October 2007 Archives

The performing arts small learning academy at Narbonne High School in Harbor City took home two trophies from a regional drama competition in Reseda over the weekend. The Oct. 25 competition, at Reseda High School, was organized by the Drama Teachers' Association of Southern California.

The Gauchos won first place of 50 high schools in the Large Group Comedy category with a student-written scene called Power Rangers. Students Shannon Majdali, Ana Nicasio, Alan Pablik, Bryan Phillips, Zyaire Porter and Jacob Wysocki penned the scene.

The technical theater team won third-place for their det design of a production of Little Shop of Horrors. A third team placed in the top 10 for their performance of an adaptation of the story of Antwone Fisher, who life was adapted in a 2002 movie starring Denzel Washington.

The students will perform their scenes at Narbonne High's drama festival at 7 p.m. Nov. 8 at the school's auditorium, 24300 S. Western Ave.

The Associated Press has a story that ran in today's paper about school libraries around the country adding coffee bars. The fans say it gets students into the library, but it seems to be at odds with the trend of getting rid of sodas on campus.

The coffeehouse trend comes at a time when many school systems around country are removing junk food and soda machines.

“They’re already providing horrible school lunches. Now they’re adding to that with 800-calorie drinks,” said Susan Levin, a registered dietitian with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Many students load up their coffee with sugar and cream or buy dessert-like coffee drinks, Levin said.

Read the story here.

A new study from the National Women's Law Center in Washington D.C. doesn't overturn any deeply held societal conventions, but provides more evidence that dropping out of high school is a decision that brings a ripple of bad consequences.

The study tells us female dropouts are more prone to economic risk than their male counterparts. Girls are dropping out at the same rates as boys, the study found. But female dropouts earn lower wages than male dropouts, are more likely to stand in the unemployment line and are more likely to rely on welfare and other public support programs.

Girls "of color," as the study calls them, fare even worse. Nationwide, more than a third of Hispanic, two-fifths of black and half of American Indian or Alaskan Native females failed to graduate in four years in 2004.

One of our favorite blogs - and a good spot to find national education news - is This Week In Education, an offshoot of Education Week. Written by former Senate education staffer and journalist Alexander Russo, it's got a pretty political bent, but serves as a good clearinghouse of links to a slew of other school-ish blogs and ed stories from across the country.

It's worth a look.

A South Bay nonprofit gets a shout-out in national magazine Edutopia, which devoted its October issue to documenting environmental innovations in schools around the country.

Based in Gardena, Trash for Teaching collects from myriad manufacturers discarded materials such as spools, plastic webbing, wires, pen parts and petri dishes, packs them up neatly in vegetable oil-fueled trucks and delivers them to schools throughout the region for kids to use in art projects.

The three-year-old company in the last year has distributed 17 tons of materials to some 60 schools across Los Angeles.

Read the magazine's story here. Or visit the Trash for Teaching website.

The New York Times' education section, always a wealth of great stories, has an interesting piece about a Boston area high school's effort to relax its ever-slammed, multi-tasking students. Since starting a campus Stress Reduction Committee, Needham High School has begun requiring all seniors to take yoga classes and implemented homework-free weekends and holidays.

Apparently a national movement is afoot, with 44 middle- and high-school administrators in San Francisco and sprinkled from Texas to New York cooperating to form a solutions-minded group called S.O.S. (or, Stressed Out Students).

Read Sara Rimer's story here.

An analysis of U.S. Department of Education data recently completed by Johns Hopkins University shows that more than 1 in 10 American high schools have become "dropout factories," the name a university researcher gave to schools where no more than 60 percent of students who start as freshmen make it to their senior year.

Some 1,700 such schools, whether regular or vocational high schools, exist nationwide, according to the analysis that was conducted on behalf of the Associated Press.

Read the AP's story here.

And click here for a national chart detailing the concentration of dropout factories.

Check out Paul's follow-up on Tasby, the 17-year-old shot and killed at a Halloween party in San Pedro.

Teammates from the basketball team remembered the leadership skills of Tasby, who was pencilled as the starting center for the Pirate varsity team in January.

"He wasn't a gang-banger," said Chris Clayton, a 12th-grader and forward. "He worked really hard."

Known affectionately as "LT," Tasby would challenge other players to skill competitions. He once bet a player $5 he could dunk a basketball wearing cleats. "Bet five" was his catchphrase, players said.

The tech lab at Howard Wood Elementary School in Torrance is getting a major upgrade, thanks to a large grant from a local company.

On Monday, Torrance-based company Alcoa Fastening Systems presented the school with a $70,000 grant to buy 35 new computers.

Among other things, the machines will be used for Wood’s “accelerated reader” program, in which kids read books then take online quizzes designed to improve their comprehension.

Community partners since 2003, Alcoa annually provides all Wood first graders wtih backpacks full of school supplies, provides design boards and judges for the campus science fair and hosts a catered lunch for school staff during Teacher Appreciation Week.

The Breeze editorial desk is throwing the nod to incumbent Dora de la Rosa and Larry Vanden Bos for the PV school board, shifting gears from its stance in the 2003 race, when it endorsed de la Rosa and now-incumbent David Tomblin.

Read why in the editorial.

Defensive end Laterian Tasby was shot and killed Saturday during a gang-related brawl at a party in San Pedro. Here's an exerpt from Melissa Evans' story.

Tasby, 17, was pronounced dead at the scene of the party in the 500 block of 11th Street in San Pedro, a spokesperson with the Los Angeles Police Department Harbor Division said.

San Pedro High School football coach Mike Walsh said he received about a dozen calls late Saturday night and Sunday morning from students and friends of Tasby.

"I don't think there was anyone I knew who didn't like him," Walsh said. "He was outgoing, funny, polite, and may have been one of the hardest working members of the team."

The four candidates for the Palos Verdes Peninsula school board have drawn battle lines on the district's kindergarten program, which offers extended hours in four of the six elementary schools. Two incumbents (David Tomblin and Dora de la Rosa) have sided with challengers (Tomblin with Paul Neights, de la Rosa with Larry Vanden Bos) on the issue.

Here's Paul's story on the race.

Here's who the Breeze editorial page editor thinks would be right for the Torrance school board.

...we believe that the district has made strides in the past four years to strengthen its financial position and restore the reserve fund. The district has also revised procedures for handling visitors at school sites and plans to make changes in the training of security personnel. And board members made a point of hiring a superintendent and chief business officer with bond and school construction experience.

We feel that electing Ragins and Lee, both of whom have long records of community service and the support of many community leaders, would continue to move the district in a positive direction.

Go here to read the rest.

Shelly Leachman spells out the positions of the four candidates for Torrance school board here.

The Torrance Unified School District has yet to propose an inevitable new bond measure, but the potential for such a campaign in the future has become the primary focus of an election that's just one week away.

On Nov. 6, four candidates will vie for two seats on the district's board of trustees, which will have to decide the shape and size of a bond widely considered essential for the 33-campus system to make much-needed facilities fixes and rebuild J.H. Hull Middle School.

Incumbent Terry Ragins, first-time board aspirants Don Lee and para-educator Irmi Lake, as well as repeat candidate G. Rick Marshall, all concur that the Hull project should be a top priority - and all agreed that a bond measure is necessary.

The Breeze editorial page editor makes his choice for the Manhattan Beach school board.

In this race, we would hope that no matter who wins, all the candidates will remain active in the district. Our view is that Howorth merits re-election. She says the district must continue to demonstrate fiscal stability to voters before any future school bond measure could be placed on the ballot. Howorth also holds open the possibility of a parcel tax, which other top-performing districts in California depend upon.

