Schools

Friday, Sept. 29 Bester Elementary - PBIS reward activity Boonsboro Middle - Book fair E. Russell Hicks Middle - Seventh-grade Family Life begins, runs through Oct. 5 Eastern Elementary - Book fair Lincolnshire Elementary -Vision screening for grades kindergarten, one, three and five North Hagerstown High School - School pictures Old Forge School - Old Forge Walk-A-Thon at 2:45 p.m. Saturday, Sept....

While their counterparts in West Virginia and Maryland have been back in school for at least a week, students in Franklin County, Pa., schools will be returning to the classrooms today. Students will be heading to bus stops and walking to schools in the following districts: Greencastle-Antrim, Tuscarora (the Mercersburg, Pa., area), Chambersburg Area, Fannett-Metal, Shippensburg Area and Waynesboro Area. Motorists are asked to use caution throughout the Tri-State area around school zones and keep an eye out for walkers, as well as buses making frequent stops.

Hagerstown resident Darren Covington, 41, offered a simple and specific suggestion on how to help prevent mass shootings in schools such as what happened inside the Connecticut elementary school Friday while also giving his take on whether principals in schools should have guns. “I don't mind police officers trained to use guns, but for the principal to have one, that's a bit extreme,” said Covington, who was picking up his 10-year-old fifth-grade daughter, Lucy, on Monday from Fountaindale Elementary School.

Several Washington County Public Schools were recognized Tuesday for improvements from 2010 to 2011 that are related to assessment-test results. The schools also met adequate yearly progress, without using a Safe Harbor option, last school year under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, according to presentation documents. Schools were recognized for either overall achievement or achievement among demographic student subgroups. Schools recognized for overall achievement were Barbara Ingram School for the Arts, Boonsboro Elementary, Boonsboro High, Clear Spring High, Hancock Elementary, North Hagerstown High, Rockland Woods Elementary, Sharpsburg Elementary, Smithsburg Middle, Smithsburg High and Washington County Technical High.

All public schools in Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan counties in the Eastern Panhandlke of West Virginia are operating on two-hour delays on Thursday. Announcements were made via emails Wednesday night.  

The Waynesboro Area School District music department will host its annual Music in Our Schools Month concert on Tuesday, Feb. 28, at 7 p.m. at Waynesboro Area Senior High School's Performing Arts Center. This year's concert will feature choral students from Fairview, Hooverville, Mowery and Summitview elementary schools, along with students from Waynesboro Area middle and high schools. More than 700 students will participate in the event. There also will be a sneak preview of the high school's all-school production of “Fiddler on the Roof.” The concert is free and open to the public.

ExxonMobil's Educational Alliance Program awarded $1.8 million in grants this year to schools to help enhance math and science education across the United States.  This is the 13th consecutive year for the program. AC&T supported 13 schools throughout the Tri-State area with $6,500 from Educational Alliance funds. Schools could partner with Exxon and Mobil-branded service stations, the majority of which are independently owned and operated, to apply for the grants.  Checks were distributed to the following schools to be used to advance their math and science programs: Greenbrier Elementary, Lincolnshire Elementary, Emma K. Doub Elementary, Smithsburg Elementary, Boonsboro Elementary, Winter Street Elementary, Greencastle (Pa.)

Beginning Feb. 3, it will cost Pennsylvania teenagers more than the price of a pack of cigarettes if they get caught with tobacco products in school. We applaud the effort to combat this bad habit, but lament the fact that the schools are again being asked to do a parent's job. The bill, approved by the state legislature in November and signed by Gov. Tom Ridge last month, requires schools which catch students with tobacco products to refer them to a local district justice, who could fine them up to $50. According to The Associated Press, anti-smoking groups see the bill as unfair to students because they feel the burden should be upon those who market and sell tobacco to minors.

Applying for college can be an overwhelming prospect. Many students choose to apply to a school where they feel certain of being accepted. They often apply to only one college. If not accepted, then they move on to the next school on their list. Most do not seriously consider schools such as Harvard, Yale or others on the U.S. News list of top 25 colleges.  Heritage Academy senior Bryce Boyd took a different approach.  He decided to apply to nine colleges, including several of the top 25 and then make his final decision after seeing which ones accepted him. “Being undecided makes it complicated, so I wanted to have a lot of options,” Bryce said.

