Gazette article on recent teacher firings at St. Ambrose

As many of our readers know, all the ChvChick progeny attend or plan to attend Cheverly's St. Ambrose School. The school and parish have experienced a certain amount of upheaval in the past few years, but we believe that the education that our children receive in this environment has been strong and that it is a good community. We're supporters of the school and want to see it -- and the parish -- succeed. Unfortunately, events of the past month have raised questions regarding the motives and the method of the Archdiocese in removing teachers to improve the troubling budget outlook. We understand that times are hard and that difficult decisions must be made. What troubles us is the manner in which these blows to the school community have been handled. The Archdiocese is not demonstrating the Catholic values that it espouses in this case, and it ignores its' responsibilities to the families of St. Ambrose School by denying the principal, Mrs. Carter, the ability to address these issues head on with the school community. We hope that the Archdiocese reconsiders this strategy very soon.

Link to the Gazette Article by Natalie McGill

If the puppets in Barbara Liston's family room could talk, they would ask the next time they'll meet a pair of tiny hands again.

Puppets, story sets and hundreds of books fill Liston's family room after Cheverly's St. Ambrose Catholic School let her go in October from a kindergarten teacher position she held since 1985.
Liston, 61, of Cheverly was called into a meeting with St. Ambrose Principal Dian Carter on Oct. 19 where she was told the school would let her go effective Nov. 6 because of a $90,000 deficit due to unexpected lower enrollment. She was offered six weeks' severance pay but said she did not want to accept until reviewing the package with a lawyer.

"It's ludicrous," Liston said Nov. 3. "Six weeks' pay is not going to help me. I want my job back."
Carter referred all comment to Kathy Dempsey, an Archdiocese of Washington spokeswoman.
Liston's position, which carried a $70,000 annual salary, was one of two that fell victim to the school's deficit. Liston said she was the highest-paid teacher at the school.

A science teacher position was also cut. Dempsey said the teacher had been at the school for about three years but did not provide her salary because it was confidential information.

Dempsey said 17 students who had registered prior to the beginning of the school year were later unable to attend because of economic reasons. Another blow was the loss of 15 current students who used to participate in the aftercare program.

She could not confirm the exact loss of tuition from these students, as tuition per student ranges based on factors such as multiple siblings attending and membership in the St. Ambrose parish. There are 244 students attending St. Ambrose and 28 staff members.

"Those families, as we all are, are struggling," Dempsey said. "So a lot of them are deciding, ‘We want to stay in a Catholic school, but we're going to try to find alternative arrangements for our children in the afternoon,' so that budget line was also diminished."

The layoff is the second blow to Liston this year. Liston's husband, David Liston, died of cancer at age 64 in March. Liston said she asked if she could take a salary cut to remain at the school but was denied.

"When they did this to me [I said], ‘You do realize my husband died seven months ago. This is leaving me without a livelihood,'" Liston said. "They said, ‘This is what the Archdiocese [of Washington] told us to do.'"

St. Ambrose is one of 96 Catholic schools under the Archdiocese of Washington, which includes Calvert, Charles, Montgomery, Prince George's and St. Mary's counties in addition to Washington, D.C., Dempsey said.

Dempsey could not say for certain if St. Ambrose is the only school in the archdiocese to let employees go this school year because of budgetary constraints.

"We're all in a struggle right now with the economy, and St. Ambrose found itself having to make some difficult decisions," Dempsey said. "But St. Ambrose is a very resilient, vibrant and faith-filled community so I know they are going to rally around the school in order to carry it forward."
The layoff is also a blow to community parents who see Liston as an educational institution in the town. Liston said she has taught more than 800 students during her tenure at St. Ambrose and has also served on the school's advisory board and as an assistant principal.

She had 18 students in her class at the time she was let go.

Tina Colbert of Fairmount Heights said she is still "completely shocked" about Liston's departure. Five of Colbert's eight children had Liston as a teacher, but all have had some interaction in one way or another.

"She took a lot of pictures that went into the yearbook, ran a Web site for her kindergarten class, just a lot of advertisement," Colbert said. "She just offered so much more to the school than just running a small kindergarten class."