For the second seat, we feel that Fournell would be a good fit given his service on the 7-11 panel and the need for the district to better use its properties to increase operating revenues.

Go here to read more.

Paul Clinton writes about two groups who want the same name for their Carson charter schools: Millennium.

One of the groups would need to pick a different name, said Greg McNair, the chief administrative officer for LAUSD's charter school division.

"We will definitely try to convince them to change their names if they choose a name that is similar to an existing school," McNair said. "The person who will have to change is the person who comes in second in terms of getting the charter approved."

The New Millennium group plans to open in the fall with 150 ninth-graders. Backers haven't chosen a location but would rent space.

The Millennium High group plans to open in the fall with 215 ninth- and 10th-graders.

Go here for the whole story.

Shelly Leachman profiles the MBUSD candidates in today's story.

The seed of environmentalism has more than taken root at elementary and middle schools across the country, as Willie Hu reports in this story in the New York Times.

The school pickup line has become the latest front in a growing school-based environmental movement that has moved far beyond recycling programs and Earth Day celebrations to challenge long-accepted school norms.

Since 2004, dozens of public and private schools in Westchester and New York City and on Long Island have adopted no-idling zones, switched to plant-based cleaners in their buildings and, to a lesser extent, banned pesticides from playgrounds and playing fields, according to Grassroots Environmental Education, a nonprofit group that began a campaign this month promoting all three measures.

Similar efforts have spread across the country. The Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education, a nonprofit group, has recognized 163 Maryland Green Schools — nearly one-third of them in the last two years — for taking initiatives like preserving wetlands, banning disposable plastic water bottles or assigning environmentally themed readings.

A Daily Breeze editorial today endorses Cristina Chiappe, a two-term incumbent, and Eugene Krank for the two open seats on the Hawthorne School District board.

The editorial cites Krank's new pespective as a parent with two students in Hawthorne schools and Chiappe for her work authoring a conduct code for public meetings.

For the scoop on the race, read Shelly Leachman's story in today's Breeze.

The crack staff of the Daily Breeze editorial department has at long last filled our need to know who to cast ballots for in the Lennox School District board race. Rather than spoiling the surprise, I'll let you click over to the editorial to unravel the mystery for yourself.

But wait. That's not all you get. A second editorial tackles Measure L, a nearly $11-million bond to upgrade technology at district campuses and expand the Lennox Math, Science and Technology Academy.

In the coming week, look for coverage of the race and Measure L in the news pages.

Rubbed the wrong way by "a lack of courtesy" they say has become a national epidemic, a Texas-based company (that describes itself as the "leading North American supplier of etiquette books and training materials for children") has developed a distance-learning course so parents can teach children everything from "basic table manners to managing conflict and showing kindness."

Here's an exerpt from an e-mail to the Daily Breeze pitching the materials.

We're surrounded by rudeness...road rage, loud cell phone conversations, foul language, the Internet. In fact, studies show 79% of Americans believe lack of courtesy is a serious national problem. Now, there's a new program designed to instill manners in kids, teaching them that in a world of iPods and cell phones, it's still important to say 'please' and 'thank you.'

The materials drill skills using a series of workbooks, lesson plans and training tips. Read more at the company's Web site.

Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan's foundation has had a hand in the planning of a new charter high school set to open in Carson for the 2008-09 school year. They still haven't submitted a petition to LAUSD -- that's set for mid-November -- and have yet to hook local political support. But they do have a fairly clear framework laid out in Paul's story.

There's not much on the school's Web site yet.

Three upcoming meetings in Wilmington will provide residents an opportunity to air their views about a school proposed by the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Councilwoman Janice Hahn is hosting a meeting at 7 p.m. today at the Wilmington Senior Citizen Center, 1371 Eubank Ave. Board member Richard Vladovic, who won a reprieve for residents opposing the district’s proposed location, will also attend.

In November, the LAUSD will host two meetings. They’re set for 6 p.m. on Nov. 7 and 26 at Banning High School, 1527 Lakme Ave. Both Hahn and Vladovic support locating the school at a public storage site near the center instead of the district’s proposal to wipe out a commercial block with a bank, Latino market and other popular businesses at Avalon Boulevard and M Street.

The district wants to build a 1,278-seat K-8 school in 6.5 acres to relieve crowding at Broad, Fries, Gulf and Hawaiian avenue elementary schools. Enrollment at Wilmington Middle School would also be reduced.

The Los Angeles Board of Education added 26 schools in Wilmington, San Pedro, Carson and Gardena to an existing program that provides health care to uninsured children in those areas.

Here's a passage from Melissa Evans' story showing the need at a San Pedro elementary school:

The Healthy Start clinic at Barton Hill Elementary School in San Pedro, where 98 percent of students fall below the federal poverty line, helps keep kids in the classroom, Principal Lou Mardesich said.

Students who are referred by the school nurse, along with their siblings or parents who don't have insurance, can use the clinic every Tuesday from 8 a.m. to noon. No one is turned away, health officials say.

"It's a great service," Mardesich said. "Students can't even enroll without their vaccinations."

They don't worry about high-school students at the Hermosa Beach School District, which hasn't stopped them from maintaining among the highest test scores of South Bay area districts.

A city councilman's brother, a district committee member, an apointed incumbent and a math teacher are vying for two seats on the school board. The Daily Breeze editorial gives the nod to Barbara Zondiros and Lisa Claypoole over Earl Keegan and Corey Glave.

Read it here to find out why.

Sam Wasson, 19, died in an accident, after he fell asleep at the wheel of his Infiniti Q30, while returning to Loyola Marymount University from a research trip to Wyoming.

Read Larry Altman's story for more.

The San Francisco Chronicle has a piece today about a new sleep study by UC Berkeley and how insomnia impacts our waking behavior. The research reveals "a connection between negative thinking and a lack of sleep," writes Erin Allday.

In light of long-standing arguments over school start times and past studies showing that underslept kids also underperform, it makes for an interesting read. The story at one point quotes an expert who says that "sleep deprivation is a growing problem among teenagers."

Read the story here.

Today, Daily Breeze Editorial Page Editor Mike Carroll released endorsements for the Centinela Valley Union High School District and the El Segundo Unified School District.

The paper chose Gloria Ramos-Jaime and Sandra Suarez over incumbents Jorge Luis Arroyo and Rafael Ramirez. Here's an excerpt from the editorial.

The challengers said they would focus on more technology- and industry-based education and ensure that classrooms at the performing arts center will be used to the benefit of students. Ramos-Jaime recognizes that smaller learning environments, such as Lawndale High, offer a better chance to improve student performance. Rather than trying more experimental programs, Suarez would like to see the district create a culture of high expectations and achievement.

In El Segundo, Tammy Tagami Reeves and Lisa Wilkin picked up the nod over Aleta Pottenger in the editorial.

Andrea Woodhouse covers the Hermosa Beach school board race in today's story.

But as the community prepares to elect two trustees Nov. 6 to govern the 1,134-student district, more changes are afoot.

The next group of leaders must contend with rising student enrollment in the two-school district as well as the possibility of asking voters to approve another bond or parcel tax measure. Although Hermosa Beach voters approved Measure J in 2002, another bond measure failed last year.

Today's stories include a look at what needs to change to protect children and some advice for parents.

Go here.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune asked teachers if students' text messaging habits creep into their schoolwork.

Kelsey Theis, a language-arts teacher at Pioneer Ridge Freshman Center in Chaska, Minn., said texting might be helping students learn an element of writing.

“We talk about the different components of writing -- organization, idea, content and individual voice,” she said. “But, a lot of times, students feel the need to stay silent. This might help them develop their individual voice.”

