Baltimore County school board members voted unanimously Tuesday night to adopt a $1.23 billion budget with an amendment that would add two more auditors at a cost of $190,000. Board members said they believed the existing auditors had been burdened recently with additional duties that involved checking out tips from the public. The school system recently out-sourced a hotline for tipsters to call to report problems with the school system. The new system has created a higher volume of reports to be checked out, according to school board members. School board president Larry Schmidt said legislators had asked that an internal auditor to report to the board. The board already has several auditors.

The budget amendments were passed shortly after Dulaney High School parents came forward to protest the increase in class sizes this year as a result of cuts to teaching positions at the high school. The board cut nearly 200 teaching positions in the middle and high schools last year, but did not cut administrators. The 2013 budget will add teaching positions in schools where enrollment is expected to increase and cuts about 45 non-classroom jobs. The budget does not restore any teaching positions in the high schools, however.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 6:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

On Tuesday, the search firm hired to help find Baltimore County a new superintendent reported it has 20 applications that are either in hand or started, and discussions are underway with other applicants as well. While that number may be low so far, it is still higher than the applicant pool for Orange County, Florida, a much larger district than Baltimore County.

 The question that wasn't answered is how experienced and qualified the people who have applied are so far. No hints came on that score at the school board meeting. A report from the search firm said that members of the public want a new leader who is a good communicator, is ethical and can bring people from diverse backgrounds together. People with a wide range of perspectives - from students to administrators, business people, legislators and teaachers - emphasized the need for the new superintendent to be able to handle the diversity in schools from Dundalk to Towson.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 5:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Tonight, Baltimore County held the first of three open forums to allow the public to comment on the characteristics they would like to see in the next superintendent. Joe A. Hairston is retiring in June after 12 years as superintendent. Consultants from the search firm were there to listen, but no education officials were there. The public comments were allowed to be confidential, although no one seemed to mind being quoted. Only a dozen or so people showed up, but they represented many different groups. In general, they said they believed there were many great teachers in the system, but that they wanted changes. Several individuals said they wanted an open minded, compassionate, ethical superintendent who was a "people person" and who would have courage to try new things and stand up to elected officials.

A number of parents, including Julie Sugar, the president of the PTA at Loch Raven High School, and parent Laurie Taylor Mitchell, said they wanted a superintendent who would address the lack of air-conditioning and other facilities issues that have plagued the system for decades because of its aging buildings. They said they want a superintendent who will stand up for what schools need during budget time rather than submitting a budget that is acceptable to the county executive.

Continue reading "Public forum for new superintendent search " »

Posted by Liz Bowie at 8:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Renee Foose, the deputy superintendent for Baltimore County Schools, has applied for the superintendent's job in Orange County, Florida, the tenth largest district in the nation. Foose's name is one of 21 applicants the Orange County Public Schools have made public. The list will be narrowed to semi-finalists by the end of the month. A county school spokeswoman said the interviews with finalists would be conducted in February.

Foose is a former Montgomery County school official who was hired by Baltimore County last April at a salary of $214,000.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

As reported by my colleague Liz Bowie: Baltimore County reported the highest suspension rate of any Maryland district apart from the Eastern Shore in the last school year, despite its efforts to focus on discipline that doesn't require students to miss classroom time.

About 10,000 students were suspended — or about one in every 10 — a rate that exceeds Baltimore City, where suspensions have been significantly reduced under CEO Andrés Alonso. The county is also noting disproportionate numbers of African American and special education students, which experts said county officials said was incredibly problematic. 

Note: However, after years of declines the city school system's suspension rates rose last year as a result of an uptick of attacks on students and teachers, as well as insubordination. There's also been a debate about the crackdown on suspensions in the city, as teachers say that students and sometimes even parents have been rather opportunistic in using the the policy against educators.

As Liz's story pointed out: "The issue has prompted fierce debate — among education advocates and at school board meetings. Proponents defend suspensions as a time-honored and effective punishment, while opponents point to recent research showing that suspended students are at higher risk for dropping out, repeating a grade and entering the criminal justice system."

So, what do you make of the county's suspension trends? Is the county heading down a road that requires the same uproar that the city endured years ago?

Continue reading "What to make of Baltimore County's rising suspensions? " »

Posted by Erica Green at 3:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

The Baltimore County school board is asking for the public to comment on what characteristics are most important in a new superintendent. The school board is hoping to hire a new leader for the district by next spring to replace outgoing superintendent Joe A. Hairston. 

 The first attempt to gather public comment is through an online survey on the school district's website. The survey is located on the lower right hand side of the home page and asks questions that are essentially the same whether you are a teacher, parent or administrator. 
The survey will be available on the website for several weeks.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 5:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

In an unusually sharp exchange, school board members  disagreed at Tuesday night's public board meeting over data that apparently showed high numbers of suspensions at some county high schools. Board member Ramona Johnson had requested in advance of the meeting that school administrators provide the board with data on suspension rates broken down by high school. The data was not made available to the public during the meeting, although a public spokeswoman said she would provide it later.

Board member Cornelia Bright Gordon then asked a series of questions that tried to pick apart the meaning of the suspension data and asked for additional numbers from Barbara Walker, who is in charge of county high schools.

But another member, Michael Collins, said he was not concerned with the suspension data and wanted to make the staff and principals in the room aware that "you have one on the board" that supports their decision to suspend students. He said high school students are given a handbook with the rules and that if they break the rules, they should be suspended. "I am not the least bit worried about suspensions," he said, adding "keep doing it."

Bright Gordon said she felt attacked and found his remarks "demeaning and inappropriate." She said she had the right to ask questions.

Collins shot back: "I am not attacking you or any other member. I have a distinctly different point of view." Finally, he added, "I am not attacking you one bit and get over it."

Posted by Liz Bowie at 6:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Baltimore County Public Schools have backed away from a plan to let a for-profit college planning company offer free seminars at every high school in the county this year.

The Nevada-based College Access Online was scheduled to give 50 seminars over the course of the winter and spring at each high school, according to documents obtained by The Baltimore Sun. Parents and students in grades seven through 12 were to be invited to the seminars, which acccording to a schedule obtained by The Sun, were to begin at Hereford High School on Dec. 12.

A memo about the seminars was distributed to guidance counselors and principals in the past several weeks instructing them to review the schedule for the seminars to make sure the cafeteria or auditorium at their school was free. The memo said schools would be given scripts for email and voicemail blasts that could be sent to all parents. The seminars also were discussed with principals in a meeting.

But Roger Plunkett, the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, said yesterday: “Some people sent out a memo that was way too premature.” Plunkett said the system will not go forward with the plan. He said, “They were so many questions, so many things to consider. We have to look at all the school system’s policies and procedures.”
 

Continue reading "Baltimore County backs away from college planning seminars " »

Posted by Liz Bowie at 5:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

At a meeting that was marked by unusually long public discussion, the Baltimore County school board members gave a clear message to school system staff on Tuesday night that they were not pleased with the waste of money on textbooks and rewriting of curriculum. Since the story published two weeks ago, school board members had clearly done some homework on their own to try to figure out what had caused mistakes to be made.

Board member Ramona Johnson said that she believes the curriculum revisions were meant to be limited to revisions that would include the novels that had just been purchased by the system. A review of what was being used in schools at the time indicated that students in some schools were exposed to the classics while others were not. The school system wanted to make sure there was equity, but a lack of leadership led to mistakes. Soon the teachers hired to write curriculum were setting off on a different course and doing a major rewrite, she believes.

Lawrence Schmidt, the school board president, had gone through years of board minutes and press releases from the Maryland State Department of Education to determine that the board had not been told about any curricula changes since 2008 and that statewide changes to the standards were widely known long before the county began to rewrite curricula.

In addition, it was revealed that the textbook purchases were made even before the curriculum was rewritten, a process that goes against the policies, according to the staff.

Both Johnson and Schmidt concluded that there was a failure in the chain of command and "resources were wasted." Schmidt said: "Our concern is to make sure the proceedures, protocals, processes are followed so that the taxpayers money is spent wisely."

Posted by Liz Bowie at 4:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Anger over the lack of air-conditioning in Baltimore County high schools appears to be growing. At a recent school board meeting, a group of Pikesville High School parents and students came to ask the administration to consider placing small units in each classroom. About 45 percent of the county's schools are air conditioned, according to state statistics, the second lowest percentage in the state, just below Garrett County, the western most county in the state and one with the coolest temperatures.

