Good news is a welcome respite at Woodlawn High School, where this week's news coverage of student violence on campus has once again brought unwanted attention to the school.

So here's something good to report --- an extremely reliable source has told me that a couple days ago the air conditioning was finally restored to the school's computer lab. Apparently, students had been unable to use the computer lab, which houses about 30 fairly new computers, since the beginning of the school year because of that air conditioning problem.

Now for a bit of bad news --- at least for those of you who have applauded Miko Baldwin's efforts as a parent to get more attention paid to needed repairs and other concerns at the school. According to Miko, during Tuesday night's meeting of the school's Parent-Teacher-Student Association, Miko was stripped of her role on the group's executive board. With only 11 members present, the board decided to cast votes on "reaffirming" the positions of the group's officers. Some time ago, Miko had been asked to serve as the group's treasurer. Last night, however, she wasn't even listed among the officers being considered when the members took a vote, which essentially left Miko without a role.

An obviously disgusted Miko called me after the meeting to tell me about this latest development. She believes the group's leaders are trying to send her a message that they weren't happy about her contacting a reporter from The Sun (me) to talk about issues at the school. But she said she is vowing to be unmoved. With or without the PTSA's support, she said she will continue to advocate for the school's needs.

However, she did add this troubling thought ---

"This kind of mess is part of the reason some parents don't get involved. They don't want to deal with this."

It's sad to think that some people might be turning something as seemingly wholesome as the local PTA into petty power struggles. And I wonder how many parents have been turned off by the politics of their school's PTA.

Any advice for Miko???

Check out earlier discussions about Miko's efforts at Woodlawn.

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/education/blog/2007/10/what_people_are_saying_about_w.html

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/education/blog/2007/10/water_woes.html#comments

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bal-md.co.water22oct22,0,1273872.story?coll=bal_tab01_layout

Posted by Gina Davis at 6:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

On The Sun's discussion forum, lots of people have been weighing in on today's story about the Woodlawn High School mother who has been taking the school to task about the building's maintenance.

Click the link below to check out what they're saying. (Also, here's a link to my blog post this morning about the story, including parts of the story that were cut because of space limitations in the paper).

Continue reading "What people are saying about Woodlawn" »

Posted by Gina Davis at 2:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

In my story, "Parent decries school neglect at Woodlawn," that appears in today's Maryland section, I wrote about a Woodlawn High School parent, Miko Baldwin, who says she was jolted into action when she discovered the school had been without hot water in the gym area for years --- depending on who you ask, anywhere from 2 years to 8 years (Miko's daughter who was a freshman there in 2000-2001 said they didn't have hot water then, but the school system said it can only confirm the lack of hot water for the past two years).

Miko, who has been a member of the school's Parent-Teacher-Student Association since 2001, has several initiatives on her plate. Not all of them could fit into today's story, so here are some of the others:

With an eye toward increasing parent and community involvement, Miko has been recruiting local community leaders to help create a mentoring program for students.

She is asking for more textbooks, enough to assign each student a book for each class. (The school's principal, Edward D. Weglein, said he approves of the school's textbook arrangements --- each classroom has enough books for students to use during school, and students may request to check out books overnight.)

And last week, Miko requested the state PTA to conduct an evaluation of Woodlawn's PTSA because she questions the way it is being run. (Sue Katz, president of the Baltimore County Council of PTAs, said it is the group's policy not to comment on PTAs for individual schools, but that she plans to review Baldwin's concerns.)

Miko said she wants Woodlawn --- which is one of the county's largest high schools with about 2,000 students and has struggled to meet statewide assessment standards --- to be a place where teachers and administrators want to stay. (During the past 12 years, the school has had five principals.)

Miko said she knows she is making some people uncomfortable, but she said she firmly believes that improving the school's physical condition can improve attitudes, especially among students.

The old saying goes, “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.” Well, Miko decided to squeak.
I wonder how many other schools out there have similar maintenance issues that are being ignored, waiting for someone to squeak.

Does your school have similar maintenance issues? Please tell us about them here on the blog. Or, if you need to remain anonymous, you can email me directly at gina.davis@baltsun.com or call me at 410-494-2938.    

Posted by Gina Davis at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)