Schools

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - About 8,000 students in 23 schools plus the administrative building in the Chambersburg Area School District were evacuated Monday morning after someone called and said there was a bomb somewhere in the district, according to district spokesperson Lynn Lerew. "To us, the district means 250 square miles and 24 buildings," Lerew said. The call came into the district's switchboard at 7:45 a.m. Chambersburg Borough Police and Pennsylvania State Police looked through all of the empty buildings "for anything suspicious" before faculty and students were allowed to return, delaying some classes and activities up to 1 1/2 hours, Lerew said.

waynesboro@herald-mail.com WAYNESBORO, Pa. - Visitors to Waynesboro Area School District schools were met with locked doors Monday and all students were locked in their classrooms after school officials received a threat stemming from the fatal shooting of a Waynesboro man Sunday in Hagerstown. Larry Glenn, president of the Waynesboro Area School Board, said Monday night that plans were in place to continue the lockdown today unless administrators felt the threat has been lifted.

Frederick High School will send a team to the international competition Destination 2000 after winning Saturday at the Destination Imagination state tournament, according to a regional director. Three Washington County schools, meanwhile, also placed in the state competition held at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County. Frederick High won for the "If Music Be the Food of Life ... Play On!" category, in which the students had to create a musical performance that tells a story or creates a mood without writing or speaking, said Georgiana Keller, regional director for the Western Region of Maryland Creative Problem Solvers.

charlestown@herald-mail.com CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - Schools in Jefferson County have made great progress in improving health conditions in their facilities compared to three years ago, Jefferson County Health Department officials said. For two years in a row, health department inspections at Jefferson High School uncovered a list of problems including lack of soap, paper towels and toilet paper in student bathrooms, and cigarette smoke in bathrooms that was "thick as fog. " One of the inspections at the high school revealed an ant infestation throughout the school, termite activity, water-damaged ceiling tiles, dirty air vents and rodent activity in a teachers lounge, health department officials said.

By DAVE McMILLION Staff Writer BOONSBORO - Atsuko Yasui's visit to Boonsboro Elementary School was meant to educate students about her Japanese culture, but it was as much of a learning experience for her. The teachers she met during her month stay took her to big U.S. cities like Washington, D.C., and New York City, where she took notice of fast-driving cabbies and other nuances of metro life. Yasui is a housewife in her hometown of Tumba, but student Crosby Blair said he kept emphasizing that Yasui didn't have to worry about those kinds of chores while she was living with Blair and his parents in Boonsboro.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- The Chambersburg Area School District received an award Wednesday for energy stewardship because of initiatives involving students, faculty and staff. The award from Energy Education Inc. recognizes the district for saving nearly 5,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, according to a news release. The district owns 1.3 million square feet of building space. Documents prepared by Energy Manager Connie Kelley estimate the district saved $750,000 in two years.

Aug. 26 Opening day - classes begin Sept. 2 Labor Day - schools closed Sept. 17 2 hour early dismissal Oct. 14 Schools closed Nov. 11 Veterans Day - schools closed Nov. 28 - Dec. 3 Thanksgiving vacation - schools closed Dec. 23 - Jan. 1 Winter break - schools closed Jan. 20 Martin Luther King holiday - schools closed Feb. 17 Presidents Day - schools closed March 4...

Schools are closed in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle today. Officials said Tuesday evening that public schools in Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan counties will not open because of the expected wintry conditions.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- Students at more than 70 percent of Eastern Panhandle schools scored higher in math or reading on West Virginia's revamped standardized achievement tests than statewide averages this spring. But the WESTEST 2 results released last week by the West Virginia Department of Education also show only 19 of 44 schools exceeded state averages of proficiency in both subject areas. C.W. Shipley Elementary School near Harpers Ferry, W.Va., not only scored higher, but the 221 students tested there in grades three through five notched a pair of the highest proficient percentages statewide, according to the results.