FOCUS ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE County residents light the night to target problem. A-4
NEWS: Men converge on William Beanes Elementary to make a difference. A-3
Gazette-Star SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNT Y
SPORTS: Crossland volleyball still winning, despite being shut out of their own gym. B-1
DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Thursday, October 16, 2014
25 cents
Peer-teacher plan to start
Getting ‘greener’
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Effort provides support, mentorship for struggling instructors BY JAMIE ANFENSON-COMEAU STAFF WRITER
Experienced teachers in Prince George’s County will soon be providing mentorship, support and evaluation to aid their struggling colleagues. On Oct. 9, the school board approved a Memorandum of Understanding with the county teachers’ union to create the county’s Peer Assistance and Review, or PAR, program to assist in the professional development of struggling non-tenured teachers. “PAR came into existence with the frustration teachers had with the ‘sink or swim’ method of professional induction,” said Kenneth Haines, president of the Prince George’s County Educators Association. “This is one of the first steps towards teaching becoming a self-monitoring profession on par with medicine or law.”
See PEERS, Page A-8
PHOTOS BY GREG DOHLER/THE GAZETTE
(Above left) Sharon and Bill Jahn of Bowie pose on Oct. 10 with the rain barrel they donated to Kenilworth Elementary School in Bowie. The barrel was debuted at the school’s fall festival, where first-grader Jayden Paradizo (above right), 6, of Bowie struggles to lift a large pumpkin that he picked out.
Bowie school gets helping hand BY
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EMILIE SHAUGHNESSY STAFF WRITER
hen Bill and Sharon Jahn of Bowie heard that Kenilworth Elementary’s rainwater collection barrel was stolen this winter, they decided to dip into their own rainy day fund and bail the school out. The couple, whose daughter attended Kenilworth 30 years ago, bought and donated a new rain barrel which Kenilworth students decorated with clouds, flowers and a rainbow at the end of last school year. “We feel kind of a special tie to Kenilworth,” Sharon Jahn said. “It was our pleasure to replace it.” The rain barrel, which was on display at the school’s fall festival on Oct. 10, is part of Kenilworth’s increased focus on environmental education. The barrel will be installed after school officials have a means to secure it to prevent another theft.
One of two certified Maryland Green Schools in Bowie, Kenilworth also created Prince George’s County’s school system’s first “outdoor classroom” last year, where students learn in a garden-like setting and interact with nature. “The environment is extremely important, and you need to start with young people who understand and appreciate the environment,” Bill Jahn said. “This is where it all begins — right here with the students.” During the fall festival, County Councilwoman Ingrid Turner (Dist. 4) of Bowie presented the school with a $1,500 discretionary education grant. The grant will supplement the school’s technology budget and could also help fund an expansion of the outdoor classroom and support the school’s “green team” student group, said Kenilworth principal Rodney Henderson. “The outdoor classroom has been a wonderful, wonderful hands-on learning ex-
perience for our students,” he said. “[The students] go out, they get to see how things start as a seed and mature into plants that contribute positive things to our environment.” The outdoor classroom expansion could include equipment to measure soil acidity and track weather changes, Henderson said. Kenilworth’s parent-teacher association paid for the original elements of the outdoor classroom, which cost around $6,200, and has applied for several grants to expand the vegetable garden near the classroom and add greenhouses, said PTA vice president Christina Bayes. “It’s a public school with limited money, so we’ve applied for grants,” she said. “We’ve got parents donating birdseed and vegetables and things like that. We’re trying to find natural seating like tree stumps and rocks. The land we sit on is amazing. It’s like a slice
Bowie gym to get new roof Nearly $200,00 in upgrades to address longtime problem
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EMILIE SHAUGHNESSY STAFF WRITER
Bowie officials hope the only moisture city gym patrons will wipe from their brows will be sweat once water leakage issues that have plagued the building for years are addressed. Bowie council members approved nearly $200,000 in renovations to the city-owned gym’s roof, gutters and rotunda on Oct. 6. Construction is scheduled to begin this fall, and could take up to three months, according to a memo from city manager David Deutsch. “The [gym] facility opened in 2000 and has had recurring issues with the installation of the roof and leaks
See BARREL, Page A-7
See GYM, Page A-7
County bill targets sex trade Upper Marlboro Three bills pass committee, will appear before council this year n
BY JAMIE ANFENSON-COMEAU STAFF WRITER
Over 130 documented cases of human sex trafficking have occurred in Prince George’s since 2013, but county legislation is currently under consideration which supporters hope will reduce those numbers. County Bills 79, 80 and 81 were passed with favorable rec-
INDEX Automotive Calendar Classified Entertainment Opinion Sports
ommendations by the Public Safety and Fiscal Management Committee on Oct. 9 and will be brought for introduction to the council at an undetermined date. The three bills are an important tool for law enforcement to use in curbing the forced prostitution of adults and minors in Prince George’s County, said D. Michael Lyles, chairman of the county’s Human Trafficking Taskforce. “One of the big issues driving human trafficking in the area, besides the demand, are resources and facilities, so that people who want to buy sex, especially from children, have
a place to go,” Lyles said. Lyles said the taskforce had identified over 130 police incidents involving human sex trafficking, many involving minors, in 2013 and 2014. Exact numbers are difficult to obtain because sex trafficking is generally not used by police as a category of offense, Lyles said. The Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force reports law enforcement in Maryland arrested 94 sex traffickers and identified 200 victims since January 2013. CB-79 would prohibit any hotel or motel establishment
See SEX, Page A-8
Relationship videos, time capsule tradition help capture giveaway n
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KIRSTEN PETERSEN STAFF WRITER
Upper Marlboro couple Kaisha Sutton and Quinton Huguley joke that their relationship is like a romantic comedy. “We’re always laughing and having a good time and it really resembles something like a
NEWS B-7 A-2 B-6 B-3 A-9 B-1
EARNING HER STRIPES Bowie “tiger lady” takes to the streets to promote art.
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couple wins wedding
Volume 17, No. 42, Two sections, 20 Pages Copyright © 2014 The Gazette Please
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movie,” Sutton said. “My family members say all the time we live in the world of a reality show.” But there was no punch line when Washington, D.C., theater venue Arena Stage announced Oct.1 that the couple won its $80,000 wedding giveaway contest. “I made sure she didn’t fall,” Huguley said. “I was really excited.” The contest prize includes free use of the Mead Center
See WEDDING, Page A-8
BILL RYAN/THE GAZETTE
Upper Marlboro couple Kaisha Sutton and Quinton Huguley won an $80,000 wedding from Arena Stage in Washington, D.C.