Police offers gang hotline, Gazette, May 30, 2007

The Montgomery County Police Department has set up an anonymous Gang Tip Hotline so the public can help identify illegal gang activity. The hotline can be reached by calling 240_773_GANG or 240_773_4264, and is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Police officials said all information would be held in a confidential manner. Resource information on organizations involved in gang prevention and intervention can be found on the Montgomery County Police Web site, www.montgomerycountymd.gov

 

New Gang in County Initiates Students, By Maria Glod, Washington Post Staff Writer, Thursday, May 31, 2007; Page B08

It was an initiation into a new gang, the Black Spade Organization, and it took place in a boys' bathroom in March at a Fairfax County secondary school, according to court documents. While two students beat on the recruit, a third timed it for 12 seconds. The incident, at South County Secondary School, touched off a month_long Fairfax police investigation and led to the arrests of four students, ages 14, 15, and 17, police said yesterday. They were each charged with gang participation and recruitment. The three youngest also were charged with hazing, and the oldest faces a destruction of property charge. No students were injured. Detective Jason C. Herbert was called to the school last month to investigate the March 21 gang initiation, according to an affidavit for a search warrant filed yesterday in Fairfax Circuit Court.

The Black Spade Organization, known as the Spades, is affiliated with the nationally known Folk Nation gang, according to court documents. Police officials said they think this is the first time the Spades have existed in Fairfax. The affidavit provided a glimpse into the workings of the new gang. Herbert said students told him that an initiation, or "jump in," lasts 12 seconds and involves "body shots only, no heads shots." They said the lowest_ranking members, or "baby spades," must commit crimes to prove their allegiance to the gang. The crimes can include vandalism, robbery and assault. The incident at the school, which opened in 2005 on the site of the former D.C. prison in Lorton, marks the second time this spring that police have arrested Fairfax students in connection with gang initiations on campus. In March, a teacher broke up a gang initiation in a bathroom at Hayfield Secondary School in Kingstowne. Police said they later learned that seven other teenagers had voluntarily been initiated into the gang. Four students were charged with gang recruiting on school grounds and gang participation.

Police spokesman Eddy Azcarate, a former gang investigator, said that there are 2,000 to 3,000 gang members in the county, mostly ages 12 to 24, and that the number constantly changes. Each county high school has a full_time police officer who helps watch for signs of gang activity. "Schools take this very seriously," schools spokesman Paul Regnier said. "We know that there are gangs in the community. Unfortunately in this case, it did get into the school, but the administration and the police managed to get a handle on it relatively early." Regnier said officials at South County, which has about 3,000 students in grades 7 to 12, have hosted workshops to help parents recognize signs that might indicate gang activity, such as the use of hand signs or wearing a particular style of clothing. The school is planning another workshop this summer.

 

Wootton: Congratulations to the entire track team for an extremely successful season. This past weekend at the State meet we had the boys 4 x 800 team of Kenny Siu, Max Swider, Cedric Dana, and Chris Boyd, place in 6th. Our pole vaulter Liz Calhoun placed 4th, and Chris Boyd placed 4^th in the 1600 with a new school record of 4:20. Also our girls 4 x 100 team of Cally Deppen, Suzanne Falk, Katie Falk, and Lian Boos set a new school record. Great job also to the reset of the qualifiers: Jessie Rubin, Veronica Salcido, and Jamil Abdur_Raoof for a great meet and a great season!!!

 

Montgomery County Recreation SPRING 2007, Teens In Charge

For the latest information, schedules or brochures on any of the following activities please call the Teen Team at 240_777_6985

County's Whiz_Kid Bounty: 2 Intel Finalists, 2 Presidential Scholars, A Fifth Student Wins Documentary Honor, By Daniel de Vise, Washington Post Staff Writer, Thursday, May 31, 2007; Page GZ09 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp_dyn/content/article/2007/05/30/AR2007053001371.html

Montgomery County public schools yielded two Intel Science Talent Search finalists and two Presidential Scholars this spring. Three of the four students came from Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring. To have even one student honored in either of the contests would be a feat for a school system, let alone a single school. The scholars program, created in 1964 to honor the nation's top students, selects two from each state, the District, Puerto Rico and Americans living abroad, plus 15 at large and 20 in the arts __ 141 in all.

