Worthington Elementary School

Patapsco Middle School and Worthington Elementary School signed educational partnerships recently with an area state park and a local building company.Patapsco Middle's agreement with Patapsco Valley State Park will allow the school's seventh-graders to volunteer at the park.The students will do work in the park's McKeldin area, including clearing hiking paths, removing fallen wood and painting picnic tables. The partnership will give the seventh-graders a chance to fulfil their community service graduation requirement.

Solar energy tax credit extension is urged Three prominent Maryland Democratic elected officials stood on a grassy hill atop a former landfill in Ellicott City yesterday urging congressional Republicans to stop blocking the extension of federal investment tax credits for solar energy. The credits are set to expire Dec. 31, but Democrats and Republicans are at loggerheads over the issue. Democrats want more wind, solar and renewable energy incentives, but Republicans have objected to paying for them by assessing oil companies.

Worthington Elementary School has established a college trust fund for Paul and Ryan Harney, the Ellicott City children whose mother was found slain the day after Christmas."

More than a year ago, Chelsie , a 15-year-old cocker spaniel, was struck and killed by a speeding motorist, leading its young owners and a handful of neighborhood friends to spearhead an attack to slow down traffic in their Worthington neighborhood. The group of seven girls -- who live in the Shelley Lane area -- noticed that motorists weren't obeying the 25-mph limit. Members, between the ages of 8 and 13, formed the Caution Kids, and took their tough-love attack on speeders to the streets.

Worthington Elementary School will launch its fourth annual Read-to-Feed program Tuesday with an assembly featuring Daisy the Clown and Karen Webber from the Maryland Food Bank.Read-to-Feed encourages Worthington students to read as many books as they can before Feb. 2. Family, friends and neighbors sponsor the students with donations of food, based on how much reading the pupils do.Last year, Read-to-Feed raised 1 1/2 tons of food for the Maryland Food Bank. The program -- developed at Worthington -- has been praised by Maryland schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick and the county school board.

Four students from Worthington Elementary School in Ellicott City won prizes in the Howard County schools' Computer Learning Month Contest.Christine Buchler won first place among first-graders; Allison Cappelaere, second place among second-graders; Carlena Mattiello, third place among third-graders; and Rebecca Hwang, first place among fourth-graders.Contest participants used computer-generated art to illustrate how computers can be useful and provide entertainment. The contest was open to all county elementary and middle school students.

Worthington Elementary School recently established educational partnerships with two local businesses.Dr. Craig Blucher and Dr. Elaine Rounsley set up a partnership between Worthington and their family dental practice.The dentists will instruct third-graders about dental health, participate in the school's career day and teach dentistry to other classes.Mom's Taxi, an Ellicott City child transportation company, also formed a partnership with the school.The company agreed to help provide rides home for students who otherwise would not be able to attend after-school enrichment classes.

The county is willing to help pay for public water hookup for residents whose wells have been contaminated by the county's New Cut Road Landfill, but it can't afford to buy homes from residents whose property values might have declined, County Executive Charles I. Ecker said last night."

At 3:15 p.m. on a muggy day this month, five third-graders walk into a small, stuffy room at Worthington Elementary School. They grab large boxes filled with mail and take them to a table. Then they begin their work of stamping, sorting and canceling. This day brings 63 letters. The schoolchildren are part of the Wee Deliver mail program, which has delivered nearly 2,000 letters within the school since the program began in January. Betsy Bryant, the teacher who introduced the program at Worthington, watches the kids work.

More than a year ago, Chelsie , a 15-year-old cocker spaniel, was struck and killed by a speeding motorist, leading its young owners and a handful of neighborhood friends to spearhead an attack to slow down traffic in their Worthington neighborhood. The group of seven girls -- who live in the Shelley Lane area -- noticed that motorists weren't obeying the 25-mph limit. Members, between the ages of 8 and 13, formed the Caution Kids, and took their tough-love attack on speeders to the streets.

