The Maryland State Board of Education has named Nancy S. Grasmick, a longtime Baltimore County educator and ally of Gov. William Donald Schaefer, as the new state superintendent of schools.
Ms. Grasmick has worked as a special-education teacher and an administrator in the Baltimore County schools.
Since March, Ms. Grasmick has headed the state’s department of juvenile services; she is resigning that post to accept the top schools job. She is also the head of the Governor’s office for children, youth, and families, and will retain that position.
She succeeds Joseph L. Shilling, who resigned in May to run a school district on the state’s Eastern Shore.
The country-music star Charlie Daniels, together with more than 50 other performers, have collaborated on a cassette single and videotape designed to discourage students from dropping out of school.
Proceeds from sales of the cassette and video tape, “Let’s Open Up Our Hearts,” will go to Cities in Schools, a nationwide dropout-prevention program that encourages community involvement in schools.
Gov. Ned McWherter of Tennessee and Lamar Alexander, a former governor of the Volunteer State and now U.S. Secretary of Education, plugged the project at a press conference on its release.
The Oscar-winning actress Joanne Woodward has pledged to help raise funds to refurbish the high-school auditorium where she acted as a teenager.
Ms. Woodward is honorary chairman of the fund-raising committee for the project at Greenville (S.C.) High School. She has also pledged an undisclosed sum.
The effort is a tribute to the late Robert Hemphill McLane, a former Greenville High teacher and director of the Greenville Little Theater, who directed Ms. Woodward in performances at the high school.
The organizers hope to raise $100,000 for repairs on the auditorium.
