Laurie Taylor-Mitchell, parent of a Loch Raven High School junior, urged members of the Baltimore County Council to visit schools in their districts and lobby strenuously for whatever improvements those schools might need.

At the council session Monday, she criticized education administrators for their failure to address longstanding infrastructure problems, such as the crowded cafeteria at Randallstown High, where students buy lunch from vending machines because they cannot get through a cafeteria line in time to return to class. She decried the numerous portable classrooms that force children into long lines at bathrooms and the numerous schools that still lack air-conditioning. "It will take compassion and courage, from all of you, to insist on finding more revenue for school infrastructure,"she told the council. "The status quo is untenable. Every child attending public school in this county should have a classroom with a healthy learning environment."

-- Mary Gail Hare