ABCDE METRO monday, december 6, 2010 THEREGION 31, 9 a.m. 38, noon 36, 5 p.m. 31, 9 p.m.
Obituaries Soprano soloist Helen Boatwright, 94, was celebrated for singing the music of American composers such as Charles Ives. B5
Delays on VRE test patience
Some drivers resort to cars after mechanical failures, crowds make them hours late
BY JENNIFER BUSKE AND LUKE ROSIAK
Bristow resident Todd Skiles enjoyed
his daily rides on the commuter trains of Virginia Railway Express for more than a decade. But not anymore. Numerous VRE delays in the past
month have made him late for work. Skiles, 40, now drives. The last straw, he said, was a mechanical failure two days before Thanksgiving that quadrupled his hour-long commute. “I’ve been riding since 1999, and it was
far more reliable and less crowded be- fore,” Skiles said. “If they could get to where it is running regularly, I’d go back . . . but I can’t afford to be three or four hours late to work.” VRE riders have become frustrated
with the service in recent months as trains seem to encounter more frequent problems and are crowded with people standing innarrowaislesandonwinding staircases. Between July 12, when a newoperator,
Keolis Rail Services America, began run- ning VRE’s trains, and Nov. 30, there were about 488 delays and 10 cancella- tions. Forty-six of those delays were an hourormorelong. Inthesameperiod the year before, therewerefour cancellations and 300 delays, with only eight an hour or longer, according to aWashingtonPost analysis of VRE service-disruption re- ports. (VRE did add one new morning express train this summer). “It’s irrelevant why engines are fail-
ing,” said Gregg Baxter, general manager forKeolis’s local operation. “We know we
vre continued on B4
Montgomery’s multi-tasking Little Red Riding Hood County schools begin
to phase in curriculum that integrates subjects
BY MICHAEL BIRNBAUM
The Gaithersburg first-grade class was analyzing “Little Red Riding Hood,” but instead of parsing the tale’s literary mer- its, it was safety time:Don’t tell strangers your address. Later, the topic turned to science. The students discussed how ani- mals protect themselves, using the wolf and the young girl as examples. Montgomery County schools say they have found a way to bring back history,
science and art into daily classroom life, subjects that have been crowded out of schools in the decade since the No Child Left Behind law assigned a federal man- date to math and reading. Their approach will soon spread
across the country as part of a $2.25 million agreement with Pearson, the world’s largest education publisher, to develop and market a new elementary school curriculum. “We’re all struggling nationwide with
what we are preparing our students for,” said Carol Lange, principal of Diamond Elementary School in Gaithersburg, one of the pilot schools for thenewfirst-grade curriculum. “It’s going to have to be associated with technology and that kind of more open-ended critical thinking.”
In a first-grade class at the school,
veteran teacher GaleMundy read “Little Red Riding Hood” to her students. Then Mundy, who has taught for 26 years, asked her students whether they went on walks by themselves. “Noooooooo!” they said. “Only when you’re 8,” one girl said. “When you’re 10,” a boy said. “18,” came the final bid. Mundy said that the new approach
seemed to work in ways that the old one hadn’t. “They’re more engaged, and it means
more to them,” she said. “The important message was always hard to pull out for them” through the old methods, which isolated one skill at a time: first reading comprehension, plowing through a new
A glowing tribute at Antietam COURTLAND MILLOY
In Charles, a brighter holiday for a girl whose father died to protect her
T
hanks to the Charles County Sher- iff ’s Office, 8-year-old Cheyenne Browne has pretty much every-
thing she wants for Christmas—a new dress, jeans, pajamas, sneakers and boots. Everything except maybe a remote- controlled firetruck, helicopter and po- lice car—and a Barbie doll. Not that she’s complaining. It’s just
that her father,Michael Browne, was a volunteer firefighter when the family lived in Riegelwood,N.C. In 2006, he was killed while shielding Cheyenne, then 4, from a tornado that destroyed their home. “My dad used to let me ride in his
firetruck with him,” Cheyenne said. She loves to wear his hat—and sure would like a truck to go with it. Now living with her grandmother in
Waldorf, Cheyenne was among 85 youngsters chosen by a volunteer group of sheriffs’ deputies to participate in their annual “Shop with a Cop” pro- gram. On Saturday, a motorcade of pa- trol cars carried them to aWal-Mart, where they got to spend about $200 apiece, mostly on clothes. Deputy Sheriff Clarence Black served
as Cheyenne’s chauffeur and chaperone, and he had the foresight to bring along two civilian volunteers, both women, to help the girl pick out clothes. In the toy department, Cheyenne
needed no help at all. A big, shiny, red remote-controlled hook and ladder made her eyes light up. But the truck was a budget buster, and essentials like shoes and coats had to come first.
