allyson Lethbridge, Elmer Wolfe, (tie)