Gregory Eckles recalls the true-to-life science classes he observed at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in the Greenbelt area of Prince George's County. There, teachers leaned on their neighbors at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and a collection of law enforcement agencies to infuse classroom lessons with experiences from outer space and from criminal investigations.

"I remember a forensics class where there was an area blocked off, there was the outline of a body and the students had to gather data from this 'crime scene,' analyze it and come to their own conclusions," said Eckles, director of high schools for Carroll County's school system. "I remember coming back and saying, 'Oh man, if Carroll County only had that capability.'"

Several years later, Eckles is convinced it does. And he is working to ensure that the Carroll school system does a better job of tapping into it.

Eckles and a policy director from the Social Security Administration's executive development program are working on a plan to forge stronger partnerships between the 28,000- student school system and local businesses to ensure that business owners, students and teachers are getting the most out of the mutually beneficial relationships.

Marty Hansen of Eldersburg is director of the payment and recovery policy staff at the Social Security Administration. He offered his help to the school system as part of his training for the Senior Executive Service, the federal government's pool of highest-ranking executives. One of the requirements is that he accept a four-month assignment outside of the Social Security agency.

"In Carroll County, our businesses are smaller, but so much of our potential is untapped," Eckles said. "There are all kinds of partnerships out there between schools and businesses, and we're very happy about it. What we don't have is an overall plan to help us work with the growing business community and the growing number of schools."

For years, a committee of business owners and tradesmen has advised educators at Carroll County Career and Technology Center about what equipment the school needs and what they should teach to keep up with industry standards.

Officials from Union Bridge's Lehigh Cement - one of the county's largest companies - have helped develop a unit about cement for the county's science curriculum.

For the past two years, Hampstead businesses have donated coupons for teen-age staples such as cheeseburgers, Internet access and prom corsages to help North Carroll High recognize students who had good attendance, stayed out of trouble, and passed their classes.

Superintendent Charles I. Ecker agrees that more can be done.

He stressed the importance of more and broader partnerships at the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce's meeting last month, and he recently met with Eckles and Hansen to hear their ideas for expanding businesses' reach, particularly into the county's seven high schools.

"I'm pushing partnerships with businesses," Ecker said. "The school system can gain a lot from it in mentorships and internships for students and work experiences for the staff in the summer. And schools can help in a number of different ways, like supplying artwork for businesses' lobbies and offices."

If his recommendations for the school system become reality, the relationship between the school district and the business community would stretch far beyond the cosmetic and the cursory.

He envisions three types of alliances: student-oriented offerings, including guest speakers, internships and days when students can shadow a business person; school-based partnerships, such as committees of local business leaders who help teachers develop career-minded lessons; and systemwide ventures through which businesses could help develop curriculum.

"It could be anything from giving students coupon books and helping a school with fund raising to sitting down with the superintendent and saying, 'You need a new finance curriculum. Yours is outdated,'" Hansen said.

The superintendent says he intends to form a committee of teachers, school officials and business representatives to begin fleshing out Hansen's recommendations.

One of the most significant suggestions Hansen offered was to develop a computerized database listing services school officials would like businesses to provide and tasks businesses have offered to do. Such a central collection of contacts would prevent each school from having to start from scratch each year and would eliminate the duplication of seven high schools calling the same business to ask for a class speaker.

"If a teacher needs someone in their classroom to talk about chemical engineering, I won't have everyone at North Carroll [High] picking up the phone and calling every chemical engineer in the area," Hansen said. "Instead, they can go into the database and find one - or maybe five - chemical engineers who already have said they're willing to speak to schools. It avoids duplication and it avoids inundating businesses with the same kinds of requests from different schools."