Kathy Jee, 17, earned 2,390 out of a possible 2,400 on the SAT and got straight A's through four years at Montgomery Blair. She's an editor of the school's Silver Chips student newspaper and, at 5 feet 6, a varsity basketball player...

Tudor Dominik Maican, 18, is a true prodigy. He was born on Beethoven's birthday, and he began piano lessons at 3 and wrote his first composition in the first grade. To date he has written more than 30 works, including a half_dozen symphonies, and he's finishing a string orchestra piece, on commission, for performance in January by the Eclipse Chamber Orchestra. Dominik has been traveling to New York weekly to study at the Juilliard School. He made his final trip last weekend. In the fall, he will enroll at Indiana University. "It's actually the biggest music school in the country," he said. He's finishing his senior year at Winston Churchill High School...

 

Aspen Hill Library Call for Bands

Press Release Contact: Pam Roberts, Aspen Hill Library, 240_773_9410

The Aspen Hill library is seeking local high school students with bands of their own to

play in their teen summer concert series, "Rock Your Library" which will run four

consecutive Thursday evenings starting, July 5. The library is currently accepting

applications from interested students and the deadline for submittals is June 16, 2007.

http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/content/libraries/teensite/SummerTeenConcertSeriesApplication2007.pdf

In addition to the application form, all prospective bands should submit a tape (video or

audio) or CD of 2 _ 3 songs that the band would be likely to play during the concert.

Band applicants must live or attend school in Montgomery County to apply and be of

high school age. All types of music are acceptable: pop, rock, ballad, reggae, punk,

rhythm and blues, jazz, hip_hop, alternative, etc., and music must be original music to

be eligible. The concerts, intended to showcase local teen talent from Montgomery County, will feature 2_3 different bands at each evening's concert. All concerts will be held outside weather permitting, and space for dancing will be available. This is the sixth year that  the Library has hosted the series which is co_sponsored by the Montgomery County Department of Recreation. For further information about the series please contact the  library or Pam Roberts at 240_773_9410

 

Village site considered for middle school, Centerway Park would give way to upcounty boom by Meghan Tierney, Gazette Staff Writer, May 30, 2007

Plans to replace a park in Montgomery Village with a new middle school are under way, although some residents have raised concerns about increased traffic, the loss of recreational facilities and the decision to construct the facility somewhere other than Clarksburg. Watkins Mill Middle School No. 2 will be located at Centerway Park next to Whetstone Elementary School on Centerway Road. The facility is expected to open in 2011 at the earliest, said Dennis Cross, project manager for Montgomery County Public Schools, during a feasibility study meeting held in the Village last week. Costs have yet to be determined, he said. The school is needed to accommodate development in Clarksburg, which is expected to grow from its current population of about 5,000 to 40,000 in the next 20 years. The existing middle schools being considered in the study are Neelsville in Germantown, Montgomery Village in the Village and Rocky Hill in Clarksburg. When complete, the new middle school and Montgomery Village Middle School will be part of the Watkins Mill cluster, while Neelsville and Rocky Hill Middle School will be in the Clarksburg cluster, said Adrienne Karamihas, a facilities team leader with MCPS’s division of construction. Currently, Neelsville is physically located in the Clarksburg cluster, but its students go to high schools in both the Watkins Mill and Clarksburg clusters. The new middle school will eliminate the need for that split, said Bruce Crispell, director of long range planning for the school system.

But the current split of Rocky Hill students will continue, he said. About 30 percent of Rocky Hill students will attend Damascus High School in the Damascus cluster, while the remainder will attend Clarksburg High. All Montgomery Village Middle School students attend Watkins Mill High School and will continue to do so. However, some Clarksburg parents feel that a new middle school in Montgomery Village won’t provide much relief for Rocky Hill, which opened in 2004 and already has two portables on site. ‘‘It’s a temporary solution," Donna Pfeiffer, president of Rocky Hill’s PTA, said last week of the county’s plan. ‘‘It’s the next thing up from portables." Rocky Hill parent Carol Toeller questioned the accuracy of the county’s enrollment projections, which estimate that Rocky Hill’s student body will grow to 1,250 pupils by the 2011_12 school year. The building’s capacity is 956. ‘‘The county is constantly playing catch_up on building schools," Toeller, who believes the projections should be higher, said last week. Watkins Mill Middle School No. 2 is still in the early design phase, and boundaries won’t be determined until about a year before the school opens, Cross said. The school is being designed by Maryland_based Grimm + Parker Architects, the company that was selected for a proposed addition to Whetstone, he said.