Many parents are buzzing about the cuts and wonder if they could have been made in other areas, such as making foreign language an elective course, Colbert said.

"When you're not put into the process on what parents want or what they don't want, that's when everyone can get a little upset and antsy about it," Colbert said.

For now Liston is grateful for her late husband's insurance from his job with the Smithsonian Institution, but she is too young to qualify for Social Security benefits and is unsure if she can still afford the monthly $1,600 mortgage payments on their three-bedroom Cheverly home.
"It was just the two of us and we had just put an addition on our house to make it the place we were going to stay in our retirement," Liston said.

Though Liston said she wants her job back, she will consider other positions elsewhere if she can't return to St. Ambrose.

But it won't be in the archdiocese, she said.
"I'm sure they won't want me," Liston said.

LOCK YOUR DOORS AND WINDOWS!!!!

This ChvChick attended the Cheverly Police meeting last night and here is what they say on what we can do to reduce B&E in Cheverly:


LOCK YOUR DOORS AND WINDOWS!!!!All of the B&E that recently happened were because of the unlocked doors and windows!

Prevention:

1. Lock doors and windows
2. Call for home security surveys
3. Call police for house checks when out of town
4. Improve lighting, especially in the back of your house
5. Don't leave cash in plain sight
6. Keep purses and wallets upstairs
7. Keep your keys hidden
8. BE A NOSEY neighbor
9. Leave the toys near front door,most likely they will avoid house with kids, because someone is always around

Deterrence:

1. Report curfew and truancy violations (Curfew 10pm to 5am weekdays, 12am-5am weekends)
2. Leave radio or TV on when gone
3. Use timers on various lights
4. Join Cheverly Watch (more radios are available, call if interested)
5. Commit to Ride-Alongs (this ChvChick is going on one on Friday)
6. Carry a whistle when walking a dog (if needed, available in the Chief's office)
7. Keep vehicle trouble button at bedside
8. Keep glass items near window entry points - Arrest in the greatest deterrence
9. Know what a suspicious person is(teen out of school at school time, after 10pm weekdays or 12am weekends, door to door salesman etc, anybody carrying electronic equipment, trespassers, someone walking in the alleyways and backyards
10. Some of the recent B&E didn't produce fingerprints, so look for the people wearing inappropriate clothing (bulky jackets or gloves on a warm day, overloaded backpack at night etc)

Investigation (what to do when criminal has left the scene):

1. Don't touch anything until the scene can be fingerprinted
2. Look around for several days if you have been a victim
3. RECORD SERIAL NUMBERS on laptops, cameras, game systems etc (one laptop was returned to the owner because they recorded the serial numbers.Pawn shops can not sell anything for 30 days and have to enter serial numbers in the system)
4. Don't be shy about telling police about the potential suspect.
5. Pay attention to your kids, what they are saying and who they hand out with.

AND DO NOT FORGET, ladies: Close your blinds and curtains in the evening. People can see you from the outside!:)

There is about ten more spaces left for Ladies Self defense class that will be held in January. Learn how to protect yourself!

Have a great day - stay dry and safe!

Your "Wired" Chvchick

Happy Birthday, Katie Troyner!!!!

Join us in wishing

ChvChick Extraordinaire

Katie Troyner

a very happy birthday!

If you see her today,

honk your horn and shout

"Happy Birthday!"

She will really like that.

(Incidentally, did you know that when you do an image search

for "tiara" and add "pink" as part of the search,

Enrique Iglasias is one of the resulting images? It is true.)

Happy Halloween!

Thanks to Barbara and the Rec Council for the great parade and party! Remember, trick-or -treaters are out tonight, 6-8pm. Turn on your porch lights if you want a visit from tiny -- and very cute -- ghouls and goblins.


-- Posted from the iPhone of Awesome

President Obama Visits Cheverly

Edit: Okay. We have two posts about President Obama's Cheverly visit. What can we say? This is exciting (and good news on a day of bad local news...) We're excited.

Late word today that President Obama was in the Chv today -- he visited Metropolitan Archives, a small business in the industrial corridor (sounds fancier that way, eh?)