The Berkeley County Board of Education approved the appointment of new principals at Spring Mills Middle and Inwood Primary schools Monday night. Nancy B. White was named principal of Spring Mills Middle School and Autumne Frye was named principal at Inwood Primary School. White previously served as assistant principal at the Spring Mills school and Frye was assistant principal at Berkeley Heights Elementary School in Martinsburg, according to the school district. In other personnel actions Monday, the school board changed Donald Mitchell's assignment from director to executive director of the maintenance department and Ronald Stephens assignment from executive director of pupil services to associate superintendent.

When the Rev. Janice Dorsey was named a 2008 People's Choice Award winner by the Community Foundation of Washington County, she asked that the endowment created in her honor be named after her late husband.  Thus, the Bill Dorsey Scholarship for the Barbara Ingram School for the Arts Fund was created.  On June 3, the annual scholarship was awarded to Kenny Catchings, a dance major from Hagerstown.  Catchings has attended the school for...

The following Saint James School students were awarded prizes on Prize Day, which was June 1: “It is customary to award scholastic prizes in recognition of achievement in the various subjects as evidenced by highest grades,” said the Rev. D. Stuart Dunnan, headmaster.   Middle school Leanne Taylor Ludwick of Chambersburg, Pa., (grade nine) was awarded the Prize for Excellence in English. Ludwick and Ryan Joseph Brown of Hagerstown (grade nine) received the prizes for All-Round Athletic Ability.

The community is invited to St. John's Lutheran Church this week for vacation Bible school.  At “Athens: Paul's Dangerous Journey to Share the Truth,” families will step back into time to ancient Greece and the story of Paul's second missionary journey. Children and adults will participate in a Bible-times marketplace, sing songs, play games and visit with Paul daily.  The school begins Monday night at the church, at 141 S. Potomac St. in downtown Hagerstown, and will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. each night.

Sixth marking period Distinguished honor roll  Grade six - Christian Auldridge, Monica Becker, Caylee Blades, Peyton Blood, Jordan Cross, Emily Curry, Bradley Dennis, Skylar Detrick, Tessa Douglass, Mackenzie Dudley, Gerald Duke, Wesley Duke, Kylie Grove, Brett Guessford, Alexander Gwizdala, Erin Helman, Sarah Herbert, Audrey Howerin, Alexys Johnson, Veronica Johnson, Madalyn Jones, Kiley Keadle, Madison Kelley, Ashley Kopp,...

Sixth marking period Distinguished honor roll Grade six - Devon M. Getz, Joshua A. Golden, Ashley L. Jenkins, Sarah D. Kerns Grade seven - Garrett M. Fox, Jennifer A. Jenkins Grade eight - Cody M. Childers, Elijah A. Divelbiss, Hope E. Hargett, Ean T. Mann  Grade nine - Emily M. Fox, Jenna N. Mitchell, David M. Wood Grade 10 - Skylar D. Faith, Morgan T. Hamil, Faith G. Hargett,  Alena L....

A community vacation Bible school will be held at St. Joseph's Catholic Church, at 17630 Virginia Ave., beginning Sunday, July 14, from 3 to 5 p.m., and continuing Monday, July 15 through Thursday, July 18, from 6 to 8 p.m. The theme is “SonQuest Rainforest” and will include crafts, Bible study, snacks, games as well as opportunities for children to learn the Bible verse  - “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that...

Contemporary School of the Arts and Gallery Inc. will hold a weekly mini summer arts camp starting Monday, June 17 and running through Aug. 17. The gallery is at  4 W. Franklin St. in Hagerstown. Children will experience different forms of elementary art, such as painting, drawing, collages, ceramics, craft art, etc.  The camp is for those in grades one to four. Registration costs $20 per day.  Students can be dropped off at 7:30 a.m. The class runs from 8 a.m. to noon.