The school will be constructed on the existing soccer field and softball diamond in Centerway Park, which occupy about 20 acres and are separated from Whetstone by trees, Steve Parker, president of the company, said at last week’s meeting. The site was originally a designated a MCPS site but was surplused by the Board of Education in 1981 and conveyed to the Maryland_National Capital Park and Planning Commission in 1986, according to Sharon Levine, director of government relations for the Montgomery Village Foundation’s Board of Directors.

A stipulation in the deed provided that the site be returned to the Board of Education if it was ever needed for a school, although approval is still needed from M_NCPPC and the county executive, said Mary Pat Wilson, a site administration specialist for the school system. ‘‘It’s always a shame when you don’t have park facilities, but it was a school site first," Peggy Mark, MVF’s director of parks and recreation, said last week. The potential loss of a park, the only one of Montgomery Village’s 13 parks that is owned by the county, upsets some residents. ‘‘It blew me away that we’re just giving it away," resident Jan Watson, who has been following the situation since the early 80s, said during a foundation meeting last week. ‘‘I have nothing against schools, schools are great, but it’s our park."

The park was one of two sites considered for the school, Wilson said. The 41_acre Casey East property, located in Gaithersburg on Route 355 at its intersection with Watkins Mill Road, was deemed unsuitable by the Board of Education because it is too far away from residential areas and would require students to cross a busy street, she said. ‘‘It’s not a positive area for kids," Wilson said. Additionally, a stream valley buffer runs through the center of the property and the owner, BP Realty Investments, was unwilling to sell, she said.

Still, the Centerway site has traffic problems of its own. The property will only have one access point, an existing entrance into the park’s parking lot, Parker said. The school system is considering creating another entrance on Whetstone’s property that would connect to both schools’ parking lots. Parker said that officials at Whetstone, which also has only one access point, would likely be receptive to the idea. ‘‘It’s chaos at dismissal time," he said. ‘‘They’re desperate for another way to get cars and buses away from each other." Some residents from nearby neighborhoods, some of which have their only access points on Centerway Road, are concerned about the additional traffic. Neighbor Carolyn Picardi, who has lived across the street from the site’s access point for about 14 years, said that traffic on Centerway Road has doubled over the last several years and questioned whether adding more school buses and parent drop_offs to the mix was a good idea. ‘‘I think some of the people who’ve lived here for a long time knew it was a school zone, but the rest of us didn’t," she said last week, adding that some residents are concerned that the loss of the park could hurt their property values. The foundation’s Levine also expressed concern about potential problems on Centerway Road, which she said ‘‘already receives a fair amount of traffic." A 134_acre parcel, one of the last available tracts of land in Montgomery Village that received preliminary approval for a subdivision in 2004, is located off of Centerway Road and could also bring a substantial amount of new traffic, she said. According to Parker, the school system is considering ways to make Centerway Road safer for pedestrians, such as a crossing guard or traffic light.

 

Man with gun prompts ‘Cold Blue’ at Gaithersburg schools, by Chris Robinson, Gazette Staff Writer, May 29, 2007

Three Gaithersburg schools were on alert Tuesday while police searched for a man they believed was armed with a handgun. Forest Oak Middle, Gaithersburg Middle and Gaithersburg Elementary schools were placed on Code Blue at 12:10 p.m., following a series of reports about a man armed with a handgun in the area, said Sgt. Rudy Wagner, a spokesman for Gaithersburg Police. The suspect had not located as of Tuesday afternoon. The schools are located within an about two_mile radius of each other. Code Blue status involves locking the school’s exterior doors and monitoring all visitors. Instruction and other activities progress regularly within the school. The Code Blue and the police search ended at about 1:20 p.m., but police remained on the scene during school dismissals, Wagner said. A witness told police at about 11:40 a.m. that he saw what appeared to be a carjacking, but police later learned the incident involved a man with a silver handgun who was threatening another man, Wagner said. The men then fled in separate directions — the armed man toward Girard Street and the other toward North Summit, Wagner said. The victim later told police he believed it might be a B.B. gun, Wagner said.

