Results tagged “Torrance Unified” from School Notebook

Pictures: (Top) David Perelmuter holds the letter he received from the White House. Pictured with David are his parents, school principal Christie Forshey and his grandmother. (Bottom) Students participate in a Korean bowing ceremony lead by parent Lori Eurich.  Photos courtesy of Mark Miller. 

Call it a lesson in patience.

After penning a note to President Barack Obama shortly after his inauguration, 7-year-old David Perelmuter received what he had been waiting eight months for: the president's response.

Although he won't be able to vote until 2020, the first grader at Riviera Elementary school in Torrance wrote a congratulatory letter to Obama while in kindergarten last Spring. In it, David wrote of his dream to be president one day. He also detailed an ambitious agenda should he get elected, writing of his desire to end wars and stop graffiti vandalism.

David's mother, Lauren, found the response with the Washington D.C. postmark in the family's mailbox on Friday, complete with the president's signature on White House stationary. Perelmuter gave the letter to her son after picking him up from school.

"When I showed him the letter he was jumping up and down," said Perelmuter, who added David had run out to the mailbox everyday for eight months to see if the letter had arrived. "It was so thrilling."

In Obama's response, David is thanked for taking the time to write and is encouraged to use his intellect and creativity to better his community. He read the letter at an assembly in front of the entire school Monday morning.

The letter arrived in time to coincide with the school's "International Week," when students learn about different languages and cultures by participating in activities and sampling international fare. The week cumulates on Friday, when students hold a international food festival.

After David read the letter, students performed a Korean bowing ceremony and a Hawaiian hula for their peers, teachers and about 30 parents.

"We talked about how kids are the leaders of the future, and how important it is to be active," said Christie Forshey, principal at Riviera elementary. "The students are very excited."

Talk about excitement: David was so estatic about the letter he hasn't let it out of his sight, Perelmuter said. Didn't matter that Obama probably didn't sit down to write the letter himself, she added. She thinks the simple act provided a lesson her son may never forget and credited Riveria's teachers and staff members for promoting civic participation among students.

"He carried the letter around with him for 24 hours," Perelmuter said. "He knows how special it is."

The family will frame the letter and put it next to a letter David's grandfather received while working in the Treasury Department from President John Kennedy.

If David does eventually decide to become president, he'll have some time to develop a political agenda: He won't be eligible to run until 2037.

Reporter's note:

Riviera Elementary school should not be confused with Riviera Hall Lutheran School, a private K-8 also located in Torrance, and the scene of visits by former President Bill Clinton in 2001 and 2008. (His nephew attended school there)

In an e-mail, I asked Matt Horvath, the new 34-year-old principal at North High School in Torrance, what kind of challenges he anticipates facing during his first year on the job.

"As with most schools and school districts, I feel that one of the most
difficult challenges administrators face is continuing to raise the
student achievement of a school community while facing budget
uncertainty and often times cutbacks," he said in the e-mail. "In these times we must continue to put students at the center of our decisions while not getting bogged down with things that are not in our control."

"I look forward to leading the North High School Community," he added.

It should be noted that aside from his administrative roles, Horvath was also a teacher at Banning High School.

This is our first post from new education reporter Doug Morino. He'll have his own blog account in coming days.

Matthew Horvath was named principal of North High School on Monday evening by the Torrance Unified School District Board of Education. He'll be coming over from Richardson Middle School, where he served as principal for a little more than two years. (Horvath replaces outgoing Grant Litfin.)

Prior to his stint at Richardson, Horvath served as the dean of discipline and athletic director at Banning High School in Wilmington. He received his B.A. at Wayne State University in Detroit,
Michigan in 1998, his M.A. at Wayne State University in 2001, and his education doctorate from the University of Southern California in 2007.

At Monday's meeting, Horvath stepped to the microphone and thanked the board for their support.

"I'm super excited to be a part of the North community," he said.

Board members also named Michelle Stupnik as principal at Richardson. Sputnik has a longer history in the district than Horvath; she's been either working as a teacher or administrator at Torrance schools for about 11 years.

Stupnik worked under Horvarth at Richardson as assistant principal and, like her former boss, she thanked board members for the new opportunity.

"I'm excited to take the good school Horvarth created and make it a great school," Stupnik said.

She was most recently at Madrona Middle School, where she served as assistant principal for the 2008-09 school year. She received her B.A. at California State University, Long Beach in 1995 and her M.A. at the University of LaVerne in 2005.

The appointments of Horvath and Stupnik became effective this morning.

Board members also extended the contract of Superintendent George Mannon for one year. Mannon was named Superintendent in September 2005, and his contract now runs to June 30, 2013. (It previously ended in 2012.)

Mannon came over from the Glendora Unified School District, where he served as superintendent for five years.

Board President Al Muratsuchi commended Mannon for his efforts to pass bond measures Y and Z, which provided $355 million in upgrades to academic and athletic facilities within the district.

"This past year was an extremely difficult one for the Torrance school district ... and time and time again you proved your value," Muratsuchi told Mannon during the meeting.

*UPDATE: The Torrance Unified board has approved a new principal for North High.

North High Principal Grant Litfin works his last day for Torrance Unified today, school district officials said. He's taken the top job at Los Alamitos High in Orange County.

Litfin leaves after just two years as North High's principal. He was previously assistant principal at South High, assistant principal at Lynn and Magruder middle schools, and a teacher at Magruder.

