Portable Classrooms

EASTERN PANHANDLE, W.Va. - The state School Building Authority awarded $16.4 million to the Berkeley and Jefferson county public school systems Monday to help them construct new schools, officials said. The authority awarded $10 million to Berkeley County Schools for a new primary school in Spring Mills, Superintendent Manny P. Arvon said Monday afternoon. Jefferson County was awarded $6.4 million to build a new elementary school near the Breckenridge subdivision north of Charles Town, W.Va.

HAGERSTOWN - Key card entry. Requiring photo identification. Chain-link fences. The elimination of portable classrooms. These were just a few of the ideas suggested Monday during the first meeting of the school security cross-functional team. The group of about 50 Washington County Public Schools' employees, concerned parents, government employees, law enforcement officers and security specialists met for about two hours. The group is tasked with brainstorming ways to improve security at the county's schools and prioritizing the school system's security needs.

The second meeting of the school security cross-functional team Wednesday produced initiatives and action steps that could be implemented in the county's public schools. The group of about 50, including parents, law enforcement officials, community security experts and Washington County Public Schools personnel, met for the first time earlier this month. The group has been asked to brainstorm ways to improve safety at the county's schools and prioritize security needs. The group focused Wednesday on school system staff training, emergency response, after-hour activities at schools, school security policies and violence prevention.

CHARLES TOWN. W.Va. -- A tract of fertile land where, not so long ago, a farmer grew crops, will become a place where teachers grow the fertile minds of young students. Ground officially was broken Saturday morning on 15 acres off Job Corps Road north of Charles Town for Jefferson County's newest school building, a facility for students in kindergarten through fifth grade that will hold 500 students, and, just as important, mark the beginning of the end of the district's dependency on portable classrooms for its elementary-school students.

Jefferson Co. reviewing new kindergarten plan CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - All-day kindergarten would begin for some Jefferson County youngsters next school year under a proposed plan presented to the Jefferson County Board of Education Monday night. All-day kindergarten would be phased in over a three-year span under the plan. The school board is expected to make a decision on the plan at its March 9 meeting. All-day kindergarten was mandated by the state in 1996 and school officials have sought waivers since then because there was not enough classroom space available.

HAGERSTOWN - The second meeting of the school security cross-functional team Wednesday produced initiatives and action steps that could be implemented in the county's public schools. The group of about 50, including parents, law enforcement officials, community security experts and Washington County Public Schools personnel, met for the first time earlier this month. The group has been asked to brainstorm ways to improve safety at the county's schools and prioritize security needs.

Maryland Sen. Alex X. Mooney is launching an effort to stop the state from setting minimum wage scales on school construction projects. cont. from front page His use of the Internet to help collect the 46,128 signatures needed to put the issue on the November ballot is a first for Maryland. Standing in front of three portable classrooms at Williamsport Elementary School on Wednesday, Mooney criticized the prevailing wage law passed this year by the Maryland General Assembly.

Kindergartners to start full day in Jefferson Co. CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - The Jefferson County Board of Education approved a plan Monday night to bring all-day kindergarten to Jefferson County elementary schools. The program will be phased in over two years, beginning with students starting school this fall. Sherry S. Hetzel, coordinator of instruction for Jefferson County schools, said research shows that all-day kindergarten is important to prevent problems in children and to build their reading and writing skills.

charlestown@herald-mail.com CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - Jefferson County, W.Va., school officials have complained for years about the state's method of funding rapidly growing school systems in the Eastern Panhandle, and now a statewide effort to change the system is under way. While local efforts are under way to change the system, Jefferson County Board of Education President Lori Stilley is working with the West Virginia School Board Association...

martinsburg@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - A construction project that will add nine new classrooms to Martinsburg High School and improve the gymnasium will limit access for parents dropping off their children there or at neighboring Martinsburg South Middle School, school officials said. Construction on the $3.7 million project will begin Wednesday and is expected to be finished in August 2005, Martinsburg High School Principal Ken Pack said. Parents who drop off their children at either school in the morning will not be able to use the access road off Wilson Street or most of Bulldog Boulevard, Pack said.