milloy continued on B3 To the crowd’s delight, formerWashington
Capitals right wing Peter Bondra, above, who played with the team for 14 years before being
traded in 2004, takes on team mascot Slapshot at a skills exhibition Sunday at theNational
Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden Ice Rink at the Mall. Caps center Nicklas Backstrom, right, high-fives thrilled hockey fans, including
Hannah James, 11, of the District, as he and several players participated later in a public clinic, which had originally been scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. Sunday’s main event was
delayed until after noon, however, because the coach made the team practice in the morning because of the Caps’ 3-1 loss the night before against the Atlanta Thrashers.
Dr. Gridlock Robert Thomson will be online to take your questions about Metro, traffic and other transportation issues. Noon.
A bit of slapstick with Caps’ Slapshot
Watching out for others A Burke resident who says she was abused by her parish priest when she was a girl living in Alexandria urges parents to speak to their children about sexual abuse. B3
JOHNKELLY’SWASHINGTON
Leave it to a rodent The columnist swears he saw a beaver in Silver Spring. His wife never saw it. Neither has his daughter. Nor the family dog. B3
Baker pushing restart button
in Prince George’s will face fiscal challenges
New administration BY MIRANDA S. SPIVACK For Rushern L. Baker III, the long
journey to the Prince George’s County executive’s suite ends Monday with a swearing-in ceremony in Upper Marl- boro. But the sense of accomplishment is
PHOTOS BY KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POST
clouded by a county government strug- gling to find itsway after Jack B. Johnson (D), the departing county executive, and hiswife,LeslieJohnson,werechargedlast month with evidence tampering and de- structionof evidence. Leslie Johnson (D) is expected to take
officeMonday alongwith eight others on the County Council. Because of termlim- its, her husband could not run for county executive again. County residents’ distress over the ar-
rests, the distraction of a corruption in- vestigation and the county’s vexing finan- cial balance sheet could hover over Bak- er’s administrationfor years. Baker, a Democrat, ran unsuccessfully
twice before for the county’s top job, touting his ability to run a clean govern-
ment.Nowhe gets his chance. “I want to take the county in a new
direction,” Baker, 52, said in an interview with The Washington Post a few days beforehis inauguration. “Myjobascounty executive is to promote Prince George’s County and to growit. I can’t be deterred fromthat. “We have challenges, but they are out-
weighed by the opportunities.” Within a few hours of taking office
folk tale every day, then writing later in the year in a letter-writing unit, she said. “Now we’re doing a little bit of every-
thing,” she said. Part of what’s cutting-edge may seem
slightly old hat, educators acknowl- edged: the idea that multiple topics be taught through one theme. Remember reading the tale of Johnny Appleseed, eating apples in class and collecting fall leaves? Montgomery teachers say the newmethod, which they call an integrat- ed curriculum, pushes much further. “This is higher level,” Lange said. “Like
understanding patterns,” something that involves more analytical skills than the old methods. First-graders might read a
curriculum continued on B2
Monday, Baker is expected to fire or ac- cept resignations frommost of Johnson’s political
appointees.Andafter anevening inaugural gala at National Harbor’s Gay- lord resort, Baker must immerse himself inthe details of running the government. He has made lofty promises — no fur-
loughs for teachers, firefighters or police, moremoney for education and possibly a longer school day — all of which cost money. He has told state officials he will be seekingmore state dollars, noting that Prince George’s delivered a huge Demo- cratic majority to Gov. Martin O’Malley and to lawmakers in Annapolis in last month’selections.But intight fiscal times,
prince george's continued on B4
l Cars used by Pr. George’s police chief vandalized. B4
l Montgomery inaugural ball raises money for arts. B4
B EZ SU
MARK GAIL/THE WASHINGTON POST
The AntietamNational Battlefield in Sharpsburg, Md., was alight Saturday evening with 23,000 candles in brown paper bags, one for each soldier killed, wounded or missing at the Battle of Antietam, which was fought in September 1862.
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