At 11:44 a.m., a parent dropping her child off at Forest Oak Middle, located at 651 Saybrooke Oaks Boulevard, called police and said she saw a man with a handgun, Wagner said. The physical description matched the suspect, and police then set up a perimeter where they searched the area with K_9 units and a helicopter, but were unable to find the suspect, Wagner said. The suspect is described as a black male, about 25 years old, 5 feet 5 inches, 150 pounds and wearing a blue and white striped shirt, Wagner said.

 

Parents, principals say school security cameras are needed, Devices to be installed by the fall at Loiederman, Parkland and Key, by Kristina Gawrgy, Gazette Staff Writer, May 30, 2007

Parents and principals at eastern Montgomery County middle schools say security cameras that will be installed by the fall are welcome and needed to fight problems within the schools. ‘‘We just felt that it would be one more way to enhance security and serve as a deterrent," said A. Mario Loiederman Principal Alison Serino, which will be one of three area schools receiving the cameras. The county public school system is installing the cameras in middle schools about six years after it began placing them in all county high schools. The cameras, which are installed in hallways and at entrances, have already been installed at Roberto Clemente Middle School in Germantown. The other schools that will have cameras by the fall include Parkland Middle School in Aspen Hill and Francis Scott Key Middle School. Key is being renovated. Parkland Principal Kevin Hobbs said the cameras are needed for more than students misbehaving in the hallways. "It’s not the middle school students that I’m worried about, it’s the adults that come [into the school]," Hobbs said. ‘‘...I’m not saying that it doesn’t deter behaviors, but I always found that it’s mostly for more serious things and just added that other layer of safety."

Kristen Dean, secretary of the Parkland PTSA, said unfortunately, the cameras were a necessary option. ‘‘I think it’s a shame that we have to put [security cameras] anywhere," she said. Dean also said it was the cheapest option to curb vandalism. Robert B. Hellmuth, director for MCPS Department of School Safety and Security, said the extra security features are important in order to curb bad behavior and ensure the safety of students. ‘‘You put cameras as a deterrent just like you do in malls, banks and 7_Elevens," Hellmuth said. ‘‘The idea is if people know they are being filmed, they won’t do unwanted behavior. ...But if that doesn’t work, you want to reconstruct what happened, identify who is involved and take the appropriate action." He said all county middle schools would have interior security cameras installed in the next six years, depending on resources. Hellmuth said the budget for the cameras in the high schools and the initial middle schools came from a separate appropriation that the school system requested from the County Council through the Capital Improvement Projects budget. The next request for CIP funds will go toward cameras for middle schools and to replace older high school cameras with the new digital systems. Extra funding would also go toward other security features such as access controls at the schools’ front doors, visitors’ management systems, indoor gates, lighting and fencing.

Loiederman’s security camera system will cost about $70,000, Hellmuth said, which is typical for most schools. The cameras are connected to monitors in the school, but those monitors are not watched all the time, Hellmuth said. The new digital networks, however, allow recordings to be stored and saved for review. Cathy Louviere, president of the Loiederman PTSA, said Loiederman parents called for the cameras after an incident in December when 26 windows were broken and six doors were vandalized. Serino said the vandals, a group of county students and young adults, are going through court proceedings. The incident, however, prompted Serino and school staff to request extra funding for exterior cameras. Hellmuth said some high schools have exterior cameras, but only receive them based on specific needs. Systems cost more if lighting on the outside is not conducive to good images. While there are no plans to install security camera systems in elementary schools, Hellmuth said schools could install cameras at entrances to monitor access to the building.

There is no specific centralized county data about the effectiveness of security cameras, but Hellmuth said principals have been very pleased with results. ‘‘I can tell you the principals ... tell us that there is an absolute difference," he said. ‘‘They are telling us that they’ve seen a drastic improvement in the climate of the school since the cameras were put in." Serino said she is optimistic that the cameras would improve the school environment. ‘‘[The cameras] are not meant to be Big Brother...but give a sense that there are other ways that [students] are safe," she said. ‘‘...The presence of cameras does alter decisions kids make inside the building."

 

Where is Character Counts! now that we need it? Gazette May 30, 2007

As the school year comes to a close and those long summer days roll around, I encourage people to take time to contemplate our schools. Perhaps they have seen or heard of those rowdy, chaotic classrooms, where teachers spend about as much time trying to discipline as they teach. Even some students complain that they find it difficult at best to learn or concentrate in some classrooms. Why is this? Could there be a problem with values and morals? Forgetting or ignoring right from wrong, good from bad?

