February 2008 Archives

The Star-News' "Under the Dome" blog - lovingly cared for by my friend and colleague Todd Ruiz - is now the property of Fred Ortega.

Mr. Ortega joined the Star-News staff today as the new Pasadena reporter. His byline should be familiar to those who read the paper because he covered the cities of West Covina, South El Monte and Rosemead for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

Todd is still around...but be nice and visit Under the Dome to view gossip and tidbits posted by Fred.

Videos of sick cows being mistreated by workers at the Westland Meatpacking Co. leads to the largest beef recall in U.S. Department of Agriculture's history. Officials estimate that about 37 million pounds of the 143 million pounds recalled beef went to school programs, but they believe most of the meat probably has already been eaten.

About 150 school districts around the nation have stopped using ground beef from Hallmark Meat Packing Co., which is associated with Westland.

In observance of Presidents Day, the school districts are closed today, but I'm fairly certain letters will be sent to parents regarding school lunch programs.

I'll be working on a story regarding the local school response tomorrow.

If a 5,000-year-old relic from space can't grab the attention of students (especially if the display is in the middle of the room) then I don't know what will.

That's a little harsh, but if you are bored, a space lover, or just a museum-enthusiast, Kidspace Museum has a 379-pound meteorite on display.

The meteorite landed a long, long, long time ago in Argentina and was discovered a long, long, long time ago. It now sits on a stand - with its own elevated platform - for the public to coo over. There was a lovely unveiling ceremony on Tuesday, but when I was there today, the swarms of children were more interested in the climbing tower than staring at a large rock (an unattractive one, too.)

I waited about 90 minutes before one child decided to take a breather from running around the room to stop at the exhibit. I sprinted over and had a lovely chat with Roy Marquez, who thoughtfully informed me that the rock was ugly and at least one side reminded him of a turtle.

My story on Joan Hillard's contract not being renewed by the Temple City Unified School Board ran today.

A brief recap: Hillard has been the superintendent since 1999, survived a no-confidence vote in 2004, and apparently has a "strained" relationship with the teachers union, according to the union president.
Oh..and in the most recent school board election, three incumbents were shown the door. It probably comes as little surprise to people that Hillard's time in the district was coming to an end.

In the last 18 months of covering schools, I've covered at least four districts looking for a new superintendent. Unfortunately, the applicant pool is very small and as one search firm official told me last year, not everyone wants to go into the administrative side. Lots of politics and in some cases, not a lot of satisfaction. :(

Just in case the link doesn't work..the story is here.

Temple City Unified's Superintendent was given a polite shove out of the door Friday. Joan Hillard has served as the top administrator since 1999.

I'm doing a follow-up on the story. I've posted below the press release sent out late Friday afternoon.

At a Special Meeting held on February 6, 2008, the Temple City Unified School District Board of Education took action not to extend the Superintendent’s contract beyond June 30, 2008. The Board recognized Dr. Joan Hillard’s steadfast leadership and dedicated years of service, serving as Superintendent since 1999.

The Board will immediately begin the Superintendent search process.

Before my long night of covering local elections Tuesday, I ventured out to John Muir High School for a meeting between the staff and Edwin Diaz, PUSD superintendent. The meeting was to answer questions regarding the reapplication process - teachers go first and they have till the end of the month to submit a resume and sample lesson plans.

It would be an gross understatement to say the teachers are livid over the process. Most of the frustration though stems from not having all of the information they want: how the school will be configured, what the themes of the small learning academies will be. That will all be figured out...but not till after the teachers submit their materials.

I think this quote sums up the situation:
"I feel bamboozled. I feel cheated. I accepted this position for this year, but on my first day I was told I was being fired." - a first-year Muir teacher to Diaz.

Hi readers -

I'm back to blogging again. I was pulled away from the schools beat to cover some gang violence in a neighboring city.

As I'm writing this, I'm only into hour 3 of my work day. It's election night and I'm writing a story on a few local measures - Measure D in Pasadena and Measure A in San Gabriel Unified.

UPDATE: It's 12:21 a.m. I'm a little tired but the 20 cups of coffee I've had so far are keeping me in good spirits.

With 75 percent of precincts reporting, Measure A has 70 percent of the vote. Translation: voters ponied up to paying the $48 per $100,000 of assessed home value. If the district does its job, then the school will get some technology upgrades they apparently need.

Measure D is winning...so far with 58 percent of the vote. My colleague Todd Ruiz, who covers the city of Pasadena for the paper, made a pit stop at the office about two hours ago to check on yours truly and see how the utility tax was doing.

He went home. I'm still here. Isn't life grand?

OK - no more rambling. Tomorrow (actually, later today) I'll have a few entries on the Muir Reinvention process. Highlights include some tart comments from Muir teachers to Edwin Diaz, PUSD superintendent, regarding the reapplication guidelines.

GOOD NIGHT!! POST SOME COMMENTS!