Last month, a group of parents from Middleborough Elementary School went to a Board of Estimates meeting in Annapolis to try to block the county from spending money on a list of projects, none of which included air-conditioning a school.

Continue reading "More Baltimore County parents upset by lack of air-conditioning " »

Posted by Liz Bowie at 3:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski, who is often credited for his efforts to produce minority graduates in science, technology, engineering and math, will be featured this Sunday on CBS’ “60 Minutes.”

You can watch a preview of the interview here.

In it, Hrabowski says, “I don’t care how smart you are, nothing takes the place of hard work.”

Hrabowski has been in the national spotlight numerous times over the past few years.

He recently received an academic leadership award from the Carnegie Corp. that came with a $500,000 grant. He is using the money to start the Freeman A. Hrabowski Fund for Academic Innovation, which will support creative endeavors in teaching and entrepreneurship on campus.

And in 2009, he was named one of America’s 10 best college presidents by Time magazine.

Posted by Jennifer Badie at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Baltimore County spent $5 million on a curriiculum and books even as the state was moving toward new standards. A state official warned all the school districts not to rewrite curriculum back in the spring of 2010, but the school system went ahead anyway. In fact, no warning should have been needed. Back in 2009, I began writing stories about the state signing on to the common core standards. Even though the standards weren't yet written, it was clear that Maryland's curriculum was about to change.  The question now is how many of the books that Barbara Dezmon picked out can be used with the common core and if any of the curriculum can be salvaged or is worth salvaging. 

Posted by Liz Bowie at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Baltimore County's overcrowding issue is only getting worse, according to figures released at last night's school board meeting. Elementary schools across the system are now at 100.12 percent capacity. So while the problem is concentrated in the northern area of the county along the York Road corridor, redrawing school lines would not help the situation. You'd have ever seat filled in every school.

Enrollment is still growing, and at a faster clip than expected. This September, 1,443 more elementary students turned up than last year, far more than the 358 the school system expected.

The total school enrollment went from 104,331 to 105,195 in the past year. Middle school enrollment ticked up 139 students and high school was down 648 students.   

Posted by Liz Bowie at 9:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Baltimore County, which has long been known for its excellence in the arts, swept the Maryland Art Teacher of the Year awards this year.

Laura Patacca-Kerr of Oakleigh Elementary School, Cecilia Terlizzi of Sudbrook Magnet Middle School and Ryan Twentey of Parkville High School each won for the elementary, middle and high school divisions.
Michael Bare was given the Retired Art Teacher award. Bare left Hereford High School last year after being excessed.

Linda Popp, the county's visual arts coordinator, said state awards are often given to teachers who make strong contributions to their communities as well as their schools. This year's winners mentored colleagues, coordinated exhibits and found other ways to take art into the community.
"Baltimore County has a history of having a really strong art program," she said. The county has outstanding art teachers,  as well as a very strong art curriculum that builds from first to 12th grade. The arts in the county have not been eliminated as they have in some other counties.
"We have a strong artistic community of teachers. They are artists. The collaborate with colleagues."
 Popp said teachers are given opportunities for professional develop and to mentor other teachers. "If we are taking care of the teachers then they are taking care of the kids," Popp said. "All kids deserve the best art."
 County art students have been national winners in the YoungArts competition sponsored by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. YoungArts selects only about 150 students from nine disciplines across the nation to participate in a free week long series of workshops each year. County students are also often chosen as regional and national winnners in the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.
What has made a difference to many students is the county's approach to teaching. Once students have a foundation, he said, teachers allow them to explore their own "personal aesthetic" rather than trying to shape the student's work. "We would not try to change their work but would find other artists that work in that genre," he said.  "Mentally, they start to understand that art is visual communication of an idea....The ultimate goal is to develop their artistic voice." Bare, who is an artist himself, said he is constantly amazed at the dialogue he has with his student artists.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 2:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

The Baltimore County school board may speed up its search for a new superintendent by using a contract Montgomery County employed to hire a well known search firm, according to school board chair Lawrence Schmidt. 

Montgomery County hired a new superintendent this year using the search firm, Hazard, Young, Attea Associates. The same firm was used to hire superintendents in Frederick and Carroll counties and is involved in the search for a new state superintendent. Baltimore County used the firm 12 years ago when it hired Joe A. Hairston. 

 The county board first intended to go through the more lengthy process of soliciting bids from firms around the country, but Schmidt said the board could save time and money if it piggybacked on the Montgomery contract. Schmidt said the board needs more of its questions answered by the firm before it can decide whether to hire Hazard.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 9:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

 County Executive Kevin Kamenetz in a meeting with the Perry Hall Improvement Association said he thought parents wanted schools to have golden doorknobs. The comments, reported by Patch, have been making the rounds of blogs and Facebook page postings.  On Wednesday at the Board of Public Works meeting, Comptroller Peter Franchot referred to the remark while criticizing Kamenetz for not using any of the $7 million in school construction dollars from the alcohol tax for air-conditioning in schools. The Comptroller, who has been mentioned as a candidate for governor, has been putting heat on the county to improve its climate control.

But Don Mohler, chief of staff for Kamenetz, said the county executive has used the golden doorknob reference on several occasions to express his concern that if the county switched from an appointed to an elected school board, the board might not be as fiscally prudent and would want golden doorknobs. But in a county where most schools aren't air-conditioned and class sizes have swelled this year with the cutting of 200 teacher positions, parents view the remark as out of touch.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Perhaps it is a sign of the times that a worn out, old school slated to be torn down next year is now being fought over by the public as the answer to overcrowding in the Towson area. The question, among parents at least, doesn't seem to be whether it should be torn down, but what it should become.

Carver, which was built as the first African American high school during desegregation, has had many lives and it appears to be on verge of having more. But the overcrowding in the central area is just one of the many facilities problems facing the county.

  Parents of Middleborough School students went to Annapolis yesterday to protest the inequities in a school system where less than half the schools still aren't air-conditioned. The students, who couldn't have been more eloquent, said they felt sweaty and tired when they went to school in hot classrooms. The Essex parents have taken their case to the County Executive and the school system

Continue reading "Middleborough Elementary parents and students fight for air-conditioning " »

Posted by Liz Bowie at 11:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Continue reading "Dezmon says get rid of AIM if you don't like it" »

Posted by Liz Bowie at 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Despite all the attention that Superintendent Joe Hairston has gotten in the last week, the question we will never answer is whether Hairston really wanted another four year contract or not. He told me he never wanted another contract last Thursday, but that was after Patch had written a short story that said the board had voted not to give him another contract.  Previously, he had told my colleague, Childs Walker, that he thought it was "unlikely" he would want another contract, but he didn't rule it out.  Sources said Hairston never made his intensions clear to the board before they voted just before school began not to offer him another four year contract. The question becomes why Hairston waited a month to make an announcement after he was informed of the board decision and after he had gotten advice earller this summer from both Kevin Kamenetz and Nancy Grasmick to get out in front of the decision.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 7:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Would you like to know the salary of that outstanding teacher your child has this year or what teh colleague sitting next to you at Greenwood is making? Or maybe you are curious about how well the bus drivers are compensated. We've just posted a database with the salaries of all 17,000 employees of the Baltimore County school system  next to a story on average teacher salaries in the county. We aren't picking on the county schools. We have databases of lots of government employees online already.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

I emailed Joe A. Hairston this afternoon and asked him whether he might want to comment on his future plans. He sent back an email that said he had never intended to seek another term. That was interesting given the fact that he wasn't willing to comment earlier on the week and told WBAL he had until February 1 to announce a decision. So I wrote a story saying he didn't plan to stay past June.  He has not yet talked to school board members, his staff or the county executive, so I was a bit surprised at the response.

Read the full story here. 

Posted by Liz Bowie at 9:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

From Baltimore County government reporter Alison Knezevich: 

Baltimore County’s task force on the selection of school board members is set to meet today at 4 p.m. at the Randallstown Community Center, after a controversial meeting last month.

In September, the board took an unexpected vote on the selection issue, ruling out having at least a partially elected board. Members who support a hybrid board weren’t at the meeting to weigh in. The group could reverse the vote today.

One task force member, former County Executive Jim Smith, sent a final proposal to the task force earlier this week. Smith wants to reduce board members’ terms from five years to three, and cut the board’s size from 11 members to nine. Smith, who opposes an elected school board and called for the vote last month, recommends that the governor appoint all members after getting suggestions from a nominating committee.  Click here to read the entire proposal, which was sent to The Sun.