Wasn’t it Montgomery County that had those words ‘‘Character Counts!" plastered all over just about everything we saw a few years ago? Where’d it go? Does respect count anymore? Responsibility? Trustworthiness? Caring? Fairness?

Why is there obvious disrespect, dishonesty, deception and distrust in some of today’s schools? Cheating, lying, banding together to ‘‘protect" guilty peers? Some may be thinking, ‘‘Oh, yeah, so many teenagers today have been so poorly raised!" Yes, some have, but that has been true for many generations and will continue to be for many more. So what is there to contemplate? Well, is it wise to ponder these questions solely in light of the students? Or are there other key components in the educational environment? Is there an urgent need to reintroduce Character Counts! into our public schools? Have we discovered that there most definitely is? Trudi Albrecht, Gaithersburg

 

The Principal Principle, By Barbara Kantrowitz and Jay Mathews, Newsweek, May 28, 2007

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18754330/site/newsweek/

Many things go into making a high school great, but a strong, effective principal is always at the top of the list. As part of our survey of America's Best High Schools, we take a look at the many roles a head must play.

_ It's 7:15 in the morning and Al Penna has already been on the job for an hour. Standing in the gated entryway of Binghamton High School in upstate New York, the veteran principal—about to celebrate his 60th birthday—greets hundreds of bleary_eyed teens by name. "How are we today, Louis?" "Good morning, Chris!" "Congratulations on the win, Jennifer!" During the next few hours, Penna presides over meetings on school safety and senior awards, signs a contract for graduation photos and handles staff complaints about crackling walkie_talkies. He visits one class aimed at keeping potential dropouts in school and another where the assignment is to read "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Nobel Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez. He checks in on students laboring over the state's yearly English as a Second Language (ESL) exam. "Kurdistan," he says, quietly pointing to one student, and then, "Somalia, Eastern Europe, a few from Puerto Rico." He even happily chows down on his favorite cafeteria lunch: gravy_doused roast beef on white bread with mashed potatoes and corn on the side. Continues

 

Man Described As a Top Spammer Arrested, May 30, 2007, By GENE JOHNSON, AP

A 27_year_old man described as one of the world's most prolific spammers was arrested Wednesday, and federal authorities said computer users across the Web could notice a decrease in the amount of junk e_mail. Robert Alan Soloway is accused of using networks of compromised "zombie" computers to send out millions upon millions of spam e_mails. "He's one of the top 10 spammers in the world," said Tim Cranton, a Microsoft Corp. (MSFT, News) lawyer who is senior director of the company's Worldwide Internet Safety Programs. "He's a huge problem for our customers. This is a very good day."

 

PTSA recommends cell tower be denied for Julius West, Superintendent to make final decision, by Warren Parish, Gazette Staff Writer, May 30, 2007

The Julius West Middle School PTSA is recommending against a proposal to locate a cellular tower on school property in Rockville. The decision is made in the wake of a phone survey in which 164 respondents opposed the T_Mobile proposal and 111 supported it. More than 70 had no opinion on the proposal that would locate a 50_foot tower behind the school near the ball fields. Households where Julius West students live were called. ‘‘There was strong agreement that we should oppose it, based on the results of the survey and in light of our interest in continuing a good relationship with the community," Ginger Martin, PTSA president, said. The recommendation now goes to the central office of Montgomery County Public Schools for review. Staff will write a recommendation for Superintendent Jerry D. Weast, who has the final say on whether the property is open to tower construction. ‘‘Staff will probably recommend against it, since the PTA is not supporting it," Richard G. Hawes, director of the school system’s Department of Facilities Management, said. ‘‘In most cases, the superintendent tends not to approve requests if the PTA does not support it. However, I must stress, it’s his decision."

Nearby residents oppose T_Mobile’s application, saying a tower would negatively affect their property values and views and potentially impact student health. T_Mobile asserts the tower is safe and would not hurt property values. Company representatives assert the tower is needed to fill a coverage gap primarily for those traveling on Interstate 270. Julius West is located on Great Falls Road at Maryland Avenue, next to the highway. The Rockville City Council also opposes the application, though the city Board of Appeals approved T_Mobile’s zoning application in December. The school system has approved 10 cell towers on their property around the county, according to information provided by system administrators. Tower applications have been denied at three sites, Georgian Forest Elementary School in Wheaton, White Oak Middle School, and Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville. Applications at another 16 sites, including Rockville High School, have been withdrawn for various reasons. As of press time, no timetable was available for when Weast might make his decision.