Still, the seepage of text messaging into student writing is vexing many trying to teach the importance of clear communication.

Eva Pitzel teaches seventh-graders and ninth-graders at Lake Junior High and Woodbury Junior High in Woodbury. She estimates that 25 percent to 40 percent of her students use some text-message abbreviations and slang in their in-class writing.

“I see it as a negative because they are not always showing me that they can write out the words correctly,” she said. “To compensate for this, we spend extra time editing in class and we talk about the different languages we use in our lives. I have to explicitly tell them that it is not OK to write like that for English class.”

In 2004, the Pew Internet and American Life Project said that 16 million American teenagers were using instant messaging and text messaging to communicate -- up from 13 million in 2000.

Nicole Muenchow, a social-studies teacher at Champlin Park High School in Champlin, said texting is rampant. “They’re not even writing proper sentences, using punctuation or spelling,” she said. “I keep having to tell kids that ‘people’ is spelled with six letters, not three.”

Derek Anderson teaches composition and literature at Mahtomedi High School in Mahtomedi. He has mixed feeling about the creep of texting.

“I sort of feel like any writing is good writing, as long as you get your point across,” he said. “But, for certain students, I think it holds some back. If you’re writing a college application and you write ‘2,’ instead of ‘to,’ you’re not going to get the same response.”

Read the story here.

The California Teachers Association recently launched its "Healthy Air, Healthy Kids" project, hoping to raise awareness of how indoor air quality can impact the learning environment by, among other things, triggering children's asthma and allergies.

As part of that effort, the organization's montly print magazine, California Educator, includes a story in its October issue that provides a wealth of related tips for teachers.

A sampling:

*Unblock vents and keep air flowing (fan controls should always be set to "on").

*Avoid scented products such as air fresheners, candles and perfumes.

*Choose allergy friendly classroom pets, like lizards, either avoiding furry animals altogether or keeping them caged and away from ventilation systems.

For more information, click here.

Third-year Torrance Unified teacher Marissa Whitmore, a science instructor at Madrona Middle School, has been named an Amgen Fellow, snaring a spot in the New Science Teacher Academy of the National Science Teachers Association.

One of only 100 teachers nationwide so selected, Whitmore throughout the 2007-2008 school year will participate in academy activities including online mentoring sessions and discussions with other science teachers. She will also take an all-expenses-paid trip to the association's national conference for a series of workshops there.

For more information on the academy, the fellowship and the association, click here.

Today is the last day to register to vote in the Nov. 6 election, which includes races for school boards in most South Bay districts.
You’re eligible to register if you are a U.S. citizen and will be at least 18 by Nov. 6. You need to re-register if you have moved, changed your name or wish to change your political party affiliation.
Voter registration forms are available at most libraries, fire stations, post offices and city clerk offices. You can also download a form from the Secretary of State’s Web site. For more information, call the Registrar’s Office at 562-466-1310 or 800-481-VOTE, 24 hours a day, or go
to www.lavote.net.

The California Business for Education Excellence Foundation and Just for Kids-California singled out four local elementary schools for rasing the scores of African-American and Latino students to close the so-called "achievement gap" between those students and their Caucasian and Asian peers.

The two groups credited Bandini Street Elementary in San Pedro, Leapwood Avenue Elementary in Carson, 156th Street Elementary in Gardena and 186th Street Elementary in Harbor Gateway among 31 2007 Honor Roll schools.

"Each school demonstrated consistently high student academic achievement and made significant progress toward closing achievement gaps among all student groups," the group stated.

The groups said the schools are on track to meet the federal goal of 100 percent grade-level proficiency by the 2013-14 school year as required by the No Child Left Behind Act.

Today's stories include a look at the lingering effects of abuse, an analysis of the legal system that allows accused teachers to keep their credentials and an exploration of the difference between how male and female victims are treated.

Go here to read day two of the three-day series from The Associated Press.

You'll find day one's package here.

Paul Clinton profiles the candidates running for El Segundo school board here.

Three newcomers vying for seats on the El Segundo Unified School District board want upgrades to athletic and performing arts venues without another bond measure.

The three, all actively involved with the local PTA, are seeking to replace 10-year board member Michael Briney and 12-year trustee Chris Powell in the Nov. 6 election.

The College Board released its annual report on college costs. Guess what? College is getting more expensive.

Here's part of the story from The Associated Press:

The price of college again rose faster than the inflation rate this year, climbing 6.6 percent at four-year public schools and outstripping increases in the financial aid that lowers what most students actually pay.

The latest increases, reported today by the College Board, bring the average list price of four-year public universities to $6,185 this year, up $381 from 2006-2007. At four-year private colleges, tuition and fees rose 6.3 percent to $23,712.

Public two-year colleges — which educate about half of American college students — again got the best marks for keeping a lid on price increases.

Their average price rose 4.2 percent to $2,361. Accounting for aid, their average net cost is only $320 per year.

The published price is not the real price for many students, thanks to financial aid, but the net price is rising too. On average, accounting for grants and tax breaks, the net price for full-time students at four-year public universities this year is $2,580. That’s about $160 more than last year.

At private colleges, net cost this year averages $14,400 — up $638 from a year ago.

Patti Sponaugle is a Torrance High School graduate writing about her freshman year at Kenyon College in Ohio. This week, she learns that college is a little tougher than high school.

I had always gotten by in high school with fairly minimal efforts - good grades just came naturally. Why would I assume college would be any different? What knowledge had I to contradict this thinking?

And then my first exam was returned to me.

Let's just say that I was more than a little surprised by the result of the Roman Art History test. It was mind-set-changing. Kind of like learning that the friendly and lovable Mickey Mouse that used to hug me ever-so-sweetly at Disneyland was really just a teenager in a mouse suit who was probably wishing he was home in bed instead of coddling hyperactive tykes and their overzealous parents in the heat.

The Associated Press put together a three-day series of articles about sex abuse in schools. We could only run part of it in print, but we'll post all of the report online.

Find day one's main story here.

Here's some of a second story that details flaws in California's laws that allow offenders to continue to work with children:

While some of the most egregious sex abuse is flagged, state law allows many offenses to remain confidential in education records, even when teachers go to prison and register as sex offenders.

The lack of information reflects a system for disciplining teachers that, across the country, is often shrouded in secrecy. That makes it difficult for states to share valuable information about deviant teachers and allows some to find jobs in the classroom again.

In California alone, The Associated Press reviewed more than 2,000 cases in which teachers were punished and confirmed that 313 of those were for sexual misconduct.

Hundreds of cases were classified as "general misconduct," requiring further AP research to determine the nature of the offense. The number of cases in California was so large that not all of them could be fully investigated, meaning the state undoubtedly had far more than 313 sexual misconduct cases during the five-year span.

Here's a link to the rest.

Shelly Leachman breaks down the Centinela Valley Union High School District school board race here.

Although former Vice President Al Gore soaked up most of the spotlight for his decades of work and involvement in the 2006 film “An Inconvenient Truth,” LMU Professor Jeremy Pal is one of the thousands of scientists and authors who have added to the growing bank of information on global warming since the panel was formed in 1988.

Here's a snippet from Kristin Agostoni's profile of Pal in Saturday's Daily Breeze...

Jeremy Pal was mostly apathetic about his career when he enrolled in Santa Monica College after high school.

The Venice native, then 18 with something around a 1.5 grade point average, thinks his mom made him apply. One semester - even though he hadn’t declared a major - Pal signed up for a course on human ecology, which touched upon everything from DDT pollution and runoff to climate change.

“I was just this surfer-lifeguard guy teaching this class,” said Pal, who can’t even recall the man’s name.