Posted by Jennifer Badie at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

A recent unannounced vote by a legislative task force that ruled out changing the Baltimore County school board to at least partly elected is being protested by four County Council members.

Members of the School Board Task Force abruptly decided Friday against recommending the addition of any elected board members. The group was created to explore ways that the recently embattled school board could be more transparent and responsive to the public.

County lawmakers said in a letter Thursday that they would like to see the action reversed and a new vote taken. The letter signed by Vicki Almond, David Marks, Todd Huff and Cathy Bevins expressed "disappointment" that there was no advanced notice of a meeting, the vote did not appear on the meeting's agenda, and three voting members were absent, including a County Council representative.

"The issue of direct elections is central to any discussion of school board reform," the letter read. "There are different viewpoints among members of the county council, but one thing is certain: our representative should have been given the opportunity to vote."

To read the full letter, click here.

Posted by Erica Green at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Baltimore County's task force on the selection of school board members unexpectedly voted today against recommending a hybrid board. Some members say opponents forced through a vote when they knew the vote would go their way. Several members who supported a hybrid board were not present at the meeting. More details will appear later tonight at the Baltimore Sun website and in the paper tomorrow.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 7:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

I received an email from Dundalk High School's salutatorian yesterday and I wanted to share with readers what he wrote after reading my story in Sunday's paper about Dundalk's turnaround.

Dear Ms. Bowie:

  Let me give you a little background about myself before I launch into the real reason I am writing you. I was the Salutatorian of the Class of 2011 of Dundalk High School. I took at an FBLA team to the National Competition this year in Orlando, Florida under the tutelage of Mr. Patrick Holt. I received several scholarships from Dundalk and attended the CTE dinner for my work in conjunction with my education at Sollers. I am by no means the average DHS student, but I still have a passion for the school and the teachers that have so greatly impacted my life. I am currently studying Church Ministries at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida.

As a recent graduate of Dundalk High, I can tell you personally how your article on its improvement has impacted me. I started as a freshman at DHS in the fall of 2007, a short whilte before the restructuring was ordered. I would simply like to take a moment and let you know from the perspective of a student that has seen both sides of the restructuring about the incredible change that has taken place in that institution.

Continue reading "Recent graduate of Dundalk says the school changed in four years" »

Posted by Liz Bowie at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Lawrence Schmidt, school board president, is responding to criticism that the board has insulated itself from the public by making two changes.

First, the board will travel around the county to hold its meetings. The next meeting, on September 6, will be at Eastern Technical High School and the following meeting will move to New Town High School.

The board also will be changing its policy to allow public comment at the beginning of every meeting rather than the end of every other meeting. Schmidt said this will give the public a chance to comment on a policy before the votes, rather than after. 

Posted by Liz Bowie at 6:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

At last night's Baltimore County school board meeting, administrators said that if more students continue to enroll at West Towson this fall, they may cap the enrollment. Such an action would mean that families who move into the area zoned for West Towson would not be allowed to go there, but would be sent to another school. West Towson, which opened last year primarily to relieve crowding at Rodgers Forge Elementary, is apparently now the hot school to go to. So this action, if taken, could really frustrate parents. Of course, West Towson was the school that parents fought two years ago to keep their students out of because they wanted them at the familiar Rodgers Forge.

In any event, West Towson now has 50 students more than it was built to handle, and perhaps more in the coming days will show up to register. But for safety reasons, the school cannot add trailers in the back. There's very little space on the site.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Members of the public seem to be encouraged that the new president and vice-president of the Baltimore County school board are trying to be more accessible and transparent. Last night parents applauded the fact that the board voted to adopt a new policy for the use of facilities that is a far cry from the one that caused so much outrage six months ago. Stoneleigh parents also were happy that their school is fifth on the list to get money for a new addition.

But what didn't get applause was the new security measures that include rearranging the furniture so that a barrier could be put up between the public and the board.
The furniture was rearranged so that the press table is a little farther away (with a better view, I have to add). In addition, the chairs open to the public are set back farther from where the board sits.

The barrier is made of poles with black tape, the type usually seen at airports that herd people through security or into a line in front of airline counters. The symbolism wasn't lost on two people who spoke during the public comment time and thought the  barriers were yet another way to keep the board separated from the public. Members of the public have already been critical of the fact that emails to board members are screened by the administration first.

One new board member, Michael Collins, suggested that the security barriers would never keep the public away. Anyone could knock them over, he said. He's right. So why put them up?
I asked.

Continue reading "Rearranging the furniture in Baltimore County " »

Posted by Liz Bowie at 2:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

The Maryland General Assembly task force to look into whether the county should move from an appointed school board to an elected or hybrid one met informally tonight for a spirited discussion of the pros and cons of each option. No decisions were made and no votes taken, and it is clear that there are still deep divisions among the members as well as a number of members who have not made up their minds.

While Sen. Bobby Zirkin is a strong proponent of a hybrid board, other members are not as sure that an elected board would be better. Here are some of the major issues the members of the task force discussed for more than two hours:

Continue reading "Task force debates merits of hybrid, elected and appointed board" »

Posted by Liz Bowie at 9:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

In today's Baltimore Sun I write about how the county school system has hired 35 more people at an annual salary cost of about $1.9 million while cutting nearly 200 teaching positions. What has made some parents upset is that the school system cut teachers first when it needed to find some cost savings, rather than spreading the pain around the system. The second question that might be asked is whether there are programs that could have been cut in order to save classroom teaching positions. The system currently has 36 vacancies, and presumably could freeze those jobs, or at least some of them, in order to cut back on the teaching positions they need to eliminate. But by August 1, most of the damage will be done because after that date, teachers who were in their jobs cannot return to their schools. So all of the excessed teachers will have been removed from their schools and the student schedules will have been finished for the coming year. All excessed teachers who are put back into a school because there aren't places for them elsewhere - and there are still 20 of those left at this moment - will end up being one of the overstaffed teachers. The term overstaffed means that you can't be given a class because you could have to be yanked out and put into a different classroom if there's a vacancy somewhere else in the system.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 1:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Baltimore Sun reporter Raven Hill has posted a item about the last public hearing on whether legislation should be passed to make the appointed school board a hybrid or elected school board.

A task force is looking into the issue and will report back to the legislature next year.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 6:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Baltimore County appears to be shaking up some of its top administrators. 

Tom Rhoades, the executive director of research and accountability, for the Baltimore County public schools is no longer working for the school system. Word is that he was given 30 days notice that he would have to leave.

Michael Goodhues, chief information officer for the Office of Technology, was moved to be the fiscal officer in the Department of Fiscal Services.

I haven't been able to learn why the changes, but the school system did just get a new deputy superintendent.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 6:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

From Sun reporter Raven L. Hill, who attended last night's Baltimore County school board meeting:

New Baltimore County Board of Education president Lawrence Schmidt addressed some of the  criticism that’s been directed at the panel over the last several months over a lack of transparency.

"I think I speak for all of the board members when I say that we hear you," he said. "We hear complaints about transparency, accountability, accessibility and I will give you my pledge that we will work and I will work to try to improve on those things in the next year that I am president to improve the board’s function and its relationship with its constituencies and its students.

"With that being said, I guess I would say that I think there’s always a certain amount of confusion about the role of the board. … There are many occasions where we are prohibited either under law or ethically from commenting on certain issues that may come before us. So, please don’t take our silence as a symptom of not caring, but knowing that we are bound by the rules and regulations and laws by which we are governed."

What do you think about the school board's transparency in the past and going forward, now that new leadership has been put into place?

Posted by Jennifer Badie at 3:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

The task force charged with exploring a new structure for the Baltimore County school board began meeting last week, taking comments from the public on how the recently embattled group could better respond to residents' concerns.

According to a story by our Baltimore County reporter Raven Hill, the recent frustrations with the county school board spilled over at the meeting, with residents sounding off about the lack of accountability and transparency of the board. Still, there is no consensus about whether the board should be a hybrid of elected and governor-appointed members.

The next public hearings will be held on July 25 at the Towson library, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Comments may also be sent by mail or email to state Sen. Kathy Klausmeier's office.

Posted by Erica Green at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

I got a letter, yes a snail mail letter, recently from a parent in Baltimore County, who is suggesting a way for the school system to save money. She has three children in the same elementary school. She said she received three separate letters mailed to her house on the week of May 16th from the school system - one for each child. Each letter contained a form letter for her to fill out in order to update current contact information. Apparently, the letters were sent out around the school system, because a relative of hers with children in the southwest area received the same letters.

