Middle School

Filmed almost entirely within a generic classroom and prisonish play yard at a middle school in the melting-pot 20th arrondissement of Paris, The Class keenly observes the awkward dance of education. He who leads gets his feet stepped on. Those who don't follow, push and pull the teacher until he is tied into a pretzel twist and struggles to untie himself. At least one essential difference between American movies and their Gallic counterparts is highlighted in the remarkable film where Francois Marin, Parisian middle-school teacher, gamely faces students who challenge his ideals and authority.

Construction begins next month on a $4 million middle school at the Westampton campus of the Burlington County Special Services School District, the district's fifth expansion in its 21-year history. Carmine DeSopo, the only superintendent the district has ever had, won't promise that the construction will be the last building project for the district, whose enrollment is limited to handicapped students. But he is adamant about making - and keeping - one promise. "This project won't cost the taxpayers anything," DeSopo said.

Responding to an increasing enrollment in the middle school, the Radnor school board has approved a study to determine what renovations are necessary and how to better use the building. At a meeting Tuesday, the board unanimously approved the study, which will be conducted by the Vitetta Group, the architectural firm that has planned the high school renovation. Board member William C. Tomlinson said the study would focus on projected enrollments and restructuring of the building.

Two Colonial Middle School employees were suspended without pay after having been accused of embezzling $2,090 while serving as union officers, police said yesterday. They held positions with the Colonial Secretaries and Instructional Aides Association, part of the Pennsylvania State Education Association teachers' union. Tince Crowder, 48, of the 200 block of West Seventh Avenue, Conshohocken, was arraigned Tuesday before District Justice Deborah Luckens on charges of fraudulent concealment of recordable instruments, tampering with records or identification, misapplication of entrusted property and property of government or financial institutions, theft, and theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received.

As the school district looks at ways to relieve overcrowded conditions, it is leaning toward a plan that would move fifth graders out of the township's elementary schools and into an expanded middle school. Under that plan, two additions would be built onto the middle school building on Clayton Road at an estimated cost of $25.7 million. "Overall, it's the most popular plan, and it provides the most efficient use of facilities," said Al LaMonaca, chair of the Board of Education's building committee.

The year-old issue of where to build a new Radnor Township middle school, expected to cost more than $40 million, drew enough residents to pack the room for the Radnor Township school board meeting last night. The school district administration announced at the meeting that it favors a new building near Ithan Elementary School on Clyde Road near Sproul Road. Residents were divided on whether to build the school at a new site or keep it in downtown Wayne. Many wore bright yellow stickers reading "Fall vote.

For years, the school board has heard and pondered the arguments about the middle school. Champions of renovating the 76-year-old building defend it as a community landmark conveniently located in the heart of Wayne. Opponents counter that the school's 10.4-acre lot is confining and infamous for flooding, and that its interior is grim and difficult to reconfigure. Building another school is the better option, they say. But last week, a consultant from Cambridge, Mass.

With more and more students flooding the Kennett school system each year, a task force recommended last night that the school board approve building a new middle school, moving fifth and sixth graders to that school, and redistricting all school boundaries by 2001. Faced with a 57 percent growth in student enrollment in the last decade, committee members said that two of the three elementary schools are at or over capacity, and that the middle and high school will soon show signs of strain as well.

At times, the playing fields on South Wayne Avenue appear better suited for ducks than for children. That has left officials wondering whether the site in Wayne can be made dry enough for a new middle school. School Board President Paul Yakulis hoped a new report outlining recommendations for curbing flooding in the township would help the board figure out where to build the school. So far, he's been disappointed. "I did not get the sense of relief I hoped for from looking at [the report]

The Kennett girls' lacrosse team hasn't won a match this season, Deb West's first season, but the coach is upbeat. The lack of a middle-school lacrosse program makes things tough, but West, who teaches health and physical education at both the high school and the middle school, is working on an intramural program for middle-schoolers. "Not having the middle-school program kills us," West said. "When I get the girls, they still don't have the stick skills needed to play the game.