St. Mary's County 10/23/05

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=130 BGCOLOR="#66CCCC" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="04000820ezvthe.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#CCFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Clare Whitbeck's Web Site</B></FONT><B>   |  </B><B> </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Clare Whitbecks Web Site"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id43.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Column 2/14/05"><U>Column 2/14/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id46.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A Day of Infamy 3/7/05"><U>A Day of Infamy 3/7/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id41.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dysons Bill"><U>Dyson's Bill</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id47.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Excuses, Excuses 3/14/05"><U>Excuses, Excuses 3/14/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id51.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lots Win, Children Lose 3/28/05"><U>Lots Win, Children Lose  3/28/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id52.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Three Strikes! 4/3/05"><U>Three Strikes!  4/3/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id55.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Effects of Larger School Size 4/10/05"><U>Effects of Larger School  Size  4/10/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id70.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="It Was Inevitable 4/17/05"><U>It Was Inevitable  4/17/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id69.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Its All My Fault 4/24/05"><U>It's All My Fault 4/24/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id57.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Site Struggles 5/1/05"><U>Site Struggles  5/1/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id58.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Learning for All 5/8/05"><U>Learning for All 5/8/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id59.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mechanicsville Elementary Schools Feedba"><U>Mechanicsville Elementary School's Feedback Report  5/15/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id60.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Adventures With Miss T 5/22/05"><U>Adventures With "Miss T" 5/22/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id61.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Less Is Better, Mr. Mattingly 5/29/05"><U>Less Is Better, Mr. Mattingly  5/29/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id62.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A Litany for the Community 6/5/05"><U>A Litany for the Community  6/5/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id63.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bits and Pieces 6/12, 6/19, and 6/26/05"><U>Bits and Pieces 6/12, 6/19, and 6/26/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id64.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Computers and Technology 7/3/05"><U>Computers and Technology  7/3/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id66.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="School Sites 7/10/05"><U>School Sites 7/10/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id65.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="11 Month School Year? 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10/9/05"><U>Challenges, Failures? 10/9/05</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id89.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Carver Fire 10/15/05"><U>Carver Fire 10/15/05</U></A>   |   <B>St. Mary's County 10/23/05</B>   |   <A HREF="id92.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Teachers Health Insurance 11/4/05"><U>Teachers & Health Insurance 11/4/05</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#66CCCC" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="041c8212ezvthe.png"> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Columns"><U>Columns</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=350 BGCOLOR="#66CCCC" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> St. Mary's County 10/23/05</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div>      Those readers who have lived here all their lives may not know what a remarkable community this is.  They could think that other communities are just as generous, just as concerned about the well being of their neighbors as St. Mary's County.  If they do happen to think that, I'll use my status as a newcomer who arrived eight years ago to let them know that other communities are not as generous or concerned about their neighbors.  St. Mary's County is a remarkable place.     </div> <div>      The latest evidence of the remarkable concern of St. Mary's citizens for their neighbors can be seen in the amazing recovery of George Washington Carver Elementary School from the October 10 fire.  Just 6 days after the fire took 3 relocatables from the school, students are back in two classrooms separated by a counseling center within the replacements.  On the third day after the fire, students could return to school.  What accomplished all this?</div> <div>      Making the site safe for students was accomplished by the school system's maintenance staff.  The staff quickly walled off the devastated area to keep curious children from getting injured by going to the unsafe areas of structure that remained after the fire.</div> <div>      Getting the students back to school in just two days was the result of the work of Principal Mark Murphy and the Carver staff.  They figured out where to put the classes who lost their classrooms, gathered the needed teaching materials from who knows where, set up their temporary classrooms and continued to teach the students at Carver.       While the staff was completing plans for the reorganization of the school, pizza arrived at the building at no cost, complements of a St. Mary's County businessman.</div> <div>      Getting the replacement relocatables up began with John Blazer, who is said to have been on the scene before the sun rose Tuesday morning.  By Tuesday afternoon one of the two replacement units was on the scene.  The arrival of that unit provided the Carver staff with a great boost in morale according to Murphy.  The school system and the community were clearly going to take care of them.  And so they did.</div> <div>      Information Technology people were surveying damage by Tuesday afternoon.  They followed the relocatables onto the Carver site and worked right straight through to provide as many of the IT services as could be completed in the days that followed, completing the equivalent of a man-month in just 5 days, </div> <div>      County and State governments rushed approvals so that the work could not only be complete, but legal.  </div> <div>      Installation crews hauled and set the relocatables about as quickly as possible.  </div> <div>      All in all it was a marvelous effort.  Kudos to everyone, from the firefighters who contained the blaze to the last person out on Sunday!  </div> <div>      When a neighbor has an emergency in St. Mary's County, we help fix the problem.  I bet the Superintendent will have even more stories of outstanding effort and generosity of his staff and members of the community at the next Board meeting.  I'm looking forward to learning more about how everyone worked together.</div> <div>      St. Mary's County is, indeed, a remarkable place. </div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>