She thinks this was a waste of paper and stamps. If the parents of every child were sent letters, she calculates the school system spent $45,900 or more on postage, about the salary of a beginnning teacher. And wouldn't there be a faster better way to get the same informaiton updated? Perhaps the letter could have come home with the mailing of the fourth quarter report cards, she wrote.

Continue reading "Every penny or postage stamp counts in Baltimore County " »

Posted by Liz Bowie at 5:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

A group of parents working with the county schools to improve the lunch menu for children has had some small victories this year. Susanna DeRocco spoke before the school board last night to say that the county had agreed to stop putting whipped topping, which is really whipped high fructose corn syrup, on fruit and other items it serves kids. The other change is that schools won't pass off jello as fruit.

The group, called the Baltimore County Healthy Kids Coalition, has also obtained from BCPS the ingredient list for most of its entrees.  DeRocco said: "Because this information is not currently on the BCPS website and because we received a number of requests for this information, the Coalition posted the ingredient list, along with commentary from a registered dietician to help parents and students make more informed decisions about the menu selections offered."

The website for the Coalition has more information.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 6:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Laurie Taylor Mitchell, a parent who has been on the war path about the lack of air-conditioning at Ridgely Middle School and other schools around Baltimore County, sent out an email this morning with details of just how hot it is today in school.

Here it is:

The latest from Ridgely Middle School classrooms, Thursday, June 9:

7:38 a.m., one classroom is 86 degrees, without any students yet.

At 8:28 a.m. another classroom is already 88 degrees with 58% humidity, resulting in a Heat Index of 94 degrees.  School will be in session for almost four more hours. 

These are the conditions frequently endured by these children and teachers at Ridgely on hot days, for nearly four years now. 
Do you know what the classroom temperatures are in your child’s school if it does not have air conditioning?

 I have an update:

 According to an email I received this weekend, the temperatures at Ridgely were 85 degrees or above for most of the week and heat index rose to 116 one day.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

From Sun Reporter Mary Gail Hare: 

Baltimore County schools Superintendent Joe A. Hairston told legislators that the district may have been too rigid in enforcing a policy on use of school facilities that led to some fundraisers being canceled, one of numerous topics he addressed during a meeting Tuesday.

Hairston described the meeting held at school headquarters in Towson, scheduled at the county delegation's request, "a courtesy and a good-faith effort to reaffirm our transparency." The school system has come under fire recently from legislators and parents for a perceived lack of openness.

Read how Hairston's addressed the county school system's recent controversies in today's story .

Posted by Erica Green at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

On Tuesday, Baltimore County's superintendent, Joe A. Hairston, is expected to meet with the county delegation to the Maryland General Assembly. The meeting will be at 4 p.m. at Greenwood and is expected to be open to the public. Hairston will be answering questions the delegation asked him during the session in a brief meeting. The delegation asked for a longer meeting when they had more time. I will guess that cuts in teacher positions are likely to be one of the subjects up for discussion. With high school schedules soon to be completed, Hairston doesn't have much time to put positions back into the high schools. 

Posted by Liz Bowie at 7:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

The county council released its budget message today. The council members, most of whom are new this year, said they were frustrated with the school system on a number of fronts, but they stopped short of taking any action to cut administrative costs in the school system.

Some members had suggested to Superintendent Joe A. Hairston that he look for cuts in administrative dollars in the budget rather than move 196 teachers, mostly in the high schools, as well as not fund another 55 positions that would be needed to maintain class sizes.

The chairman of the council, John Olsweski said "that the state law places many roadblocks in the path of a local government's demand for accountability for the funds it provides for its public schools."

He said that even though the county is required to supply the funds for schools "accountability for the efficent use of these funds is, sadly, not a part of the equation."

Posted by Liz Bowie at 5:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

A lawmaker suggested in an interview for a story today that Hairston's cuts to teaching positions was a personal swipe at the teachers' union that has so angered him in the past couple of years. Perhaps his judgement is now clouded, he said.

I don't know what Hairston's motivation is or what the school board's thought process is because they haven't been willing to come before the public and explain why they decided to cut teachers before administrative positions. But tomorrow we will find out as Hairston gets a grilling before the County Council to say whether or not he and the board have decided to find money to fund some of the positions. There's lots at stake for kids, teachers, parents and the elected officials have argued. But there's' also a lot at stake for the board and Hairston, who are both likely to come under increasing criticism if they don't make an effort to restore cuts.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 8:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

There's a lot of reshuffling of principals and assistant principals going on in Baltimore County. Tuesday night the school board approved the transfer of Dulaney's principal, Patrick S. McCusker, to Franklin and Lansdowne's principal, Lynda Whitlock, to Dulaney.

In the dance of the elementary school principals: Susan Smith is moving from Middlesex to Edgemere; Yasmin Stokes is moving from Powhatan to Edmondson Heights; Cheryl Jones is moving from Riverview to Middlesex; Mary Maddox is moving from Johnnycake To Riverview and David Parker is moving from Edmondson Heights to Powhatan. Stacey Durkovic, the principal at Prettyboy is going to bcome the principal at Carney and Robert Findley, principal at Edgemere, goes to Fifth District.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 6:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

A Baltimore County middle school teacher contacted me today to say that her paycheck had a message from School Superintendent Joe A. Hairston on the pay check stub. The stub read: "Message from Dr. Hairston: Stay focused."

She found this puzzling.  Today, she said, she was hoping for a nice message wishing her a good break. "Times are tough in BCPS," she said. Teachers are being excessed, class sizes are about to rise, she said. The MSA testing is done for the year, so even a small thank you would have been appreciated, she said.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 6:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

From our colleague Raven L. Hill, who covers Baltimore County government:

UPDATED at 7 p.m. Tuesday:

Baltimore County Council members had a message Tuesday for the local school system: Cut back on top-level administrative positions.

With the county’s proposed budget scheduled for release in a few days, Council Chairman John Olszewski Sr. had tough questions at the council’s work-session meeting for Baltimore County Public Schools budget director George Sarris.

Olszewski questioned Sarris, who was at the meeting for an unrelated issue, about the anticipated savings from eliminating more than 196 teacher positions, saying that he’d been told the district will save more than the estimated $15.8 million.

“If that’s the case,” Olszewski said, “then I want to know where that money is going.”

Sarris said that was not the case, adding that an average salary of $61,336 was used to calculate the savings. The jobs will be cut through attrition, not firings or layoffs.

However, Olszewski, an Edgemere Democrat, also expressed concern that the district was not doing enough to keep its costs in check, saying that long-vacant administrative positions should be frozen. Citing the recent hiring of Deputy Superintendent Renee Foose, whose position had been open for nine months, the council chairman also suggested that the district hold off on filling a liberal arts director position and deputy area superintendent for middle schools. Foose will be paid $214,000 annually.

“If we’re going to have less teachers then the common-sense approach should be less administrative individuals as well,” he said. “If sacrifices have to be made then they have to be made all the way around, not just in particular groups.”

The local teachers union and some members of the county’s state legislative delegation have called for the school system to restore some teaching jobs by cutting back on administrative costs. County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, a Democrat, has said the county can’t afford to restore the positions in his budget plan, which is scheduled for introduction this week.

Councilman Kenneth N. Oliver, a Randallstown Democrat, recommended combining some top-level positions, and asked Sarris whether the district is using operating funds for some testing and assessment materials that could be purchased with grants. Sarris replied that the district was not.

Reached after the meeting, schools Superintendent Joe A. Hairston said the district has implemented numerous cost-saving measures over the past year, such as not adding new programs.

The school system restructured the executive team to reduce the number of top-level administrators from 12 to 9 and gave teachers raises, Hairston said.

“We have not cut any teachers. There have been no layoffs of teachers, there have been no furloughs of teachers,” he said. “We’ve been consistent with our message since the beginning of our budget presentation in January. The budget was designed to preserve teaching positions and programs, and we used $15 million to pass on salary increments to teachers and staff.”

Olszweski said he wants any excess savings to go toward keeping teacher jobs.

“We know we can’t restore all of those positions, but if we can restore a few I think that’s heading in the right direction,” Olszewski said.

The school district and council will meet next month to discuss the budget.

Posted by Jennifer Badie at 3:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

There's a late development in the dispute over cuts to high school teaching positions. Tonight Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz wrote to state legislators saying the county can't come up with the money to fund the nearly 200 positions that have been cut. He blames the county school system, in part, because it appears to have underestimated by $9 million how much it will cost to fund employee health care next school year. And, without going into all of the details of the Thornton funding formula and costs the state is shifting to counties, he says the bottom line is that education funding is not going up enough to offset the cost of an increase of 600 students next fall.  I filed a story on line now and in tomorrow's paper that explains the ramifications that are being felt at Lansdowne High School in southwest Baltimore County.  