But he admits that instructor made an impression, steering him toward a career in environmental science and research that got an unexpected boost last week.

Just like the old Johnny Mathis song "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas," another familar feeling is creeping in as we approach the holidays. This song could be called "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like a Contract Fight."

United Teachers Los Angeles launched the opening salvo. In an Oct. 17 "negotiations update" on the Web site, the union reported its opening demand for a 9 percent pay raise. The district has countered with a zero percent raise. Negotiations begin Oct. 31.

The union, which secured a 6 percent raise for the 2006-07 year, claims the money for a raise is available because the district received a 4.53 percent cost-of-living increase from the state.

Silver Spur Elementary School has scheduled a week of activities starting on Monday to promote a healthy lifestyle to coincide with Red Ribbon Week.

The Rancho Palos Verdes school will host the Super Kids Academy, a California Science Center assembly extolling the values of health, exercise and sleep.

Health booths will be set up at lunchtime and a fun run is scheduled for Friday (Oct. 26). The school is at 5500 Ironwood St. and can be reached at 310-378-5011.

Los Angeles Unified's total student enrollment has continued its expected decline, dropping 2 percent from 708,461 students last year to 694,288 this year, according to figures released Thursday by the district.

In Local District 8, Gardena High School reported the steepest decline, to 3,211 students from 3,428 a year ago. The school lost seven teachers and an assistant principal, officials said.

Read Paul's story for more.

The Harbor Gateway elementary school is celebrating its 1907 opening on Friday with physical fitness activities, Peace Games activities, a book giveaway and visit from Board Member Richard Vladovic.

"Tomorrow is a big day for my community, especially after all of the racial tension we have experienced over the past year," Reed said. "Let's give a positive spin to an appreciation for diversity. We are all in this together. Our village has continued to soar in spite of our set backs."

Iron Mountain executives will present children with backpacks with the school logo. The event, "A Walk Down Memory Lane," is hosted by Principal Marcia Reed, the Afterschool Alliance, Beyond The Bell South, 186th St. School Staff, Healthy Start, Peace Games, PTA, madres activas, Parent Ambassadors, and Toyota Technical Center.

The event is at 2:30 p.m. Friday at 186th Street School, 1581 West 186th Street. Call 310-324-2305.

Addendum: 186th Street Elementary isn't the oldest school in LAUSD. That distinction belongs to San Pedro Street Elementary School near Skid Row, which opened in 1866.

Jonathon Michael Evans, a 23-year-old student at Loyola Marymount University, was killed this morning when a motorcycle he was riding slammed into a parked car in Westchester. Evans was a senior pursuing a double major in physics and mathematics and a minor in philosophy.

Read Andrea Woodhouse's story for more.

If you're a student or faculty member at LMU and know Evans, please e-mail us with your thoughts about the young man.

In a move sure to stir controversy, King Middle School in Portland, Maine will begin offering a range of birth control to its students, ages 11 to 13. The school made the move to address an outbreak of pregnancies among middle school girls.

Portland's three middle schools reported 17 pregnancies during the last four years, not counting miscarriages or terminated pregnancies that weren't reported to the school nurse, according to this AP story.

Metrics and tall buildings

The New York Times has a great story this week about the plight of public schools fighting to meet the ever-more stringent standards of the No Child Left Behind act. They lead with some schools in East Los Angeles.

From Diana Jean Schemo's story:

"For chronically failing schools like these, the No Child Left Behind law, now up for renewal in Congress, prescribes drastic measures: firing teachers and principals, shutting schools and turning them over to a private firm, a charter operator or the state itself, or a major overhaul in governance.

But more than 1,000 of California’s 9,500 schools are branded chronic failures, and the numbers are growing. Barring revisions in the law, state officials predict that all 6,063 public schools serving poor students will be declared in need of restructuring by 2014, when the law requires universal proficiency in math and reading.

“What are we supposed to do?” Ms. Paramo asked. “Shut down every school?”

Read the whole thing here

The upcoming homecoming game at West High School in Torrance will be broadcast live on Fox Sports, as the network's high school game of the week.

The West Warriors are 5 and 0 so far this season. Brian Baucham, South Bay Player of the Year last season, is back for his senior year.

Coach Greg Holt was honored as 2006 South Bay Coach of the Year and the team enjoyed an impeccable record as an undefeated team in the 2006 Bay League. The team was also a 2006 CIF finalist.

The game is this Friday at 7:30 p.m., versus Redondo Union High School. West High is located at 20401 Victor St.

Rev. Robert Lawton, Loyola Marymount University's president, signed the Climate Commitment today, pledging the school will help reduce global emissions by 80 percent by 2050. More than 200 schools added their names to a list that includes UCLA, Mount St. Mary's University, Whittier College and California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

In the agreement, the presidents said they are "deeply concerned about the unprecedented scale and speed of global warming and its potential for large-scale, adverse health, social, economic and ecological effects. We recognize the scientific consensus that global warming is real and is largely being caused by humans."

On its Web site, LMU pitches itself as a green-conscious campus because it uses recycled water for its landscape, low-water consuming toilets and has implemented a university-wide recycling program. LMU has the largest solar electric rooftop system of any university in the world, according to the Web site.

The solar rooftop system -- installed on the roofs of University Hall and Von der Ahe Library -- generates 868,000 kilowatt hours annually and provides 26 percent of the total energy used at the university.

Addendum: For the past 6 years, residents living on McConnell Avenue in Kentwood have been at odds with LMU over the recycling center, which they say has brought noise, odors and gnats. Kristin Agostoni's Aug. 20 story was reprinted over at WestchesterParents.org at the time.

Join the four candidates seeking seats on the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified school board for a town hall-style forum with questions from the public.

Candidates Dora de la Rosa, Paul Neights, Dave Tomblin, and Larry Vanden Bos will face off for two seats on the five-member panel on Nov. 6. Tomblin and de la Rosa are the incumbents.

The League of Women Voters and Palos Verdes Council of PTAs will host the forum, which is set for 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Board Room of the district's headquarters (formerly Valmonte School), 3801 Via La Selva, Palos Verdes Estates.

Interesting post over at WestchesterParents.org discussing a way to solidify age-verification at MySpace, Facebook or other social networking sites popular with tweens.

The idea would be to have kids use their parents credit or debit cards to verify their ages on the sites. My only question: how will that affect the screen names? Will we start seeing sk8rdude1968?

Here's the link.

Lomita's City Council drew fire Monday from a dozen residents living near Lomita Park about a proposal to bring a new LAUSD high school to the 20,000-person town. Residents said the school would bring congestion and suck up street parking. They said they didn't trust LAUSD.

One resident's view: “My concern is that you’re proposing Lomita Park and Lomita Park is the center of our community,” said Tony Arevalo, a north Lomita resident. “Turning that over to Los Angeles Unified doesn’t mean you’re going to get what you want.”

Read more from Paul's story in Wednesday's Daily Breeze.

Hoping to help students and parents better navigate the college application process, the Torrance Unified School District will host its first-ever College Night.

From 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, families districtwide are invited to West High School for a variety of workshops, on topics including scholarships and financial aid, testing issues and college-entrance essays.

Different sessions will also address the particulars of applying to various schools and school systems, such as the University of California, California State University, private and out-of-state universities and community colleges.

West High is located at 20401 Victor St., in Torrance.

A new center opened its doors today on the campus of Los Angeles City College to provide resources for Southland residents looking for jobs.

Read the wire story for more.

Ever wonder why women are often sexualized, when portrayed in sport? Or whether athletes who "win at all costs" jeopardize their health? Or whether money and power matter in sports?

