The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • Page B2

Maryland Page 2b Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2004 The Sun EDUCATION BEAT Frustrated travelers leave BWI for Ghana Letting students slide Bitterness lingers over being stranded for a week Walbrook: Promoting or graduating those who don't deserve it, as the former principal did, sends the wrong message. By Molly Knight SUN STAFF By Mike Bowler SUN STAFF nurses, 6,000 doctors, 3,000 respiratory therapists and 2,000 pharmacists just to keep up with minimum needs. The study examined 200 health care programs offered by 15 colleges and universities, 16 community colleges and 19 private career schools. Registered nurses are most in demand, followed by nursing aides, physicians and surgeons.

And does carpe diem mean a load of dead fish? In response to the Vatican's support for Latin as the European language, the newsletter of the American Section of the Institute for Etruscan and Italic Studies offers these definitions for those who never studied Latin: Rara avis: no rental car hire available. Casus belli: gastroenteritis. Sic transit gloria mundi: the nausea will pass away, and you'll be fine by Monday. Compos mentis: mint sauce. Inter alia: an Italian airline.

Ex cathedra: ruined church. Ad hoc: wine not included. Ars longa, vita brevis: unsuitable swimsuit (literally, big bottom, small briefs). Post mortem: mail strike. Gloria in excelsis: very attractive Italian girl.

Sub rosa: rather unattractive Italian girl. In loco parentis: railway family compartment. that's exactly what this policy accomplishes. Let's put Walbrook in context. Last year, while Bundley spent a great deal of time running for mayor, the school had a graduation rate of 55.5 percent, well below the state's standard of 81 percent.

This means nearly half of the ninth-graders who enrolled in 1999 dropped out of the Class of 2003 by the time it graduated. In the same year, 3.1 percent of Walbrook's students passed the High School Assessment in English, while 4 percent of the school's lOth-graders scored at the proficient level in reading. But we don't address such terrible performances by making life easier academically for Walbrook students. This is the era of tough high school academic standards. Starting with this fall's eighth-graders, students must pass four tests in English, biology, algebra and government to earn a diploma.

As part of their report cards under the No Child Left Behind Act, high schools are judged by their graduation rates. "It's no longer possible to slide through," Joe A. Hairston, the Baltimore County superintendent, said yesterday. "In the era of tough standards, we know where every student is and how he or she is doing." When students graduate, Hairston said, "they enter an unforgiving world, a world in which there are no second chances, a world that doesn't care if you're black and poor. As a black male, I learned that lesson soon enough." The pretend promotions and graduations at Walbrook sent just the wrong message, particularly to those students who did their homework, passed the required courses on time and walked the stage at commencement with the pride that they were fully qualified to receive a diploma.

Demand for health care workers exceeding supply The demand for health care professionals in Maryland is far surpassing the supply of graduates from colleges, universities and career schools, according to a joint report from the state Higher Education Commission and Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. By 2010, according to the report, the schools will need to produce 15,000 registered ANDREY Bundley would have been better off saying nothing. The former principal of Walbrook High Uniform Services Academy called a news conference Monday to defend his practice of promoting and graduating students who failed one or two required courses. Bundley said he let seniors participate in graduation ceremonies but did not issue them diplomas until they made up the courses they'd failed. Similarly, he said, students who failed required courses were promoted so as not to fall behind in course sequences.

They, too, were required to engage in what the educators now call "credit recovery" making up courses. Bundley said he would never endorse "sending children out into the world ill-prepared," but isfy them as much as we would like to." Many of yesterday's passengers said they remain angry and frustrated with Ghana Airways. Several had complained that their luggage was damaged by heavy rains when it was left out on the tarmac last week. "We've been up since 5 a.m., and after what happened this week, we're not sure of anything," said Musa Ndie, 20, waiting to return home to Gambia. Ndie said he was upset by the airline's refusal to allow more than two pieces of luggage, a complaint echoed by many of yesterday's travelers.