Parents, students and teachers across the county had hoped that Kamenetz would put pressure on the school board and School Superintendent Joe A. Hairston to perhaps cut some adminstrative positions instead of teachers in schools. Behind the scenes, school employees and parents began to think that a bargain could be struck. 

Continue reading "Kamenetz tells legislators he will not restore 196 teaching positions " »

Posted by Liz Bowie at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

After having called School Superintendent Joe A. Hairston on the carpet during two public meetings, delegates to the Maryland General Assembly have agreed to meet behind closed doors with him tomorrow morning, according to The Towson Times.

Delegates had asked Hairston to explain why he is cutting teaching positions and not administrative positions in next year's budget. Parent Laurie Taylor-Mitchell said in an email that she hopes the legislators will let the public know the result of the meeting.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 3:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Despite the best efforts of parents who lobbied politicians to put money in the budget this year for air conditioning for Ridgely Middle, it will be September before the students and faculty there will feel any cool breeze.

It isn't clear what has gone wrong, according to Julie Sugar, the former PTA president at Ridgely. She says that everything seemed to be on schedule for the school to have the chillers installed by spring. The bids went over the course of the fall for several schools and were voted on by the board. Ten schools are supposed to get air-conditioning this year, and several contracts have been approved by the board.  The board approved Ridgely's contract in January.

Sugar said parents were "shocked" when they learned in the past week that installation might not be finished until September because temperatures have been over 100 on some days. "We are very confused. We have asked a lot of people questions," she said.

Charles Herndon, a spokesman for the school system, said "it was a timing issue."

Posted by Liz Bowie at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Students at Towson High School have planned to stand against proposed teacher and class cuts in Baltimore County schools on Monday, by protesting for county lawmakers, including County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, to intervene.

The rally is scheduled to take place from 4:30p.m. - 5:30 p.m. outside of Kamenetz's office, at the Old Courthouse in Towson, which is located at 400 Washington St.

Baltimore County high schools are beginning to decide which classes — likely the electives and small Advanced Placement courses — they won't be able to afford next year, as they begin eliminating as much as 10 percent of their faculty.

The reduction to the teaching force is being felt hardest at the high schools, where class sizes will rise from an average of 26 this year to 29 next year, according to budget documents. Elementaries, which the system protected from cuts through second grade, stand to gain five teachers overall because enrollment is growing. Cuts to middle school teachers will be larger than the elementaries but smaller than the high schools.

According to a Facebook event, created by two Towson High school students, the mission of the rally is:

Posted by Erica Green at 6:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Manuel Rodriguez. an assistant superintendent in charge of the middle schools in Baltimore County, is a finalist for a job of superintendent in a school system of 1,300 students in Trinidad, Colorado. Here's the story in the local paper talking about interviews with the three finalists. 

Posted by Liz Bowie at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

In the wake of my colleague Liz Bowie's story that revealed the $214,000 salary of a recently hired Baltimore County schools deputy superintendent, the backlash from taxpayers and lawmakers has been-a-brewing.

There has been a strong reaction to the salary, which comes as the county is leaving teaching positions vacant, while the county's administrative costs were found to be among the highest in the state.

On Friday, we wrote about how several county lawmakers expressed their concern to county schools superintendent Joe Hairston. They said that county residents understandably find his filling a $214,000 position in this economic climate "appalling."

They also demanded that Hairston address how communications team chooses to deal with the media--namely that it takes a month to get one salary, and that access to information about taxpayer-funded activity must be made in writing. Other media outlets have also made public their conflicts with the county school system.

It will be interesting to hear if Hairston responds, and what his explanations will be. I'm sure Liz will keep you all updated. 

Posted by Erica Green at 4:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

First, the news is out. The salary of the new deputy superintendent that Baltimore County took a month to release came in an e-mail late Wednesday from the county attorney. Embedded among 291 salaries was Renee Foose's at $214,000.

And for those county employees who make over $80,000 a year and work outside of a school, I know you got an email from Phyllis Reese saying that the school system had to release the data. And she is right, they do. What she didn't mention was that the system didn't release any names, just job titles. Second, The Sun has been collecting the same data for lots of government agencies. So no, I don't plan on publishing everyone's job title and salary in the newspaper tomorrow or any time in the near future. 

Even before Foose's salary was released, I decided to mine the Maryland State Department of Education data for statistical data on individual school systems around the state, to see how Balitmore County administrative spending compares. You will have to look at the Analysis of Costs chart to find the information I used in the story. I found that the county ranks fourth overall for the amount it spends on administration. It ranks far lower in mid-level administration and spending on teacher pay. The bottom line is that the system doesn't pay its mid-level managers and teachers a lot compared to other districts, but they do spend a lot on upper level management. There's more interesting data that can be found here on the state's website for those who are interested in sorting through lots and lots of numbers. But one more report of interest is the professional salaries comparisons, including superintendent salaries here.

And if you would like to take a look at the study that Ulrich Bosen did on 9,000 districts around the nation and how efficiently they spend their money, here it is. A study that came to a very different conclusion is here. So for all those who love data, go to it.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 9:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Patch reporter Bryan Sears has written an interesting blog item on the difficulty in getting a simple piece of information - the salary of a high ranking administrator - out of the school system. You may recall a post I wrote some weeks ago about the school system's failure to give me the salary for Renee Foose, who was recently hired as the deputy superintendent.  It seems Sears has had the same difficulty as he details in his blog. Sears quotes spokeswoman Phyllis Reese as saying: "It will be a cold day in hell" before he gets the salary figure unless he files a public information act request. When taxpayer dollars are spent on salaries, the public gets to know how much those salaries and benefits cost.  Reporters don't like to file requests under the public information act, in general, because then the government body has 30 days to respond. It makes reporting a slow process.  

But I went along and filed the formal request under the public information act and did get a response today, sent to me by snail mail, from the school system's attorney. She said that the contract with Foose had not been completed so the school system didn't have anything to give The Sun. It seemed to stretch credulity that Foose took a job without knowing what her salary would be, contract or no contract.

I complained in an email, and was told that the contract will be signed in the next day and I will get the salary information then. I will post the information here.

Continue reading "Sunshine week and the Baltimore County schools " »

Posted by Liz Bowie at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Some Baltimore County high school principals have been calling teachers down to the office to tell them they have been excessed as detailed in a story today. Other principals have been holding  the information close to the vest, perhaps because they have not finished doing schedules that will tell them how many students have signed up for each class. But teachers in those schools tell me that the process of not knowing has been stressful. 

The cuts were dished out evenly over the schools, with declining and increasing enrollments taken into account when the number of positions a school would get was calculated. In addition to the teacher cuts in a chart that accompanies the story, the county has excessed 30 of the 66 mentor teachers in schools. So many schools will see a reduction in the total staff that is greater than the teacher cuts. Schools with larger numbers of new teachers will be particularly hard it by the shifting of mentors.  I have gotten a lot of different numbers from different sources. I went with what I got from the union because it had a number for each school, and Cheryl Bost said she thought the numbers were pretty accurate.  The union's data seemed to be between the worst case scenerios I heard and the best case scenerios. For instance, the number of teachers who will be excessed at Dulaney ranged from 11 to 17.  The union said the reductions at Dulaney would be 13.5 teachers.

Continue reading "Teacher reductions in Baltimore County high schools " »

Posted by Liz Bowie at 9:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

County Executive Kevin Kamenetz has asked the school system to consider moving fifth graders at crowded elementary schools to middle schools, many of which have space. The letter was sent yesterday to School Superintendent Joe A. Hairston and school board president Earnest Hines. Kamenetz says the county should consider ways to utilize the space it has before building new schools or additions. Parents at some of the elementary schools immediately criticised the idea, although fifth through eighth grade schools are a common middle school model around the country.  I have been getting emails parents who would rather have a tax hike than live with facilities that are outdated. Others note that the Hampton Elementary School addition will cost the county $12 million, not $20 million as Kamenetz says. And Stoneleigh parents have said the school desperately needs renovations, whether or not an addition is built. I hope that those who support the solutions being proposed by Kamenetz and those opposed will begin a dialogue here.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 9:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Two weeks ago, I requested that the Baltimore County school district provide me with the salary of Renee Foose, who was hired to be a deputy superintendent of schools recently. I got no response so last week I asked again and was told I had to file a Freedom of Information Act request. The county now has 30 days to provide me with the information. Salary information is routinely provided by government agencies to newspaper reporters without such unnecessary delay because tax dollars go to fund these salaries. The public has a right to know how much top officials make.