A new class at California State University, Dominguez Hills in Carson explores these deep-dish questions in its quest for fuller understanding of professional athletics. The sociology class taught by Sohaila Shakib was added this fall. Here's a partial description of what's in store...

Through both an analysis of popular sports media and an overview of the history of sports, this course will provide you with a better understanding of the role of sports in society. A central focus of this course is on the role sports plays in shaping our culture and its influence on our lives. In this class, we will be examining how sports impacts our ideas of masculinity, femininity, race and ethnicity, work, fun, achievement, competition, individualism, violence and aggression. In addition, we will be examining how socialization and our cultural values impact sports participation and perceptions of athletic competency.

To learn more, check out the class Web page.

In response to continued growth in incidents of on-campus violence, the Museum of Tolerance is hosting two special seminars this week for school-district and law-enforcement officials from around the region and throughout the state.

"The Israeli Experience in School Security" will share how that nation has worked to prevent and deal with terrorism and other potential threats that have become a reality of daily classroom life.

The seminar is being conducted by The Israeli Experience in Homeland Security, a group composed of former Israeli high command officials from various security agencies. Participating speakers include Assaf Heffetz, Commissioner of the Israeli Police, who will present in detail his country's procedures, methods and policies for school security.

"School and police authorities must be aware that the real threat of school terrorism, both external and internal, must cause a paradigm shift in their preparedness and procedures," Heffetz said. "We believe that Israel's past unhappy experience with school terror can provide some unique, practical elements that would improve every community's approach to school security."

The seminar will be conducted twice, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday and again on Wednesday. The presentation is part of the Museum of Tolerance's Tools for Tolerance program and its Law Enforcement Partnership with Schools initiative.

A recent study says that 80 percent of K-12 teachers believe teaching financial literacy is important, but only about half of those teach it. Networks Financial Institute at Indiana State University reports that teachers list time constraints, lack of materials and lack of specific academic standards as obstacles to teaching it.

The California Department of Education is rolling out a program to teach high school students financial literacy. Its Web site has a bunch of financial literacy tools and lessons for teachers and parents to use. To make the idea of learning about money management more appealing to kids, there is also a free video game called "Financial Football" on the site. This computer-based game can also be downloaded for free on cell phones.

Who knew there was a National School Lunch Week? Chef Ann Cooper, director of nutrition services for the Berkeley Unified School District. Her Web site has a list of family-friendly recipes and nutritional information for feeding children. This week, she wants parents to analyze what their kids are eating, make some healthy adjustments, and report their experiences on her blog.

Cooper is the author of several books, including Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children, which was released in paperback in September.

We spent some time with PV High students who spend their Sundays not with family, but working to convert a Chevy from petrol fueled to biodiesel fueled. Or rigging up an underwater submersible. Or writing HTML Web code from scratch.

Here's a factoid. Biodiesel sells for $3.49 per gallon.

Check out Paul's story.

Interesting take by Michael Winerip, in the New York Times, on the task of getting kids to read for pleasure. He argues that parents must be the ones to bring the wonders of literature to their children, since schools are often so preoccupied preparing students for standardized tests.

His "no morning television" policy is a familiar parenting device, but it has nudged his "jock son" to read the sports section of the newspaper.

Here's the article.

Shelly Leachman has a story about a new Pilates program for fifth-graders at Anza and Yukon elementaries. Twice a week, they do 30 minutes as part of a test program that is the first of its kind in the South Bay. At winter break, it will be reassessed. One idea is to teach teachers enough Pilates to lead a 10-minute lesson every day in class.

"(Physical education) is no longer about competitive sports and being athletic," said E. Don Kim, the district's senior director of elementary schools. "It should enhance mind, body and spirit, and this is something that promotes that."

Pilates, like yoga, is commonly believed to aid neurological development, coordination and circulation, build body awareness and reduce stress, altogether improving focus, concentration and control.

Here's the story.

John Bogert catches up with a bright boy he met years ago while talking to a second-grade class. Now the editor of the student newspaper at Redondo Union, our columnist finds the 17-year-old living up to his potential.

Hank loves history. He got a perfect score on his AP European history test, and pretty much the same on nine others. Over the summer he decided that all the history he picked up in Mrs. Julie Ferron’s class could be augmented with words on a “pimp pope” and the bizarre fears of powerful freaks and presented as a free AP history podcast.

“I love history,” said Hank , who this year is shooting for 51 seconds flat in the 400 - meter run. “I wanted to make it so a girl like my 15-year-old sister, Maggie — a real science type — would enjoy the subject, too.”

Actually, Hank loves so many things and in such depth it’s hard to cover it all. This is nothing new. Back at Alta Vista teachers had him pegged as a writer, a natural. Later, at Parras Middle School, he’d be named Student of the Year and be described by one teacher as future presidential material, adding, “He stands out for his spark and verve, for his insight and creativity. He’s like a fire burning on a dark prairie.”

Read the column here.

A new state law helped police arrest a registered sex offender who was allegedly hanging around elementary schools in Manhattan Beach and Westchester.

While sex offender Richard Gibbons was under police surveillance for about six hours this week, he drove to about a dozen elementary schools, including two in the South Bay.

He usually parked his car outside the campuses and stayed inside, authorities said. But on Tuesday, when he allegedly parked his car in the school lot at Cowan Elementary School in Westchester, Gibbons violated a new state law.

The Sex Offender Control and Containment Act, enacted last year, makes it a misdemeanor for anyone required to register as a sex offender to go onto school grounds without reason and written permission. The law also bans sex offenders from parks and other places where children congregate.

Here's the rest of the story by our court reporter Denise Nix.

Here's Shelly Leachman's story on Wednesday night's Torrance School Board candidate forum. If you missed it and want to see it for yourself, the video will air nightly at 9 p.m. from Oct. 17 to Nov. 5 on Torrance Community Television, Time Warner Channel 28.

LAUSD superintendent David Brewer has picked four senior executives to assist him in transforming the nation's second largest school district.

The superintendent named Ronni Ephraim as deputy superintendent of Professional Learning, Development and Leadership; Julie Slayton as executive director of the Office of Strategic Planning and Accountability, Megan Reilly as Chief Financial Officer, and Tony Tortorice as Chief Information Officer. Tortorice is a Long Beach resident.

See the full text of the district's announcement, after the jump.

Closing in on his one-year anniversary of replacing Roy Romer, LAUSD Superintendent David Brewer has laid out his plan for improving middle schools -- a diet including more small learning academies (given a fancy renaming as "personalized learning environments") and charter-style strategies such as eight-period days, more elective choices, more attention to learning English and better linkages to college-preparatory graduation requirements.

Time will tell whether he'll gain lasting results improving student achievement in grades six, seven and eight (crucial years in a student's development) and stem the eighth-grade "mental dropouts."

It's the latest plank in his reform strategy. Read Naush Boghossian's story for more.

Receiving a paycheck in Los Angeles Unified can be perilous business. A new payroll system has brought numerous payment errors to the district's certified employees, and we found a few local stories to add to the pile.

We also visited the district's payroll center at White Middle School in Carson. LAUSD employees: What has been your experience with the payroll center? E-mail us.

Read Paul's story for more.

From reporter Larry Altman:

A former Banning High School football player who died on a battlefield in Iraq will be honored Friday night with a pre-game ceremony at the Pilots’ Homecoming game in Gardena.

U.S. Army Pfc. David Toomalatai’s No. 80 jersey will be retired and members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Wilmington will pay tribute with a gun salute.

Toomalatai's family, fiancee and toddler son are expected to attend the 6:40 p.m. ceremony before the Pilots' 7 p.m. game against Washington High School at the Gardena High School stadium at 1301 W. 182nd Street.

