Working Overtime to Open New School

HALETHORPE, Md. -- When the Norbel School for special needs students closed in June, it left school admissions director Frank Pugliese, like the school's the teachers and staff, unemployed.
But Pugliese, who had been at the school for 15 years, didn't stop working.
In fact, the Catonsville resident said he spent more time working during the ensuing eight weeks to start a new school with several of his colleagues than he ever had in his 18-year teaching career.
The result of all that overtime opened its doors Aug. 29 on Maple Avenue in Halethorpe, the site of the Ascension School that was closed by the Archdiocese of Baltimore last spring.Like Norbel School, the new Compass Academy teaches children with learning differences, such as Attention Deficit Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, autism and Asperger's.