A good example of this access is the hiring several months ago of a Sun editor by Howard County. A Sun reporter wrote the story and the salary information was online that day.

If I had asked the same question of the Baltimore City schools, the information would be provided the same day or at most the next day. The same would be true in most other large county school districts in Maryland.

So what reason does Baltimore County have in holding off for as much as six weeks to make this information public? They say they have a policy. We'll let you know when we see it.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

My colleague, Mary Gail Hare, provided the following post:

Baltimore County parents, frustrated with a lack of response from school administrators, took their pitch for more accessibility to school facilities to the Council Council Monday. They demanded a reversal of school policy that prevents them from holding fundraisers, community meetings, even some student gatherings in school buildings.

"In this economy and in the face of budget cuts, now is not the time to ban safe and successful parent group-sponsored craft fairs and flea markets," said Leslie Weber, PTSA president at Loch Raven High, which received a one-year waiver and will hold its craft fair on March 26.

Continue reading "Parents go to County Council to get change in school policy" »

Posted by Liz Bowie at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Renee A. Foose, associate superintendent of the Office of Shared Accountability in Montgomery County, was recently put in charge of the business operations for the Baltimore County school system. Foose's official job title is deputy superintendent. She replaces J. Robert Haines who retired last summer. I asked the Baltimore County school system for her salary, but I haven't gotten a response. I will post it here when I do. I also asked Montgomery County for a resume for Foose, but so far no response from there either.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 4:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Manuel Rodriguez, who oversees middle schools in Baltimore County, is being interviewed this week for a job as superintendent in Ann Arbor, Michigan. An Ann Arbor website posted the story last night. The school system is a small one, with only 16,000 students.

UPDATE: Rodriguez was not one of the three finalists for the job.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 5:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

We have just posted a story on the website that details how a Georgia company, hand picked by Joe A. Hairston, was awarded a contract without a competitive bidding process. The company, owned by a former employee of Hairston's, has been paid at least $4 million since November 2000. Any thoughts?

Posted by Liz Bowie at 9:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

The school system will give a report tomorrow night on a newly enforced policy that is prohibiting school PTSAs from holding craft fairs in the county and has drawn a lot of criticism in recent weeks. A group of parents from the central area is trying to encourage a big turnout to protest the policy, which parents say is reducing the money they can raise to supplement school budgets at a time of diminishing revenues. In addition, they say the fairs have helped foster community involvement in the schools.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 6:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

If you are the parent of a Baltimore County student or a staff member, you may have checked the website around 6 or 6:30 am this morning and found that schools were opening two hours late.

But for those who plunged back into their pillows, the phone rang at 7:15 am. In fact, phones began ringing all over the county as the robocalls went out to say that school was canceled.  Charles Herndon, a public information officer, said that call was "a bit unusual," but "we believed it was important to let everyone know as soon as possible and in the most direct way possible."

He said the initial decision was made at 4:45 am, but the transportation folks out in the field were asked to report back on conditions at 6:30 am. After the reports of poor conditions came in, the system decided at 6:45 am to close for the day.

Herndon, who is also a parent, said he got a Robocall from himself at 7:15.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 5:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

There's a Facebook page for everything these days, and that includes one for those who want to vent frustration at the school board and hash out the pros and cons of a hybrid school board in Baltimore County. The Facebook page says: "Meeting after meeting, it has become apparent that our teachers, our PTA's, our parents, our students and even our legislators have no influence on policy and decisions made by Baltimore County Public Schools."

In an email today, Laurie Taylor-Mitchell, a parent and frequent critic of the system, is encouraging anyone who has an opinion on the subject to post their comments on the page. The Facebook Page is called Citizens for An Accountable Baltimore County School Board!

Continue reading "Frustration over lack of school board accountability " »

Posted by Liz Bowie at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

The Baltimore County parent protests about overcrowding continued last night at the budget hearing at Ridge Ruxton and this time the complaints came from Stoneleigh Elementary School parents. The school community was waiting its turn, hoping that after West Towson was complete and the cramped and croweded Hampton had been expanded, an addition to Stoneleigh would start this fall. But when the parents look at the facilities budgets for the coming fiscal year beginning in July, they don't see Stoneleigh on the list. So they think that relief may be more years away than was anticipated. Parents say that isn't acceptable. The cafeteria is being used from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm., the bathrooms are overused, the classrooms jammed and the nurse has been assigned to an office the size of a closet.  Meetings, they say, are held in the lobby.

Next year the enrollment is expected to grow again and the staff is planning to simply divide existing classrooms by partitions which will make learning difficult for those who are distracted by noise.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 5:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

The budget introduced last night by Baltimore County Superintendent Joe A. Hairston would save money by reducing the teaching staff by about 200 through attrition. Cheryl Bost, the union president, said she wants to look at the numbers more carefully, but that the reduction may only take the staffing levels to where they were before the enrollment began to dip some years back. In other words, the county school system didn't reduce the teaching staff in the past several years when the number of kids in classrooms went down. However, there's still plenty of worry to go around. First, it isn't clear if Bost's theory will turn out to be correct. There will be 200 fewer teachers and roughly 1,400 more students. In addition, our high schools may feel the worst of the class increases. And high school classes are already some of the largest. One parent of a higher schooler complained last night in an interview that her son had one class with 35 students in it. During a visit during American Education Week she had seen just how disconnected he was to what was going on in the class. And another parent worried what greater burden that would mean for teachers with more papers to grade and more students to keep track of.

While the General Assembly has yet to act, there's plenty of reason to believe that some cuts to education are likely. That would mean far more drastic cuts than Hairston is now proposing and they could come rather quickly just before the budget passes in March.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 8:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Milford Mill Academy students will get an addition to their high school completed, but not without months of extra construction at the school and more disruption and inconvenience to staff and students at the school.  Today's story on the delay details the extra millions of dollars the school system may spend on the project.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

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

Continue reading "Parents urge Baltimore County Council to deal with aging and overcrowded school facilities" »

Posted by Liz Bowie at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

At last night's Baltimore County school board meeting, the school board's outside legal counsel said that Joe A. Hairston acted within his legal authority when he signed an agreement with former employee Barbara Dezmon. The agreement gives Dezmon the right to market a product that she had the idea for, but that county employees turned into a software program.

School board members said they hoped this put the issue to rest. However, critics may well say that one of the most important issues is whether Hairston should have signed the agreement because it offered a special deal to an employee.

What do readers believe? 

Posted by Liz Bowie at 5:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

In a recent interview with the The Patch, Joe Hairston is described as saying that he sees the controversy over AIM "as an unwanted distraction that has been eliciting strong feelings that he equated to people's hatred to 'Hitler.'"  The superintendent says he believes that the focus should shift to education and away from AIM.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 8:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

At the Baltimore County school board meeting this week, parent David Greene took a shot at both superintendent Joe A. Hairston and the school board.

 Greene was angry that Hairston had refused to be interviewed by the Maryland Attorney General's office about questions concerning the ethics of giving an employee, Barbara Dezmon, a copyright to a computer software product called the Articulated Instruction Module.  Hairston did go on WJZ, however, and suggest that race was an issue. "Dezmon used the word 'lynching' and Hairston used the word 'race.'" Greene said. "These are serious words with serious implications, so I am sure the board asked some questions."

 At that point in the three minute presentation before the board, Greene stopped and asked the board president if he believed there was a basis for the comments about race. There was silence. "I have a request for this board: that you do what we hired you to do and explain to Superintendent Joe Hairston that he must either respond to the ethics inquiry or resign," Greene said.

The board, by the way, wasn't hired. It is appointed and doesn't get paid. The panel did not respond in public session.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 5:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

WJZ's Adam May had an interview  with Baltimore County Superintendent Joe A. Hairston last night in which the school leader responded to concerns that he has refused to be interviewed by the Attorney General over AIM. He  seems to suggest that race is an issue.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 8:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

My story yesterday about the electric sign in front of West Towson and Ridge Ruxton schools seems to have gotten a lot of attention. It cost $35,000 which seems to have outraged readers, but I can't help thinking that maybe the interest has something to do with the fact that people were desperate to read about something that wasn't about the election. Perhaps a dispute over a sign seems to be a lot more fun than all those bickering pols.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 3:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Baltimore County school chief Joe Hairston decided not to cooperate with an ethics inquiry conducted by the Attorney General at the request of county legislators.

