Teaching civility at LAUSD

It happens every day in the hectic metropolis of Los Angeles, and all signs are that it's getting worse.

Someone cuts you off on the freeway.

Someone's curt on the phone, at a store, at work.

Someone speaks loudly on a cell phone in a restaurant, sharing details of a life you don't care to hear about. Or smokes upwind of you on the patio of a coffee shop.

Rudeness is part of life in many big cities but Los Angeles surely ranks near the top - from road rage to the cold indifference of government bureaucrats when dealing with the public.

Now the Los Angeles Unified School District is taking aim at its own surly workers with new programs to boost "welcome-ness" - inspired by a position created at other school districts as the "director of first impressions." Naush Boghossian n the Daily News.

It's the brainchild of new Superintendent David Brewer, who wants all parents who walk in the front door of a school to feel "welcome and respected."

And he hopes to accomplish that broad task with Los Angeles-area business relaying their customer-service training to all school office personnel, administrators and teachers.