IN THE RACE Four county leaders vie for congressional slots. A-4
The Gazette
NEWS: Arts group sees a colorful future for Brentwood community. A-3
NORTHERN AND CENTRAL PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNT Y
NEWS: Roosevelt wins back-to-back state titles in girls basketball. B-1
DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Thursday, March 19, 2015
25 cents
Budget plan includes tax hike, layoffs
Seuss on the loose
Proposal would help pay for education reform n
BY JAMIE ANFENSON-COMEAU STAFF WRITER
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
Kindergartners Jaelynn Rivera (left) and David Santos sing along at the University Park Elementary School breakfast to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday on Friday.
Laurel Literacy Night is one for books Eisenhower brings displays, food and music to annual event n
BY
KIRSTEN PETERSEN STAFF WRITER
Dr. Seuss books may be a favorite for younger readers, but at Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle
School, students say the author still inspires them, enough so to attract nearly 100 of them to the whimsical makeover of their annual literacy night. “This year it’s interactive. This year we exceeded our expectations,” said William Elliott, the co-chair of the Reading/ English Language Arts department at the Laurel school. “I just
feel like this year we really made it entertainment.” The event, held in the school’s cafeteria March 12, was postponed from Seuss’ birthday on March 2. The floor was decorated with colorful paper pathways that led to different stations including a community book swap, student projects, ESOL resources, crafts and food.
“Everybody wants to come out and have fun [and] they’re still learning about Dr. Seuss and reading,” said Ivis Murillo, 13, of Laurel. Assistant principal Debra Martin said the school held a literacy night last year in the media center that focused on helping
See BOOKS, Page A-8
Facing rising costs and flat revenues, Prince George’s County is preparing to lay off over 100 employees and furlough 6,000 others, while asking county residents to tighten their belts in the form of increased property taxes to help pay for education reforms officials say are needed to move the school system forward. “The proposed FY 2016 budget includes the financial resources necessary to support higher educational achievement,” County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D) said in a letter outlining his objectives in the $3.6 billion budget. “The outcome of this investment will be a county school system that will be most noted for rapidly improving its schools by implementing high quality educational programs and rigor for all students.” Baker presented his budget to the Prince George’s County Council on Friday afternoon. The council must pass an approved budget by June 1. The school board ap-
proved a $1.93 billion budget Feb. 26, challenging county government to meet their request for program expansions and improvements school system CEO Kevin Maxwell said are necessary to improve the system, including expansion of pre-kindergarten, arts education, digital literacy and peer teacher review. To fund the $135.7 million increase over last year’s school budget, Baker’s chief budget officer Thomas Himler said the county is turning to a bill passed by the General Assembly, Chapter 6 of the 2012 Laws of Maryland. Chapter 6 allows counties to raise property taxes higher than the caps set in their charter, so long as those funds are used only for education. To compensate for flat revenues and increasing costs of doing business, Baker is proposing layoffs for 110 county employees. “We haven’t identified what those 110 positions are yet, that’s part of the next few months’ process,” Himler said. In addition, all county employees paid through the General Fund — over 6,000 employees — will be required to take five days of furloughs,
See BUDGET, Page A-8
After speeding complaints, Cottage City has eye on drivers n
Residents say commuters use town as shortcut, pose danger to children BY
KIRSTEN PETERSEN STAFF WRITER
His twin grandchildren are just two years old, but William Shrewsbury, 79, says soon they’ll be old enough to play in the street outside his Cottage City home, where he says commuters drive
too fast and speed bumps should be seriously considered. “If they can’t control their speed, that would be the next thing to do,” Shrewsbury said. In response to resident concerns, the Cottage City police department has begun to monitor drivers and may install temporary speed humps based on the data collected. Residents and police officers say drivers take 40th Avenue to Cottage Terrace in the morning and evening
to avoid the stop light at 38th Street. Shrewsbury said some of those drivers ignore stop signs and make it difficult for him to exit his own driveway. “They take a shortcut coming this way in the morning,” Shrewsbury said. “That’s what they’re doing, missing the light.” Resident Adolphus Edwards lives on Parkwood Street and said there are no speed limit signs there, posing a danger to the children who live at the end of the street. The speed limit throughout
Cottage City is 25 miles per hour if a sign does not indicate otherwise, said Cottage City police chief Robert Patton. “People drive how they want through there,” Edwards said. Patton said the town borrowed a speed monitoring device from Bladensburg to capture traffic data on select streets, starting with 40th Avenue near Parkwood Street. The device will move weekly to collect data throughout the town for at least 30 days, said Corporal Devan Martin.
Martin said officers made 1,400 traffic stops last year, but only issued 14 speeding citations because the police department does not have the tools or equipment needed to enforce speed limits, such as speed guns or speed detection signs. “We know that more than 14 people are speeding here in the community.” Martin said. “We need to go out here and do the research.”
See DRIVERS, Page A-8
New identity, same success at Roosevelt Fifth-year coach leads Raiders to back-to-back girls basketball titles n
BY
ERIC GOLDWEIN STAFF WRITER
In Delton Fuller’s first Prince George’s County coaching gig with the Kenmoor Middle School boys basketball team in the early 1990s, he used to have to set up the schedule himself, organize the games, and make sure the athletes would get there. Even if that meant loading up kids in his Ford Explorer, and personally driving them.
INDEX Automotive Calendar Classified Entertainment Opinion Sports
“It’s a lot more organized now,” said Fuller, now the girls basketball coach at Eleanor Roosevelt High School. But while he’s no longer a team chauffeur, he does sit comfortably in the driver’s seat of one of the most successful teams in the Greenbelt school’s history. On Saturday, Fuller and the Raiders won their second straight Class 4A title and seventh in school history by defeating Paint Branch, 70-42, capping off a dominant 23-3 season. “I think he has done a great job of rebuilding the program to what it is now,” said former Roosevelt coach Rod Hairston, who led the Raiders to five girls basketball
championships from 2005 to 2009. “... He definitely built his own identity there.” Though Fuller said he’s not interested in accolades — “Matter of fact, I don’t even know where the trophy is” — his resume is filled with them. Fuller, 47, was a multisport athlete at Schenectady High School in upstate New York and played tennis at Delaware State University (Class of 1992), he said. After graduating from college, he worked as a physical education teacher at Kenmoor, leading the Hyattsville school’s boys basketball team until about 2000.
See ROOSEVELT, Page A-8
NEWS B-8 A-2 B-6 B-3 A-9 B-1
SPELLING SUCCESS
Teen captures second consecutive Prince George’s crown.
A-5
Volume 18, No. 12, Two sections, 20 Pages Copyright © 2015 The Gazette Please
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GREG DOHLER/THE GAZETTE
Eleanor Roosevelt High School girls basketball coach Delton Fuller (right) congratulates sophomore Octavia Wilson during Saturday’s Class 4A state championship game at Towson University.