 

Man claiming to be engineer signs off on projects, May 30, 2007, by Dena Levitz, The Examiner http://www.examiner.com/a_754001~Man_claiming_to_be_engineer_signs_off_on_projects.html

WASHINGTON (Map, News) _ A man claiming to be an engineer has been working on major construction projects in Montgomery County and the greater D.C. area for nearly five decades without a professional license, according to Maryland authorities. Milne Lee Sutherland of the Silver Spring firm Sutherland Associates describes himself in his 2007 resume as an engineer who has worked on major regional projects such as D.C.’s Veterans Hospital and the 2,000_acre residential community of Leisure World in Silver Spring. He also listed himself as engineer in a host of smaller, preliminary plan applications for construction projects in Montgomery County, according to documents on file at Montgomery County Department of Parks and Planning’s offices.

Liz Williams, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Department of Labor and Licensing Regulations, told The Examiner that Sutherland is not licensed in any of the two dozen engineering_related fields for which her agency provides credentials. Without an engineering license, Maryland law forbids anyone to call himself either a "professional engineer" or "engineer." Doing so is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $500 fine or six months in prison for each offense. When reached by phone this week, Sutherland said he would not comment on his status as an engineer. Top officials with Parks and Planning said Tuesday that they are aware Sutherland does not have a license. For that reason, his work must be signed off on by a licensed engineer, according to Gwen Wright, acting chief of the countywide planning division. Up until a few years ago, though, planners were not vigorously checking plans against a list of state_licensed engineers, she said, so it’s possible Sutherland could have signed off on a plan as an engineer. "I cannot tell you that there have been plans that came through that were not signed by a licensed engineer. We don’t know," Wright said. "What we can tell you is that in the last several years we do have a heightened level of vigilance on this, and we would not accept a plan from Mr. Sutherland because we know he is not a licensed engineer." continues

 

Treatment ordered for teen convicted of school sex assaults, May 30, 2007, By DAVID DISHNEAU, AP http://www.examiner.com/a_754959~Treatment_ordered_for_teen_convicted_of_school_sex_assaults.html

A 17_year_old Frederick boy was convicted Wednesday of sexually assaulting three girls in the halls and a bathroom of Tuscarora High School during two consecutive school years. Prosecutors dropped charges that defendant Michael T. Smith raped a fourth girl twice inside the school, citing insufficient evidence. Under a plea bargain announced in Frederick County Circuit Court, Smith will be committed to a residential facility for juvenile sex offenders until he completes treatment or turns 21. Smith, who has been in jail since his arrest Oct. 25, will avoid a potential 20_year prison term if he complies with the treatment program and the terms of a five_year probationary period that starts after his release from juvenile confinement.

Judge John H. Tisdale said the treatment program is "not intended to be an easy way out." He described it as "significant, meaningful, sex_offender treatment that would not be available in the adult court."

Smith pleaded guilty as an adult to attempted second_degree rape and admitted his involvement as a juvenile in a fourth_degree sex offense. He was convicted as a juvenile of another count of fourth_degree sex offense after entering an Alford plea in which he didn't admit guilt but acknowledged the state had enough evidence to convict him. Both of the lesser offenses involved 15_year_old girls who were grabbed and groped in hallways during the 2005_2006 school year, Assistant State's Attorney Lindell K. Angel said. Neither of them reported the incidents until after a 16_year_old victim, at the urging of a friend, told police that Smith had tried to rape her in a girls bathroom last October, Angel said.

The assaults prompted creation of a Frederick County Public Schools task force that studied the system's bullying and sexual_harassment reporting program. The panel will likely issue its recommendations in June, including one that students be taught at an earlier age how to report such behavior, spokeswoman Marita Loose said. The material currently is provided in 6th grade, she said. PTA groups at some schools, including Tuscarora High, have offered self_defense classes since the attacks.

Frederick County State's Attorney J. Charles Smith said sexual assaults should be reported immediately. He said many young people don't seem to regard unwanted sexual contact as a serious offense, an attitude he blamed partly on steamy popular culture. "Look at television programs like 'Desperate Housewives,' where the mothers are sleeping with everybody in the neighborhood," he said. Smith's father, Mike Johnson, said juvenile detention and treatment would help his son more than prison time. "He's a young man who needs a chance," Johnson said