parent organizations

Stevens Forest Elementary School in Columbia and its PTA have been recognized as a National PTA School of Excellence for the school's achievement in building family-school partnerships, according to a news release from the National PTA.

School year ahead with lots of events including a Boo Hoo Breakfast for Rodgers Forge Elementary School kindergarteners on their first full day of school on Friday, Aug. 29.

On Monday morning, summer was over for more than 26,000 students across Carroll County. Students grabbed their notebooks and bookbags and headed to schools across the district to resume classes.

Columbia Pro Cantare begins rehearsals for the 38th season on Sept. 2. They practice Tuesday evenings at Hammond High from 7:30 to 10 p.m.

New Mays Chapel Elementary School will open Aug. 27 for the 2014-15 school year. We attend the media tour two days before school is in session

Parents in Carroll County are pulling their children out of the public school system amid complaints about the new Common Core State Standards.

Carroll County law enforcement remind students, parents to be on the lookout for suspicious activity and report such incidents with as much information as possible.

Monday marks the return of public school staff in many area districts, but it's doubtful that most were treated to pulsating Motown music and call-and-response chanting.

Monarch Global Academy Contract School will open in Laurel Aug. 25. Since 2008, there's been talk of building a new school on the site to relieve overcrowding at nearby Brock Bridge, Maryland City and Jessup elementary schools. All three were over capacity last year, according to a chart published by the school system, and at 121 percent utilization, Brock Bridge Elementary was the second most overcrowded school in the county in 2013.

Danielle Moser provides tips for parents preparing for their children's return to school.

School has started and it is time to start thinking about Back-to-School Nights.

Diane Richmond is new principal at Pikesville Middle School

Development of 43 single family homes on the Morsberger property, a project in the heart of Catonsville that was temporarily put on hold, is moving forward, with a development plan hearing scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 22 in Towson.

Volunteer Barbara Roman's thoughts on giving back as part of the Community Crisis Center

It is not every day that you have royalty in the neighborhood but North Laurel has the reigning Miss Elementary Mid Atlantic living right here. Natasha Wakefield, competed in the first every competition up in Lancaster, Pa., and won.

School is out for summer, but that didn't keep parents from attending a community input meeting Tuesday night at Catonsville High School to discuss the future of Catonsville Elementary School. The dimly lit auditorium was abuzz with residents, parents and teachers who gathered to learn about a Baltimore County Public Schools design plan for the new school, expected to open August 2016.

National program of American Legion

Volleyball coaches Joy Zhou and Rose Wilkinson won't even have time to visit Minnehaha Falls while they are in Minneapolis. Instead they are boosting the team spirit of the East Coast Elite Volleyball Team, based out of the Glenwood Community Center, as the team represents the local volleyball club in the Patriot Division of the USA Volleyball Championships.

Kingsville's 4th of July Parade

Carol and Woody Hearn, longtime residents of Howard County, are retiring and moving to homes in Chincoteague, Va., where they'll spend winters, and Vermont, where they'll spend summers.

Tuesday's primary race for the first majority-elected Harford County Board of Education ended with all five incumbent board members moving on to the November general election.

Incumbent Board of Education President Virginia R. Harrison was the leading vote-getter among the candidates for the Board of Education and will be joined on the ballot by Devon Rothschild, Bob Lord, George Harmening, Jim Roenick and Charles ¿Bud¿ Nason in the November general election.

Folly Quarter Middle School community was celebrating its National Blue Ribbon honor when school officials announced another recent accolade – an online education resource named Folly Quarter the 12th best middle school in the nation.

Folly Quarter was the only school in Howard County to be named a National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education this year, and was also designated the 12th Best Middle School in the United States by TheBestSchools.org.

Grace Batavick, Sam Amos and Griffin Mekler-Culbertson, all fifth-grade students at Rodgers Forge Elementary School, provide voice talents for "Space Racers," a new space and science animated cartoon series for children on Maryland Public Television.

Girl Scout Cluster 58 held the Bridging Ceremony last week and about 45 girls moved up in the ranks of Scouting.

Revoking sibling preference in magnet kindergarten programs has made it difficult for families

The Youth's Benefit PTA would like to congratulate the students of Youth's Benefit and their families for the service and support they have provided this school year

Rodgers Forge Elementary School students complete Patriots and Defenders program on American History and visit the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Aegis school board endorsements harford

The path wasn't always smooth for the five young men who just graduated from Harford County's John Archer School, but, as graduate Jaquille Maye kept reminding everyone, "it's all good."

Sandra French, 70, is now one of 12 candidates, and one of two incumbents, seeking one of the four open seats on the seven-member Board of Education. The primary is June 24, where eight of the 12 candidates will advance.

Facts about Maureen Evans Arthur

Boston-based education publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has acquired a Cockeysville-based children's learning website Curiosityville

Lesley Brinton, 49, of West Laurel, said honoring America's military propelled her to join American Legion Post 60 in Laurel. As the daughter of a World War II Navy veteran, she grew up in suburban Pittsburgh cherishing the story of how America gained its freedom, while preaching the importance of preserving and protecting it at any price.

Most education research suggests Hamilton Elementary and Thomas Johnson Middle School would be handicapped by the socioeconomic status of their students, most of whom are poor.

Bond Mill Elementary School PTO Carnival was a huge success. Bond Mill students performed in tie-dye shirts for their Spring Concert tribute to the Beatles. West Laurel Swim Club is still taking new members. Kindergarten registration is underway at Bond Mill Elementary. The Magnificent Body on Sandy Spring Road is offering the opportunity to take a free exercise class to see how you like it.

Kim Alan Leatherman, who had owned a Talbot County landscaping business and was a charity auctioneer, died of pulmonary fibrosis May 9 at the University of Maryland Shore Medical Center at Dorchester. The Easton resident was 67.

Six seats on the Harford County Board of Education will be filled in this year's election, the first time that's happened since state legislation passed five years ago setting up a board with six elected and three appointed members.