Toomalatai, a medic, was killed in January while riding in an ambulance that struck a land mine.

A survey by the National Associated of College Stores shows most college students are going interactive with their get-ups this year.
--52% plan to dress up
--57% of those will make their own costume
--Only 2% will be a pirate

Karen Bartelme, the researcher in charge of the group that did the survey, says:

"Many of the costumes listed had an aspect of interactivity to them. One respondent said he was going as a memo board complete with magnets, push pins, stickers, and an outfit that people could write on. Another listed pinata...if you hit her she threw candy at you."

The ESL Reader is an online resource for parents of children learning English along with their classroom lessons. Parents can type in an English phrase or word into a box and click "read text." On the next screen, you can click on a word, which will bring up a second box with the word's definition and correlary in 16 languages including Spanish, Portugese, Chinese, Vietnamese and Bengali.

Here's the link.

Four 12th-graders at Palos Verdes Peninsula High School have been singled out as scholars in the National Hispanic Recognition Program from the College Board.

Adrian Castillo, Ian Counts, Nicholas Mauricio and Colette Posse had a GPA of 3.5 or higher, identified themselves as one-quarter Hispanic and took the PSAT in 2006.

The budding journalists at Palos Verdes High School's Live from 205 -- a reference to their classroom studio at the Palos Verdes Estates campus -- have posted their report on Homecoming Week.

Watch the video to discover who won King and Queen, see a few highlights from the football game against Bishop Montgomery, get a student review of Across the Universe and hear about the One Laptop Per Child project.

Mildred Garcia -- who took over as president of California State University, Dominguez Hills in August -- will head to the Carson City Council next week to receive a key to the city.

On Oct. 17, Mayor Jim Dear will honor her with a ceremonial key. (Side note: a year ago, Gene Maddaus reported on the city's cost-cutting move to restrict key awards. Only city residents are eligible). Garcia lives in Carson.

In the spring, Garcia beat out three other finalists to replace James Lyons at the 12,000-student state campus in Carson. Prior to that, she oversaw the 6,000-student Berkeley College in New York and New Jersey.

Their ability to learn may be determined by their biological clocks, according to a study by Vanderbilt University and published online last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In the study, cockroaches were found to be better able to take in new information at night, when they are naturally more active. Similar studies of human behavior found that learning skills were weaker at certain times of the day.

According to Terry L. Page, the professor of biological sciences who directed the project:

“Studies like this suggest that time of day can have a profound impact, at least in certain situations. By studying the way the biological clock modulates learning and memory we may learn more about how these processes take place and what can influence them.”

If you're interested learning more about this study, you can see a multimedia presentation at Vanderbilt University's online research mag. Take a look at whatever time of day you feel smartest.

The latest forum for school board candidates in Torrance Unified School District is happening tonight.

This is the big one, folks, sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Torrance and the Torrance Council of PTAs. Here's your chance to hear directly from incumbent Terry Ragins and first-time trustee hopefuls Don Lee, Irmi Lake and G. Rick Marshall how they intend to improve the district if elected.

The public event kicks off at 7 p.m. and is expected to run until around 9 p.m., at George Nakano Theatre, 3330 Civic Center Drive, in Torrance.

After complaints from the community about the businesses that would be displaced by the school, the Los Angeles Board of Education voted Tuesday to delay construction and reconsider the school site.

From Paul Clinton's story:

To change the school's location, trustee Richard Vladovic must return to the board with an alternate site by Dec. 11. If he doesn't, the current favored site will regain the top position, Executive Officer Jefferson Crain said in an e-mail.

The district's chosen site - bounded by Avalon Boulevard, L Street, Broad Avenue and M Street - has met opposition from the community surrounding it, as well as Councilwoman Janice Hahn.

Here's the story.

"Rachel's Challenge" was inspired by the writings of a student killed in the Columbine school shootings eight years ago. It promotes small gestures of kindness and compassion and is now the largest school assembly program in the country. Next year, the Torrance Council of PTAs hopes to bring it to all the Torrance high schools.

Here's Shelly Leachman's story.

A new study says family life may play a bigger role in high school students' success than whether they attend a public or private school.

WASHINGTON (AP)- Low-income students who attend urban public high schools generally do just as well as private-school students with similar backgrounds, according to a study being released today.

While the finding is in line with a handful of recent studies, it’s at odds with a larger body of research over the years that has found private-school students outperform those in public schools. Some of that research found a private-school advantage even when income levels are taken into account. However, the new study not only compared students by income levels, but also looked at a range of other family characteristics, such as whether a parent participates in school life.

Here's the story.

The Charlotte Observer has a pop on acronyms and abbreviations used by college admissions offices. Ever heard of a SSR? URM? RIC? OOS? TOEFL? Take the test and get up to speed here.

The site also has a lot of other information for those of you who are knee-deep in college app season.

Gannett News Service has an article that breaks down the leading presidential candidates' positions on the No Child Left Behind law. Read it here.

I don't mind telling you: I was nervous to go on a zero-gravity airplane flight as I did Monday with a group of local teachers. I've found that the older I get, the more I fear flying -- and the more I think every turbulent bump is the beginning of my sure-to-be-fiery demise. Or maybe it's just since I started watching "Lost."

Regardless, I tend to get a little stressed out in the sky these days. Nine times out of ten it's nothing a nice in-flight cocktail can't cure, but I had a feeling that bloody marys would not be available on the Zero G jet. (I was right, by the way, although they did offer up real champagne for a post-flight toast in which I swear, dear editors, I did not partake.)

For all the fear and the fretting and the disappointment I felt upon learning there were no extra motion-sickness pills laying around for me to pop (they were only giving them to people with a doctor's approval), I had a great, amazing time.

The Parents of Westchester With Orville Wright (POWWOW, for short) will get together for their first meeting of the year. The newly revived group has been providing regular volunteers to increase parent involvement at Westchester High School and Wright Middle School.

The topic of the meeting, "The Purpose Driven Parent," may be an allusion to Rick Warren's biblical bestseller "The Purpose-Driven Life."

The group is led by Crissina Johnson, an author and pastor who founded A Christ Centered Faith World Harvest Church in Westchester in 1994.

Parents are invited to attend a meeting that starts at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the social hall at Westchester High School, 7400 W. Manchester Ave.

Local LAUSD Trustee Richard Vladovic, who represents the San Pedro-to-Watts area, is lobbying the district to reconsider the location for a new K-8 school in Wilmington. He will seek a vote at Tuesday's board meeting.

Since July 2006, the district has been developing plans for a school that would wipe out a commercial block bounded by Avalon Boulevard, L Street, Broad Avenue and M Street in the heart of Wilmington's commercial district.

Community opposition to the district's choice of location has caused Vladovic to seek more community input to potentially choose a new site for the school, he said. If the project moves forward as is, it would force out a Wells Fargo bank, Latino market and other shops and homes on 16 lots.

The initial plan called for a "span" school to add 1,278 seats to relieve crowding at Fries Avenue, Gulf Avenue and Hawaiian Avenue elementary schools and Wilmington Middle School. On Monday, Vladovic said he would favor a school adding as many as 700 seats.

Since Vladovic submitted his request less than a week before Tuesday's meeting, the board must first agree to consider the item, before it takes up Vladovic's request to halt work on the current project. The meeting starts at 1 p.m. Tuesday at LAUSD's downtown board room, 333 S. Beaudry Ave.

At a morning presser at Jordan High School in Watts, LAUSD unveiled a campaign to begin targeting dropouts using popular Internet social networking site MySpace. The district will recruit up to 10 "peer-to-peer mentors" (students and recent graduates) to post information on their personal Internet pages and actively search for potential dropouts.