"What airline would do this, after all the inconvenience they've put us through?" said Elaine Bright of Ghana, who was told she and her husband could not check two of their six bags. Bright's son had to drive from his home in Bowie to retrieve her two bags, which he will have to ship to her in Ghana. Van Eck said the two-suitcase rule was a necessity on the full flight. "We want them officials to allow the chartering of more flights," he said. "So we didn't want to further aggravate the situation with excess luggage." Despite troubles with baggage, BWI officials who monitored the flight's departure said it went smoothly, but that Ghana Airways must continue to cooperate with U.S.

investigators. "The safety and security of passengers traveling through BWI is our No. 1 priority," said Jonathan Dean, an airport spokesman. Charles O. Oluokun, executive director of Koch Charters International, a Baltimore-based international charter company working to make BWI a hub for flights to West Africa, said a lengthy suspension of Ghana Airways would have a major effect on travel to countries such as Ghana and Gambia.

"Ghana Airways is its only surviving airline, and the Department of Transportation should do whatever it takes to get it flying again as soon as possible," he said. U.S. transportation officials said the airline would remain suspended until questions were resolved. In the meantime, Ghana Airways' Van Eck said the company hopes to resume service as soon as possible. "There are requirements we have to satisfy first," he said.

After waiting more than a week for a flight to Ghana, more than 190 passengers stranded in Baltimore by the grounding of Ghana Airways were undeterred by a 5 a.m. wake-up call, five hours in a check-in line and a two-hour departure delay. All they wanted was a flight out. And yesterday, after negotiations between U.S. and Ghanaian officials, they got their wish.

About 1:30 p.m., a charter flight operated by World Airlines took off from Baltimore-Washington International Airport bound for Accra, Ghana. The flight was the first to Ghana since U.S. officials grounded the country's state-run airline July 27 to investigate alleged safety violations and the failure to renew its operating license. Marooned for days at the Ra-mada Inn in Laurel, the passengers who leaned against cartloads of baggage in a line that snaked through the international terminal, many dressed in brightly colored African garb expressed mixed emotions as they waited to check in. "I'm so excited because I didn't think it would happen this soon," said the Rev.

John Prempeh, a Catholic priest leading a group of 23 parishioners on a spiritual mission to Ghana, his native country. "I kept calling the airline managers and insisting that we had to get to Ghana, and here we are finally." According to Henry Van Eck, spokesman for Ghana Airways in North America, at least 500 more passengers with return flights remain stranded in the United States and Accra. Approximately 190 of them are scheduled to depart tomorrow afternoon from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on another charter flight. The airline, which put up the passengers and paid for meals, is working to book the remaining passengers on other airlines.

Still, Van Eck said airline officials are thankful that yesterday's flight took off without a hitch. "We are very relieved because, for now, this is all we hoped to do," he said. "We need to satisfy our customers. Unfortunately, right now we are not able to sat Mercury warnings State officials advise people to limit their consumption of freshwater fish caught in some rivers and lakes. Allowable meals per year Pregnant or Children General population nursing women Body of water 8oz.

meal 6oz. meal 3oz. meal Blue gill All public lakes and 96 9(3 96 impoundments Striped bass Chesapeake Bay 24 12 12 and tributaries May 16 to Dec. 15 12 10 8 SniallniOLrth and All public 48 48 24 largemoiithbass impoundments Lake Lariat, 12 12 Avoid Frostburg, Savage Reservoir, Potomac River at Spring Gap Rivers and streams No advisory 96 96 Yellow perch Frostburg 48 48 24 Reservoir, Deep Creek Lake ANDRE F. CHUNG SUN STAFF In Dundalk, Brad Heavner of the Maryland Public Interest Research Group talks about its report on fish and mercury.