The job posting for the principal slot at North High was posted last week. Applications are due July 13, and district officials say the post will be filled before the 2009-10 school year begins Sept. 10.

Four of our high schools went to Sacramento for the weekend's statewide competition in the 30th annual California Academic Decathlon. Here's how they did:

• West High, 14th overall


• Torrance High, 16th overall


• South High, 26th overall


• Redondo Union High, 31st overall

Moorpark High from Ventura County won first place. LAUSD's El Camino Real from Woodland Hills came in second.

West, South and Redondo students scooped up some individual medals. Students can medal in each of seven subject-based tests plus speech, interview and essay competition. Nine-member teams are divided into three subsets by GPA and each subset has medals.

West High medals (from coach Ann Cortina)
--Patrick Xiao, gold in math
--Albert Lee, bronze in math
--Daniel Beckmann, gold in social science

South High medals (from coach Deborah Maculey)
--Jamie Chang, gold in art, bronze in music
--Luxas Hahn, gold in economics, silver in social science
--Esther Kim, silver in economics, bronze in social science
--Danny Dai, bronze in social science
--Neelofer Shaikh, bronze in social science

Redondo Union High medals (from coach Julie Ferron)
--Ryan Mendias, gold in essay
--Veronica Romeo, gold in interview, silver in speech
--Michael Wood, silver in math, silver in interview
--Stephanie Crowley, silver in language/lit, silver in art
--Lori Rodriguez, bronze in math, bronze in Super Quiz

(Please note that these are subject to correction once the state's Academic Decathlon organization posts final results on Tuesday.)

*OK, results are up (PDF) listing all the individual awards. Two big local achievements that we didn't know about Monday: Daniel Naphas of Torrance High came in third out of all participants and Patrick Xiao of West High came in 10th. Congrats, guys!

Happy Monday! Here's some linkage, catching up from the weekend:

Torrance Unified officials found an unhappy surprise this morning: Four district vehicles had had their windshields smashed.

Vu has a story today about Mira Costa High's successful media arts program.

And ... all of the short items that ran on today's School Notebook page (in the paper) can be found here.

We also have some great photos from Point Vicente Elementary School's visit to White Point on Friday. It was part of an educational program run by the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy.

My story ran on Saturday about the possible closure of LAUSD's Sellery Special Education Center in Gardena. In a related story, Connie Llanos at the Daily News writes about the potential shut-down of West Valley Special Education Center in Van Nuys, with some interesting background on special ed centers.

Officials have said the two campuses are the furthest along the path toward "consolidation." We should have an idea of how many other small campuses will be closed by the March 24 board meeting.

The Daily News' George Sanchez has a story about the nearly 9,000 layoff warnings that the LAUSD board will weigh on Tuesday.

Also Saturday, I reported on Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District's move to place a $165 parcel tax on the June 2 ballot. (* FYI: This tax would require a two-thirds approval to pass.)

L.A. Times columnist Steve Lopez on Sunday wrote about administrators are asking parents for $1,000 (each) at his daughter's LAUSD elementary school in LAUSD.

If parents can come up with $327,000, the school will be able to keep three academic coaches who, among other things, take the pressure off teachers in the overcrowded fourth and fifth grades. It would also pay for P.E. coaches, three kindergarten aides, library resources, computer replacement and technology support.

As I heard the pitch, along with the testaments to Ivanhoe and how lucky we are to have a great school that's been a neighborhood institution since 1889 -- yes, I said 1889 -- I was thinking the same thing I thought when I heard the pitch a year ago:

We really are lucky, because the school is so good, and because many of us are able to fork over a little extra, even in a recession. But what about the vast majority of schools that aren't as good and don't have as many parents who can write checks?

As reported by Shelly Leachman in Saturday's Breeze, here's what each district would face under education funding cuts proposed by Gov. Schwarzenegger:

Centinela Valley Union High
Cuts: $3.5 million from a $68 million budget

El Segundo Unified
Cuts: $1.4 million from a 26.4 million budget

Hawthorne Unified
Cuts: $3.4 million from a $48.5 million budget

Hermosa Beach City Unified
Cuts: $0.4 million from a $9.4 million budget
Proposals: 28 teacher layoffs, increased class size

Lawndale Unified
Cuts: $2 million from a $30 million budget

Lennox Unified
Cuts: $1.9 million from a $61 million budget

Los Angeles Unified
Cuts: $460 million from a $8 billion budget

Manhattan Beach Unified
Cuts: $0.9 million from a $36 million budget
Proposals: 5-7 teacher layoffs, fund transfers, combining course sections at Mira Costa, using reserves

Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified
Cuts: $4 million from a $95 million budget
Proposals: 50 layoffs, increased class sizes, eliminating extended-day kindergarten

Redondo Beach Unified
Cuts: $2.2 million from a $67.5 million budget
Proposals: Increased class sizes, early retirement incentives, combining classified positions, introducing fee-based transportation for athletic teams, reducing substitutes, using one-time monies

Torrance Unified
Cuts: $9.4 million from a $196 million budget
Proposals: 70 full-time teachers, 11 custodians, 5.5 full-time special ed teachers, reduction of security at high schools, elimination of incentives including the School Safety Violence Program and the P.E. Incentive Program, early retirement incentives, reduction of travel/conference allowances

Wiseburn Unified
Cuts: $0.5 million from a $17 million budget