Superintendent David Brewer advised students, at the press conference, to "Come back. Do not stay out there and become a stastiic our society."

The district has also begun a radio blitz, launched a Web site and will send text messages to students with embedded statistics. One text message, for example, would tell students that high-school graduates earn $175 more per week than dropouts.

The district will also step up the frequency of home visits to the 17,000 students listed as potential dropouts. Counselors such as Rochelle Morrison -- she's based out of Gardena High School -- were hired a year ago to monitor dropout lists and work to recover students who have left campus.

"It's a different approach," Morrison said about the campaign. "It could be a way to reach kids. It's going to help us reach them, but we're still going to have to do our best to bring them back."

Read our story by Naush Boghossian.

Daniel Urribe, a Torrance teenager, has won third-place in a national youth entrepreneur program.

Daniel won recognition in the Smith Barney/NFTE National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge by writing a business plan for selling ceramic ball bearings for skateboards. NFTE is the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship.

Daniel beat out 30 other high school students from around the country to win $2,500 to invest in his business or education. More than 21,000 students participated in the contest.

He also negotiated with overseas manufacturers to produce his product.

Daniel has graduated from the International Social Entrepreneurship Academy, a nonprofit group that operates programs at West High in Torrance and Narbonne High in Harbor City.

"Urribe shows the type of dedication and innovation that young people deliver when they are given the tools," said Phyllis Rawley, executive director for the Los Angeles chapter of the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship.

Many of the South Bay's independent schools pass on 12 federal educational grant programs, even though the No Child Left Behind Act gives them eligibility to do so. Catholic schools, for reasons that have roots in President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society reforms, are a notable exception. Read our story for more.

Interesting story in Sunday's New York Times about the Columbus Day conundrum.

The piece is largely New York-focused in its look at what institutions and businesses (educational or otherwise) do and do not observe the holiday and the problems a complete lack of consistency causes for families. But it also touches on the rarity of it being recognized in California public schools, noting that our state Department of Education does not include Columbus Day in its official list of school holidays.

It also discusses the increasing controversy over Columbus Day celebrations.

Read it here.

Paul Clinton researched the background of some interesting characters for whom South Bay and Harbor Area schools are named. Here's one:

Alice McLellan Birney Elementary School, Redondo Beach: Birney was a founder of the first nationwide Parent Teacher Association. Birney joined with Phoebe Apperson Hearst to form the National Congress of Mothers in Washington, D.C., in 1897. She contributed articles about child-rearing to The Delineator magazine. She died in 1907.

Here's the link to the rest. Four years ago, Larry Altman did some detective work to find out the stories behind 10 other school names.

El Segundo High and Dana Middle in the Wiseburn District are piloting courses that blend online learning and advanced technology with traditional teaching.

"These days, technology is really a child's primary language," said Dana's principal, Matthew Wunder. "Part of the goal in education is engagement, and (technology) is a tool that they know and embrace."

And El Segundo instructor Ray Gen says:

"Our job is to turn the content (of classes) into a media that students enjoy. If you have it in a cool media, it's more fun than the traditional, `Here's some paper, do something with it.'

"Paper is a 5,000-year-old technology," he added. "It used to be cool, but it's not anymore. Schools are laggards, traditionally, in technology, but we should be at the forefront, not the rear guard."

Here's Shelly Leachman's story.

From Paul Clinton's story in Saturday's Daily Breeze:

The Los Angeles Unified School District has quietly shelved a plan for a public high school in San Pedro, a move that staves off a nasty legal fight with an influential developer.

Rather - if funds become available - the district could build an academy-style school in Lomita, which has emerged as the leading option among several other locations.

Here's the link.

A team of current and former students from the school's art therapy masters program headed to Louisiana to aid hurricane victims. The students used art as a cathartic process to help Louisiana residents come to grips with their painful memories.

"I'll keep going back as long as they'll have me," said Lesly Van Sloten, who graduated from Loyola in 2006 and works locally with at-risk teenagers.

It was tough at first convincing the residents that art could help them sort out what happened, the women said. They used media such as drawing, painting, construction and photography to get the survivors to confront what they went through.

Check out the rest of Melissa Evans' story.

United Teachers Los Angeles officers will camp out in an RV at Los Angeles Unified headquarters starting today to protest payroll glitches that have led to over- and underpayments for thousands of employees since February. Here's Naush Boghossian's story.http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/articles/10254846.html

Extra police will be on campus today.

From Megan Bagdonas' story about Thursday's incident:

Students who witnessed the incident claimed they could see the butt of a gun underneath the man's shirt, with the barrel poking out below his shorts.

"It could very well have been a sawed-off shotgun," Lt. Stephen Dodson said.

An announcement made over the school's public address system ordered teachers to lock their doors, close their windows and not let anyone in or out of their classrooms.

Students weren't told why the campus was locked down, so there were a lot of theories. But here's what I think is the scariest part of Megan's story:

Many students said they weren't alarmed by the news that someone was able to get onto campus with a gun.

"It's not that big of a deal," junior Wayne Smith said. "I hear of people coming to campus with weapons all the time."

Gabby Proa said she was more upset with school officials than about a man with a gun on campus.

"A guy with a gun is nothing new, I mean we live in Wilmington," the senior said. "But when we ask them why we're on lockdown, they just say, `Don't worry about it, we'll handle it.' So if something does happen and we do get shot, we don't even know why."

Here's the link so you can read the whole thing.

A multi-agency task force swept through Carson, Harbor City, San Pedro, Torrance and Wilmington today, citing 163 teenagers for truancy and arresting 10 others.

The students had ditched classes at Banning High, Carson High, Narbonne High, San Pedro High and Torrance High. Read our story.

According to a foot doctor group's press release, soccer can give kids painful ingrown toenails. Here's why:

"It seems like every child is enrolled in a league," says foot and ankle surgeon Matthew Dairman, "The young kids wear hand-me-down cleats that don’t fit exactly right. The older kids like tighter cleats to get a better feel for the ball and the field." Dairman says these tight shoes crowd the toes together. Combine that with repetitive kicking, and you’ve got a recipe for painful ingrown toenails.

To prevent them:
--Trim toenails straight across and don’t cut them too short.
--Check often to make sure children’s cleats fit, because a child’s shoe size can change within a single soccer season.

If your child already has an ingrown toenail, soak the foot in room-temperature water and gently rub the side of the nail fold. And then you can go here to find a toe doctor in the South Bay to do a simple little procedure to make sure it never happens again.

The Beach Reporter has a story about "Red, White & Blue," a new opera with an educational twist that arrives in Hermosa Beach on Saturday (Oct. 6) to benefit the Hermosa Beach Education Foundation.

Resident Susan Asbjornson Ziegler (producing the opera with her husband, George) originally drew inspiration for "Red, White & Blue," when she began writing songs for her young cousin. The songs teach children about American history.

“The core of the show is the educational songs,” Zeigler said. “I wanted to raise money for the Hermosa Beach Education Foundation because they support programs like music programs that are cut by the state and science and all kinds of great things. When I do produce an opera, I spend at least six months of my life, 18 to 20 hours a day, getting this together, the writing, the composing, the casting, all the production stuff. It's very important to me the money goes to charity because that's just who I am. It's just something I have to do and people ask me, ‘Why?' Why do people climb mountains? This organization is just so fantastic.”

Click this link for more, including ticket information.

Detailing various district statistics, achievements and future plans, Redondo Beach Unified hosted its first “State of Education” event Wednesday night.

After brief remarks by Mayor Mike Gin, school board president Drew Gamet and state Assemblyman Ted Lieu — who described the district as “outstanding” — Superintendent Steven Keller took the floor to run down everything from student demographics to test scores.