Source: Maryland Department of the Environment LAMONT W. HARVEY SUN STAFF Md. fish exceed safe levels of mercury, group reports MaryPIRG examined data from freshwater areas By Tom Pelton SUN STAFF Probe of Walbrook's records began in officials testify 1999 to 2001 had enough mercury to exceed safe limits for women of average weight who eat fish twice a week. Seventy-six percent of the fish had mercury levels that were more than the limit for children under age 3 who eat fish twice a week, according to the report. Mercury is a toxin especially dangerous to the brains of children, causing learning disabilities and developmental delays.

"There is a public health crisis that is slowly unfolding around us, and it's not getting better," Brad Heavner, director of MaryPIRG, said during a news conference that used a fishing pier in Merritt Point Park in Dundalk as a backdrop. "The Bush administration should see the public outcry." Heavner said that a recent proposal by the EPA to direct coal-fired power plants to reduce their mercury emissions by 70 percent by 2018 was too weak and about a decade too slow, based on the continuing health risks faced by the public. The proposal by the EPA has spurred a unusually large public response, about 550,000 comments, said Cynthia Bergman, press secretary for the federal agency. The agency will make a decision on the question of how to regulate mercury emissions from power plants by March 15 next year, she said. Suggests credit Bergman said that mercury pollution is clearly a health hazard, and that the Bush administration deserves credit for working toward making power plants reduce their emissions.

"The critics are saying we aren't doing it fast enough, but we are looking at what technology exists to reduce the mercury emissions from the power plants," she said. "We want to know when the technology is going to be ready and available, and we want to make sure it's done right." In December 2000, at the end of former President Bill Clinton's term, then-EPA administrator Carol Browner announced that her agency would begin requiring coal-fired power plants to reduce mercury emissions, in an effort to end a lawsuit filed by environmentalists. Until that time, a loophole in the law exempted these power plants, found to be the largest source of mercury, from regulations that apply to industry, incinerators and other sources of the air pollution. Officials said then that the EPA would propose regulations for mercury by 2003 and issue final rules by 2004. In December, under the Bush administration, the EPA proposed to cut emissions by 70 percent by 2018.

But Democrats and some environmental groups, who say the technology for reducing emissions is available, said the EPA should require a 90 percent reduction by 2008. State sampling The report said data on more than 100 fish collected by the MDE during recent testing showed that 50 percent of small-mouth bass and 50 percent of walleye exceeded the safe limits of mercury for women who eat the fish twice a week. During the news conference, James White, 69, a retired printing company worker from Dundalk, sat on the fishing pier next to a sign warning of contaminants in fish and cast his line into Bull Neck Creek. White pulled out a small rockfish, which flopped out of his hands, bounced off the pier and plopped into the water. "I just catch and release them," he said.

"I don't eat them. I figure if the pollution gets on my hands, it won't kill me." Many Maryland freshwater fish continue to be contaminated by levels of mercury that exceed the federal government's limits for women and children who eat fish twice a week, according to a report released yesterday by a public interest group. The group urged the federal government to strengthen proposed regulations on power plants that spew the toxic metal from their smokestacks. The report released by the Maryland Public Interest Research Group, called "Reel Danger," analyzes reports and data previously gathered by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Maryland Department of the Environment. It found that 55 percent of 2,547 fish sampled by the federal government in 260 lakes from Sylvia the gorilla dies at Ohio zoo Walbrook, from Page 1b students who have signed up, about 26 will take their courses online and another 16 will be required to attend school to take their classes.

Students taking a foreign language or physical education must take a class at Walbrook. The classes taken on a computer can be done at school or at home, but students must check in with a teacher at school once a week. The online classes have been widely used before in the school system. Students who start Monday still must complete the work they miss this week. The courses last 20 days.

Cathorne said she would allow any student who does not attend summer school to attend regular classes in the fall to qualify for a diploma. During a court hearing yesterday involving two long-standing lawsuits over the quality and funding of the city's schools, Student Services Officer Gayle Amos testified that officials first learned of discrepancies at Walbrook after a routine state audit of special-education records. The audit showed that students' educational files were incomplete or outdated. Amos said outside court that Cathorne was informed of problems when she became Walbrook's principal. A more extensive review revealed that students had improperly been allowed to graduate and move to the next grade.