The story in Friday's paper details the reaction of legislators and suggests there may be a push for an elected school board again next year.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 6:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (21)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

UPDATE: The Baltimore Teachers Union said about 2:30 today that it will not extend voting past the 3 p.m. cutoff time. 

Because of unusually high turnout, Baltimore Teachers Union President Marietta English said that the the union may extend voting on the contract past 3 p.m. today at Polytechnic Institute, Cold Spring Lane and Falls Road.

The results are expected to be released tonight.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 1:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Once again, Baltimore County is requiring parents of all rising sixth- and ninth-graders to provide proof of residency. Yes, the county is making every family do this even if the family has lived in the same house for the past 15 years and their children have spent the past nine years in the county schools.

Seems like a lot of paperwork, but the county has said many families are trying to sneak into schools in areas they don't live in.

Here's what proof the county wants: a photo identification, a lease or deed and three pieces of mail sent to the home address within the last 60 days. The documents need to be provided by August 27 or the student will be withdrawn from the school system.

I am wondering if parents or administrators are finding this a burden or a necessity? 

Posted by Liz Bowie at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Baltimore County's school board members rarely disagree in public. In fact, in the six or eight months since I started covering the board I can't remember a long public debate over any issue. Last night, however, the members deadlocked on who should become the vice president. Two members, Meg O'Hare and Ed Parker, were both nominated. O'Hare received four votes and Parker five votes, but no one had the seven votes needed to win the seat. 

Continue reading "Baltimore County school board initially deadlocks on vote" »

Posted by Liz Bowie at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Barbara Dezmon, the creator of an unpopular grading system that caused an uproar in the Baltimore County system before it was abandoned in January, came before the county school board last night after retiring on June 1 as a longtime administrator. Dezmon told the board that there had been "untruths, deceptions and lies" concerning the county school system. She said she would set the record straight.

She implied that there had been bullying among adults and said she believed it needed to stop. She said horrible accusations, against her and others, had been posted on blogs. (I am assuming she meant this blog). "I am going to tell all," she said, including the details of secret discussions and what happened with the $300,000 Little Brown Book. She said that parents in the county deserved to know the truth.

She was only allowed three minutes to make her comments. She did not indicate when she might "tell all."

Posted by Liz Bowie at 6:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (21)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Barbara Dezmon, the Baltimore County teacher who rose to become an assistant to the superintendent for Equity and Assurance, is retiring effective June 1.

The announcement was made in one small line on a list of promotions and transfers during the school board meeting last night. Dezmon developed the controversial grading system known as AIM that the county tried to implement last December, but was dropped after public protest.

Dezmon stands to gain financially from the program if it is used in other states.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Joe Hairston celebrated his 10 years as superintendent in Baltimore County yesterday with the debut of a movie about the successes of his administration. The movie came after a morning of speeches and proclamations from politicians in the county. For a look at the movie, titled "Decade of Distinction," go to the website and click on one of the four pieces.  Hairston is now one of the longest-serving superintendents in Maryland.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 4:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Ten Baltimore County schools are going to get air-conditioning next school year, unless the County Council decides to eliminate the item from the budget. After many years of battling by parents, County Executive Jim Smith has agreed to put the funding in the county budget.

Last night at the county board meeting, parent Laurie Taylor-Mitchell thanked the board for including the item in the budget, but she also suggested the county has only begun to scratch the surface in trying to get all of its schools air conditioned. She said there are about 70 schools that still need to be air conditioned in the county and it would take about a decade to get through the list, even if the district did seven every year. "What are the priorities here?" she said, calling for the county to do an analysis of what schools need it the most.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 5:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

From Baltimore Sun reporter Childs Walker:

It's not terribly common for a superintendent to last 10 years in today's education environment, and it's even less common at a large, complex system such as Baltimore County. But Joe Hairston has done exactly that, and today's print edition looks at his life and the reasons why he's remained in the job as long as he has. For one, he maintains an unusually placid demeanor, even during contentious episodes such as the recent standoff with teachers over the AIM curriculum program. For another, he expertly manages his relationship with the school board, perhaps too expertly according to those who say the board affords him a rubber stamp. 

In one particularly interesting moment, Hairston argued that his job is more difficult than the one faced by Andres Alonso in Baltimore City. He had to be a reformer as well, he explained, but had to do so without ruffling too many feathers in a county where many folks liked the status quo just fine. What do you guys think? Whose job would you rather have?

Regardless what you make of Hairston, he has led a fascinating life. He starred on the great all-black football team at Maryland State (now UMES). He entered his field at a time when the vestiges of segregation remained but went on to become the first black superintendent at two major school systems. He preached data-driven accountability before it was the in thing. Because of his low-key nature, he hasn't received as much attention as some of his peers, but his story is worth thinking about if you're interested in the state of our schools.

Posted by Jennifer Badie at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Baltimore Sun staff writer Arthur Hirsch contributes a report:

With the meter running on decisions about choosing another Catholic school, more than 100 Cardinals Gibbons School parents and students streamed through a suite of rooms upstairs in the Fine Arts Building Monday evening  to check out their options.

Representatives of 10 high schools from as far away as Annapolis and as close as a couple miles away had set up tables at the southwest Baltimore campus to dispense information and answer questions. With Gibbons scheduled to close in June as part of the Archdiocese of Baltimore's plan to reshape its school system, there were lots of questions, many concerning money in one way or another. Would their child's Gibbons scholarship continue? Would the archdiocese cover the difference between the Gibbons tuition and the new school?

"You'd think they have funds to offset this difference in the tuition," said Shawn Blum, of Halethorpe. His son, Riley, was on a full scholarship in his junior year at Gibbons and is now thinking about transferring to Mt. St. Joseph, the next nearest Catholic school, but at more than $11,000 in tuition, $1,000 more that at Gibbons. That could work, Blum said, but it might depend on the scholarship. In  in the end it could mean Riley completes a senior year at Landsdowne High School, a nearby public school.

"A lot of students are really upset," Blum said. "Their parents had paid to go to Catholic school, then they have to finish it up at a public school."

More than 2,100 students in 13 schools are being displaced, and the archdiocese has promised each one a seat in a Catholic school, either among the 52 remaining archdiocesan schools or independent institutions. Applications are due on March 29, with admissions offices scheduled to mail out their decision letters on April 13.

"The Catholic schools stood up tonight and said 'We're here for you,'  " said Mark D. Pacione, the archdiocesan associate director for Catholic schools planning.

Parents had come to gather information this time, not vent their anger as they had a week before as a standing-room crowd of some 1,000 packed the school auditorium to face archdiocesan officials. But it was clear that the wounds were still fresh, and there was still talk of ulterior motives in closing the boys' school, and of giving Gibbons another chance independent of the archdiocese.

Continue reading "After school closings, shopping for options" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

We report in today's paper the story of a failure of the Baltimore County school administration to get board approval before spending $300,000 on The Little, Brown Handbook. The book is a well known reference guide that can be used to look up grammar questions that was handed out to elementary and secondary school teachers.

There are two issues here. The first is that county policy states that expenditures of more than $25,000 must be approved by the board. The second is that books, which unlike other items that the school system buys, aren't bid and so textbooks have to go through an evaluation before they can be purchased. PTA and union leaders say there hasn't been enough vetting of the textbook purchases recently. The administration says that the Little, Brown Handbook didn't need to go through that process because it wasn't being purchased for students.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Bill Lawrence, a well-liked area superintendent in Baltimore County, was reassigned last week to a job in human resources. I write about the job change in today's paper. I wasn't able to determine what new job he has in human resources, but it looks as though it was a demotion.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 1:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (31)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

The committee was made up of administrators, principals, AIM trainers and a PTSA representative. Towson University Dean of the School of Education Raymond Lorion said the committee met twice for about an hour and a half each time.

While Lorion said last night that AIM has great potential, the committee recommendations he read are more nuanced.

