School Notes

Free-Ranging Discussion

A panel of experts will discuss U.S. involvement in areas such as Middle East peace, the environment and HIV/AIDS on Tuesday at Albert Einstein High School.

The free program begins at 7:30 p.m. in the school auditorium at 11135 Newport Mill Rd. in Kensington. Seth Green, executive director of Americans for Informed Democracy, will be the moderator.

Athletic Center Begun

Georgetown Preparatory School broke ground Monday for a $35 million athletic center on the campus in North Bethesda.

The center will have a 200-meter indoor track, 6,000-square-foot weight training and fitness room, 1,000-seat basketball gym, 10-lane competition pool, wrestling room, expanded locker rooms and coaches' offices.

The building is scheduled to open in fall 2006 on the campus at 10900 Rockville Pike. The project also includes rebuilding the golf course and athletic fields and constructing new roads around campus.

National Chess Champs

The Northwest High School chess team recently defeated other teams of similar strength in the National Scholastic Chess Championships in Nashville, becoming the first team from Maryland to win such a title.

Twenty-four students from the Germantown school placed in the top five in four competitive categories, and first in one of them. The three-day competition in April included more than 5,200 players representing 1,300 schools in 48 states.

Established eight years ago, the Northwest chess team has about 40 members and is coached by Robert Youngblood.

Eight New Principals

The county Board of Education recently appointed eight new principals for the 2005-06 school year:

Tamera A. Sherr , principal at Glenn Dale Elementary School in Prince George's County, will become principal at Bethesda Elementary School.

Beth Brown , principal intern at Fallsmead Elementary School, will become principal at Beverly Farms Elementary School.

Raymond Myrtle , consultant at the American Institutes for Research in Washington, will become principal at Highland Elementary School.