"We had an indication there were some severe problems there for special-education students, but I did not have any idea it was as egregious as it's coming out to be," Amos said. The school system has launched an investigation into why the students were allowed to get a diploma without having completed the requirements for graduation. Former Principal Andrey L. Bundley has been placed on administrative leave with pay until the investigation is completed. Bundley has said he had a policy of allowing students to walk across the stage and participate in the graduation without getting a diploma if they were within one or two courses of graduating.

The students would not receive a diploma until they had passed their classes. However, school officials said the 93 students who were being required to attend the emergency summer session did receive diplomas. The academic officer in charge of high schools, Frank DeStefano, said yesterday the school system does not allow students to participate in a graduation ceremony if they have not earned a diploma. In the year he has been in his job, DeStefano said only one student was given permission to participate in graduation despite the fact that he needed to complete some courses. An exception was made, DeStefano said, because the student had enough credits but had not taken all the correct courses and had been given bad advice by a guidance counselor.

Bundley said he had his own policy that allowed students to participate in graduation. DeStefano said the school system will audit the transcripts of 2003 Walbrook graduates to see if they all had completed the course work. "We are prepared to go back to 2002 should that be necessary based on the results of 2003 graduates," DeStefano said. The review is necessary, he said, to ensure the public and students that the diplomas stand for something. "It is not about Walbrook; it is about the diploma we grant in Baltimore City," DeStefano said.

Such a review could mean that Walbrook graduates who are entering their sophomore year in college could find out they don't have a valid high school diploma. State, Howard agree on social services panel Members will help choose new director for county By Larry Carson SUN STAFF FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS COLUMBUS, Ohio Sylvia, a western lowland gorilla raised at the Baltimore Zoo after being acquired with the help of public donations, was euthanized Monday at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium because of inoperable cancer. She was 39. Sylvia, born in the wild, was 3 months old when she was captured and less than a year old when brought to Baltimore. A year later, the zoo acquired a male gorilla named Hercules, and the pair became a popular attraction.

In the early 1980s, the zoo decided that its cage space was inadequate, and sent them to the National Zoo in Washington. In 1986, Sylvia was moved to Columbus, which had a noted gorilla breeding program. Sylvia never conceived, but became a surrogate and adoptive mother to juvenile gorillas there. ble." The executive named Raquel Sanudo, county administrative officer, Susan Rosenbaum, citizen services director, and a county social services board member to the nominating committee. Robey said he wants finalists selected within 30 days.

Said McCabe: "I respect the county executive, and I could have done a better job in working directly with him rather than just through staff." Marshall, who retired Friday, also approved of the committee proposal. "I'm glad this is happening because that makes this an open system," he said. Doris Mason, assistant director of Howard County Social Services for child welfare, was selected by McCabe last month to become the county's interim director. Howard County Executive James N. Robey said he was furious last week that he had not been consulted when McCabe named an interim Howard director to replace Sam Marshall, who is retiring.

Robey said he changed his tack during a meeting yesterday morning with McCabe, a former Howard County state senator, in Ellicott City. "There was a part of me that wanted to scream and yell, 'Let's start all over but that wouldn't do the people who worked over there or the people who need services any good. That was all water under the dam," Robey said. "I was thinking, 'Let's go to but what good does that do?" Robey added, agreeing with McCabe that their 40-minute meeting was "amica With four Baltimore-area jurisdictions seeking new social service directors, state and Howard County leaders yesterday agreed to a committee approach that state Human Resources Secretary Christopher J. McCabe said he hopes will become a statewide model.

A joint state-county committee will review candidates and suggest two or three finalists, McCabe said similar to a Baltimore County group created last week for the same purpose. New directors also are being sought in Baltimore City and Anne Arundel County..