The Gazette has the story...


ChvChick would like to invite the President over for a cappucino the next time he decides to visit the neighborhood. We'd also welcome the President and his family at Cheverly Community Market...just sayin'...

Obama stops in Cheverly to announce boost for small businesses

Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009
Obama stops in Cheverly to announce boost for small businesses

State senator's company hosted event

http://www.gazette.net/stories/10212009/prinnew161852_32567.shtml

by Daniel Valentine | Staff Writer
President Barack Obama chose a Prince George's County business as the backdrop for a new policy announcement today, his second surprise appearance in the Maryland suburbs this week.
The president gave a speech to a small crowd at the warehouses of Metropolitan Archives in Cheverly, where he announced plans to boost lending by smaller community banks and increase the amount entrepreneurs can borrow from the Small Business Administration.

"These small businesses are the engine of job growth in America," the president told the crowd of about 130 invitees. "They fuel our prosperity."

The expansions will require congressional approval.

Metropolitan Archives, which stores files and records for major law firms and accounting groups in Washington, D.C., purchased its new $7 million headquarters in February using a $2 million loan from the SBA.

White House officials called the company Friday looking to set up the event, said Douglas J.J. Peters, co-owner of the business and state senator (D-Dist. 23) from Bowie, who started the business years ago with a school friend, Joseph Incarnato.

"We're just kind of in shock that this is really happening," Peters said a few hours before Obama arrived, as Secret Service agents sent dogs searching the halls.

On Monday, the president toured Viers Mill Elementary School in Silver Spring.

Invites were kept secret for the event this week, with most people only learning about the appearance the day before. Throngs of police cars and Secret Service surrounded the building, located in an industrial zone off the Capital Beltway, where dogs and agents searched every car before parking.

The crowd was composed of a mix of representatives from national business and banking groups, local small business owners and elected officials, who waited in the closed room for around two hours for the chance to see Obama during his 10-minute appearance.

"You set out your week, and then something like this happens, and you drop everything," said County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D), who attended the news conference. "It's always great to have the president in town."

Other local politicians included Sen. C. Anthony Muse (D-Dist. 26) of Fort Washington, a co-investor in the business, and Sen. Nathaniel Exum, Del. Justin Ross and 2010 county executive candidate Rushern L. Baker — all of whom endorsed the president early in 2007 and were delegates at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

"Everybody's asking, ‘Can you get me in?'" Ross told an audience member as they waited.

Invitees included many local business owners who have used the SBA loan program in the past. Natalie and Timothy Proctor, Glenn Dale residents who own a New Carrollton auto repair service, sat with a copy of the president's book, hoping for an autograph.

"We only found out last night," Natalie Proctor said. "We told our mothers. Oh, and they've told everybody."

Other local owners included Saundra Thurman-Custis of Bowie, whose company, Crystal Enterprises Inc., recently received a loan through the SBA to add 33 workers to their business, which supplies cafeteria services at federal office buildings in the region.

"[The SBA representatives] were very easy to work with," said Thurman-Custis, who said she is glad the program is expanding.

Peters and Incarnato appeared on stage with Obama, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Karen Mills, administrator for the SBA, as the president lauded their growth.

"These small businesses are what will pull us out of this recession," Mills said.

After his televised speech, the crowd rushed the stage as the president shook hands.

E-mail Daniel Valentine at dvalentine@gazette.net.

Thrill the World 2009

Get ready to set a world record while raising money for charity and having a great time with friends and family! Saturday, October 24, a group of Cheverlyites will join thousands at Freedom Plaza in DC and around the world (32 countries so far!) to dance Michael Jackson's "Thriller"! What a perfect way to lead up to Halloween!

There are rehearsals in Cheverly on Friday nights (October 9, 16, and 23) at Cheverly United Methodist Church, 3rd Floor. Rehearsals are 7:00-8:00pm for children ages 5-14, and 8:00-9:00pm for anyone over age 14. The cost is $30 per person, or $50 for families.

Get the details here. Still have questions? Contact Jeanne Robinson (240-374-3945) or visit the main website for Thrill the World 2009 here.