Continue reading "AIM committee reports at Baltimore County board meeting " »

Posted by Liz Bowie at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (52)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

My colleague, Mary Gail Hare, writes today about minority contractors who say their bids were dismissed for minor oversights in paperwork. There is an update to her story. Late Tuesday, the day before James W. Ancel was to address the state Board of Public Works, the county purchasing office notified him that they were granting his appeal and reinstating him as the lowest responsible bidder on the Milford Mill Academy renovation. His bid had been disqualified for a minor miscue - a plus sign to show he had exceeded the required percentage - on the minority participation information he had provided. He appealed the decision and vowed to go to court, if the county schools did not resolve the matter. He and his attorney are in Annapolis today. They said they will criticize "a perfection policy" that is costing taxpayers millions more for school construction projects and asking for state review of rejections of low bidders.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

In today's paper, I write about Baltimore County teachers, parents and administrators who raise concerns over whether Barbara Dezmon should be involved in making decisions about the implementation of AIM, a program that she developed, owns and hopes to sell. In addition, a University of Maryland professor questions whether the county should have given Dezmon the copyright to the program or whether it should be the property of the county schools.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (35)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

My story in today's paper details what Joe Hairston said yesterday in an hour-long interview in his office. The story raises many questions including what AIM will finally look like in its streamlined version and when it will be used widely by county teachers.

One of the things Hairston said was that the county was going to find a way to marry the assessTrax system with AIM. He suggested that a computer program would be available in the spring to integrate the two. "Teachers aren't asked to do anything that teachers don't already do," he said.

Hairston's reversal on AIM was clear, but what will come next wasn't.

"What superintendent in America gets into this much detail?" he said in discussing how he has now set up a committee to look into streamlining the system.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (98)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Baltimore County teachers continue to contact The Baltimore Sun, upset about a requirement by the school district that they use a new detailed progress reporting system called AIM (or Articulated Instruction Module).

Under AIM, teachers must judge whether each of their students has mastered more than 100 specific skills. In an Advanced Placement World History class, a teacher must indicate whether each student can “evaluate the consequences of global pandemics” or “analyze the role of Islam as a unifying cultural and economic force in Eurasia,” two examples among pages of items. One AP course contains an 11-page list of knowledge or skills that must be checked off. To see other examples, go to the Baltimore County schools Web site.

Among the concerns being raised by teachers in posts to our blog is that they will need to set aside hours to complete AIM, which could take away from planning and instruction time.

Schools spokesman Charles Herndon told reporter Liz Bowie that he believes that the teachers who have complained are in the minority. “We feel our teachers are up to the task. We think very highly of the teachers; we think they are capable,” he said. 

Here's Liz's full article about AIM, which ran Sunday.

Posted by Jennifer Badie at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (202)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

We've gotten a number of e-mails from Baltimore County teachers in the past several days who are very upset about a communication they received Friday telling them they must implement a new program called AIM, or Articulated Instruction Module, which includes a detailed progress-reporting system. I haven't written stories about this program, so I can't give readers of the blog much information yet. Teachers say that it will place another heavy burden on them and won't improve teaching and learning.

Here's what one teacher had to say:  "This AIM checklist for each of my first graders could be as many as 26 pages long and would require me to judge 101 marks per child, each term and I have 24 students."

I would like to hear from teachers about the pros and cons of AIM. And I was wondering if the AIM program is geared toward today's Maryland state standards, will it have to be redone in a year so that it is consistent with measuring students' knowledge based on the national standards, which Maryland plans to adopt next August?

Posted by Liz Bowie at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (267)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

In an obituary in today's paper, we mark the passing of one of those teachers who made a difference in the lives of thousands of students over a career that spanned 30 years.

Most of us are lucky if we come in contact with a handful of these gifted teachers in our lifetime. We all know who they are: the teachers whose voices and quirks we can still remember 5 or 40 years after we left their classrooms, who taught lessons that challenged us to think differently about the way the world works. I don't know about you, but I can even remember certain moments in their classrooms.

Perhaps Bob Hallett's final gift was that he will have allowed everyone in the Riderwood Elementary School community to remember to celebrate the achievements of all great teachers while they are with us.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

My story in today's paper takes a look at the increasing use of the Web 2.0 tool known as a wiki (not to be confused with Wikipedia, which is certainly in the same family).  These online spaces, which allow people to modify, contribute to and comment on content, are starting to take off in schools throughout Baltimore County, as well as the Carroll and Anne Arundel school systems.

You can check out Carroll's pilot wiki, done by social studies students at Northwest Middle last school year, to get an idea of what one looks like.

Teachers at Catonsville Middle, where I had the chance to observe a wiki lesson, say they have already noticed more engagement and interest among students - and several of the kids I spoke with were very much in favor of ditching traditional, hand-written class assignments for good. (I wonder how teachers and parents feel about that.)

One thing I found particularly interesting in all of this is how schools are working to teach students about Web etiquette, training them to flex their digital muscles with care.  Could these kids help usher in a new era of online civility?  Or is it too much to hope such lessons in polite discourse will stay with them?

Posted by Arin Gencer at 5:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (19)
Categories: Around the Region, Baltimore County, Teaching
        

Today I sat in on an annual conference for gifted-and-talented educators at Randallstown High School, which drew teachers from throughout the state.  There were a variety of sessions on ways to inspire creativity and critical thinking among students in math, science, reading and other areas - led by teachers from various area school systems. 

The keynote speaker was Dr. Bertie Kingore, a longtime gifted-and-talented educator who also held a session on books and teaching tools.

I thought I'd share some very interesting tips/tidbits from her session and another I attended - some of which could certainly apply to all types of students (or so this non-educator thinks).

A sample of Dr. Kingore's recommended children's books that promote higher-level thinking:

• First the Egg, Courage and If the World Were a Village for abstract and critical thinking
• My Dog is as Smelly as Dirty Socks, If... and The Dot for art, visual and spatial concepts
• Marianthe's Story: Painted Words and Spoken Memories and Winston the Book Wolf for inference
• If You Hopped Like a Frog, A Place for Zero and Sir Cumference Series for math concepts and terminology
• The Boy Who Loved Words, Once Upon 1001 Stories, Around the House the Fox Chased the Mouse and Mom and Dad Are Palindromes for oral and written language
• I Wanna Iguana and Joyful Noise for the concept of point of view
• Dear Deer (an exercise in homophones) and Pig in the Spigot for skills and written conventions

Kingore emphasized the importance of teachers documenting what they are doing - showing how they are covering the requirements (testing standards) even as they implement more creative strategies.

She also repeatedly reminded teachers to take Saturdays off.

After the reading workshop, I headed over to one whose title grabbed my attention - and evidently, that of the many teachers who crowded into the classroom: "The Singing Math Teacher."

Continue reading "Gifted-and-talented conference for Maryland teachers" »

Posted by Arin Gencer at 5:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)
Categories: Around the Region, Baltimore County, Teaching
        

The virtual classroom at Chesapeake High School was packed earlier today with a slew of county and state officials, including two past superintendents.

County Executive James T. Smith has spent this year celebrating the county's 350th anniversary, and this month has been designated for recognizing education.  Gathered at Chesapeake this morning were the major players from all segments of the academic pipeline:

Towson University's President Robert Caret
UMBC's President Freeman Hrabowski
CCBC's President Sandra Kurtinitis
President Kevin Manning of Stevenson University
President Sanford Ungar of Goucher College
Former BCPS superintendents Robert Y. Dubel and Anthony G. Marchione
Current Superintendent Dr. Hairston

Stuart Berger, who led the school system in the early 1990s, also was supposed to attend, but he was delayed at the airport.

Although the new hi-tech classroom has been filled with visitors a lot recently, today's group was a unique combination of past and present, particularly in a setting that district officials have touted as the future of education. 

Smith gave everyone citations for their service to the county - and the educators spoke of the importance and value of working together, even when it means working with the competition (as in the case of higher education)...while also taking time to highlight what their institutions have to offer, of course.

Posted by Arin Gencer at 3:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

Students in Katie Calkins' photography II and III classes at Patapsco High and Center for the Arts are in the business of repairing pictures this month - a service they are offering to victims of last month's flood in Dundalk.

They've gotten one batch of photos from a local second-grade teacher so far, and are hoping more folks will take advantage of their skills.

Anyone interested can find more details on the school Web site, contact Calkins directly or simply mail the damaged pictures to her at Patapsco: 8100 Wise Avenue, Baltimore 21222.

Posted by Arin Gencer at 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

I recently wrote a story about Bob Hallett, a dynamic, quirky library-media specialist at Baltimore County's Riderwood Elementary who was recently diagnosed with a rare leukemia.  A few years ago, Hallett helped invent - and then play - a superhero called the Red Reader, who was part of a motivational reading show on the school system's Education Channel.

The folks at the Education Channel were kind enough to point us to one of Hallett's performances, this one on a show called Math Homework Helpers, in which he regularly gives voice to a puppet named Professor Q.

Just thought I'd share.