Frechetter O. Bell, a retired Baltimore public school administrator and founder of an alumni organization that raises scholarship money, died of colon cancer Dec. 3 at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. She was 66. Born Frechetter O. Cunningham and raised in Roxboro, N.C., she graduated from Person County High School there before moving with her family to Turners Station. She earned a bachelor's degree in education in 1961 from Coppin State College and a master's degree in education from what is now Towson University.

At 3:15 p.m. on a muggy day this month, five third-graders walk into a small, stuffy room at Worthington Elementary School. They grab large boxes filled with mail and take them to a table. Then they begin their work of stamping, sorting and canceling. This day brings 63 letters. The schoolchildren are part of the Wee Deliver mail program, which has delivered nearly 2,000 letters within the school since the program began in January. Betsy Bryant, the teacher who introduced the program at Worthington, watches the kids work.

So much confusing information has been disseminated about the safety of the soil at Worthington Elementary School that County Executive James N. Robey felt it necessary last night to convene a panel of health and safety experts to deliver what he said he hopes will be the final word on the matter: Worthington, he said, is safe. "It's time to put away the rumors, the extremes on both ends and talk about the facts," Robey said. For 2 1/2 hours, more than 100 parents and community members from the Worthington area listened to school officials, toxicologists, and representatives from the county Department of Public Works, the Maryland Department of the Environment and the county Health Department give the Ellicott City elementary school their stamp of approval.

Howard County school officials have agreed to remove soil around Worthington Elementary School in Ellicott City to assuage the fears of parents and community members who have complained about high levels of metals and potentially toxic chemicals in the ground. Sydney L. Cousin, the school system's chief operating officer, said the Department of Public Works has recommended that Cousin's office remove about 2 inches of soil surrounding the school and replace it with 4 inches of fresh top soil.

A group of Ellicott City parents is demanding that Howard County officials immediately "cap" the soil around Worthington Elementary School to protect pupils from contamination - and begin an extensive round of testing inside the 26-year-old building. Parents for Safe Schools - a grass-roots advocacy group of parents and community members from Worthington neighborhoods - hired a consultant to review testing of the school's soil completed last year by the county's Department of Public Works.

Session to examine the adopted child's school experience Families with Children from China Central Maryland and the Center for Adoption Support and Education will sponsor a workshop, "Adoption and Your Child's World at School," from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at Owen Brown Community Center, 6800 Cradlerock Way, Columbia. Topics to be discussed include how children understand adoption at different ages, factors that affect adopted children in the school environment and suggestions for creating a school free of bias about adoption.

Session to examine the adopted child's school experience Families with Children from China Central Maryland and the Center for Adoption Support and Education will sponsor a workshop, "Adoption and Your Child's World at School," from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at Owen Brown Community Center, 6800 Cradlerock Way, Columbia. Topics to be discussed include how children understand adoption at different ages, factors that affect adopted children in the school environment and suggestions for creating a school free of bias about adoption.

Frechetter O. Bell, a retired Baltimore public school administrator and founder of an alumni organization that raises scholarship money, died of colon cancer Dec. 3 at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. She was 66. Born Frechetter O. Cunningham and raised in Roxboro, N.C., she graduated from Person County High School there before moving with her family to Turners Station. She earned a bachelor's degree in education in 1961 from Coppin State College and a master's degree in education from what is now Towson University.

MY 9-YEAR-OLD daughter asked me for a gun. She asked me for a toy gun -- "a fake one that looks real," she said. She saw the look on my face and added, "Mom, I don't want to hurt anybody. I just want the kids at school to leave me alone." My daughter attends Fort Worthington Elementary School. She is a quiet, shy youngster with wire-framed glasses and a slightly awkward way about her. She loves to read and speaks with excellent diction. She's less worldly than many kids are and more childlike.

CATHY SMITH high-stepped, swung her arms wide and marched to the music. "March it! Swing it! BIG march! All right!" she called out to the 40 or so children in Worthington Elementary School's gymnasium. Smith, who coordinates community projects for the Howard County YMCA, was leading a children's aerobics class at the school's first Health Fair on Thursday evening. The children followed her movements -- more or less. They hopped and jumped until the music stopped. Some joined hands and spun in pairs.