Briefly touching on the district’s facilities needs and reminding attendees that a new bond measure will appear on the February 2008 ballot, Keller simply urged, “Please vote.”

The evening ended with the presentation of the district’s inaugural, from hereafter annual, “Education Advocate of the Year” award.

The prize went to longtime volunteer and frequent education event planner Barbara ramsey-Duke, who Keller lauded for her “thorough dedication.”

The interactive-whiteboard industry is expected to reach $1 billion in worldwide sales in 2008, an Education Week story reports this week. Their next move: Mobilize an army of lobbyists to crush the chalk industry!

Educators will hash out the role of charter schools today (Thursday) in a live event that's open to the public.

A.J. Duffy (the president of United Teachers Los Angeles), Myrna Castrejon (vice president with the California Charter Schools Association), Eric Premack (charter schools development director with California State University, Sacramento) and Brian Stecher (RAND Corporation researcher) will discuss the merits of the charter-school movement.

KPCC AirTalk host Larry Mantle is moderating the 7 p.m. debate at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, 111 N. Central Ave., Los Angeles. Please RSVP at 213-623-6003 or send an e-mail to cai@cai-la.org.

A study being released today says the math tests being used by states as part of NCLB are harder than the reading tests. And The Associated Press story makes this interesting correlation:

The findings come a little more than a week after the federal government reported students have been making much more progress in math than in reading in recent years.
Michael Petrilli, the think tank’s vice president for policy, said it makes sense that students’ math skills are improving if there are high expectations of them in that subject.
“If the bar is higher, you’ve got to work a lot harder,” he said.

The study also found that California is among the states with the hardest tests in both reading and math.

Here's the link.

Candidates for school board in the Centinela Valley Union High School District will participate in a public forum Thursday night in the Del Aire neighborhood.

Incumbents Jorge Arroyo and Rafael Ramirez will face off against their respective challengers, Sandra Suarez and Gloria Ramos, in the 7-9 p.m. event being hosted by the League of Women Voters.

The session is being held at Juan de Anza Elementary School, 12110 S. Hindry Ave., in Hawthorne.

An LAUSD committee set up to review reform proposals will meet Thursday for the first time with a contingent of Westchester educators.
Board Trustee Marlene Canter, who represents Westchester, Marina del Rey and Playa del Rey, will preside over the advisory Charters and Innovation Committee.
Also, Wright Middle School Principal Stephen Rochelle is listed as one of three external representatives.
Canter was the driving force behind the creation of the committee by Superintendent David Brewer earlier this year.
Trustees Monica Garcia and Julie Korenstein also sit on the panel, which will meet at 10 a.m. Thursday at LAUSD headquarters, 333 S. Beaudry Ave. in Los Angeles.

The Sacramento Bee has the American Library Association's new list of most commonly challenged books at public and school libraries and at bookstores. The group is promoting the list as part of this week's "Banned Books Week."

Most of the books on this year's list are for children, but Harry Potter, which led the list for the past five years, dropped out of the top 10.

While past Banned Books Lists have included such famous works as John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men," Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" and Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn," and the 2006 list features Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "Beloved," Krug points out that this year's list "has a lot of coming-of-age stories for young people." These include the "Alice" series of books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, which have been attacked for their sexual content and language, and Chris Crutcher's "Athletic Shorts," in which teenage athletes deal with such issues as racism and homophobia.

Here's the link to the story and the list.

It's International Walk to School Day. The program started 10 years ago as a way to promote physical activity for kids, help the enviroment and draw attention to the need for safe walking and biking routes to school. There are 2,630 schools in the United States that registered their plans on the official Web site. According to that site, here's who is participating in the South Bay:

-- Richmond Street Elementary School in El Segundo

-- Meadows Elementary School in Manhattan Beach.
Organizer Ginny Sogomonian says on the site:

This is our second effort at a Walk to School. We have approximately 500 students and had a 72% participation rate the first year which we would like to raise. This year we are observing WTS month and having a prize drawing for kids who walk to school 10 times or more ($50 Sketchers gift certificate).

--Beryl Heights School in Redondo Beach

--Arnold Elementary School in Torrance

Want to see how far it is to school and how many calories you're going to burn? Go here and map your route.

A Catholic school in Redondo Beach is among 27 in California to gain federal Blue Ribbon status, Superintendent Jack O’Connell announced Tuesday. The U.S. Department of Education identified St. Lawrence Martyr Parish School as a model of excellence with the honor.

“I am tremendously pleased these outstanding California schools are receiving the national recognition they so clearly deserve,” O’Connell said. “They all are testaments to academic excellence and have created a positive school culture where students are able to thrive and reach their full potential.”

Read our story for more.

For the first time, Redondo Beach Unified School District is hosting a community event aimed at informing residents of the "State of Education" in the city.

Superintendent Steven Keller and school board president Drew Gamet are both slated to speak during the program, discussing such things as student achievement, district facilities and future plans. The district has said it will seek a new bond measure in February 2008.

The event begins with a meet-and-greet at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday night, with speakers scheduled from 7-8 p.m. It's being held on the second floor of the Redondo Beach Public Library, at 303 N. Pacific Coast Highway.

All are invited to attend.

The independent San Pedro school (grades 6 to 12) has hired Olivia Carnahan as assistant head of school. Carnahan, 50, worked her way up the insurance industry ladder from a receptionist to an office manager. The Redondo Beach resident graduated from UCLA in 2001 with a bachelor's degree in history. She has a lifelong "passion for teaching," according to a school press release.

Apologize for the short notice, but if you're reading this before 5 p.m. today, you may still have time to head to Loyola Marymount University for a screening of "Left Behind - the Story of New Orleans Public Schools" written and directed by alumnus Vincent Morelli.

The 90-minute doc tells the story of three African-American high school seniors navigating 12th-grade. The students attend school in Louisiana, a state ranked as one of the poorest and most violent in America. The film includes an interview with Rep. Maxine Waters, who represents Gardena, Hawthorne and Lawndale.

The film will be shown at the Huesman Lounge, at LMU, 1 LMU Drive. Call 310-338-5133 for more info.

Our columnist Lana Buu is a Torrance High School graduate who writes about her first year at Georgetown University. This week, she writes about the odd assortment of characters living with her in student housing.

I live on the third floor where the guys outnumber the girls, 2-1. It is no surprise that the guys requested "urinals" and "more girls" (more than half of the girls in the girls-only cluster are in long-distance relationships) from the money in the floor fund collected by the Resident Advisor (RA).

Here's the link.

Two area students were among 18 winners of the 2007 Latino Heritage Month poster contest honored by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
Viviana Vela, from Wilmington Middle School, and Ana Vargas, from Carnegie Middle School in Carson, created the winning posters at the Banning Recreation Center.
Villaraigosa announced the winners Sept. 22 during an event at the Pico House Monument at El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Park in Los Angeles.
The 18 Los Angeles Unified students were presented scholarships.

Perhaps acknowledging the differing learning styles of boys and girls, South Carolina is dividing the genders in classes at 70 of its schools, according to this AP story published by Teacher Magazine. LAUSD Superintendent David Brewer has mentioned the idea as one strategy that could show up in his reform package.

Here's an interesting tidbit...

[R]esearch shows boys don't hear as well as girls, so teachers of all-boys classes often use microphones. And because boys' attention spans tend to wander, incorporating movement in a lesson, like throwing a ball to a student when he's chosen to answer a question, can keep them focused.

As if he were baptizing a newborn, Cardinal Roger Mahony (on Sunday) sprinkled holy water onto the new Mary Star of the Sea High School building on former Navy land sandwiched between Taper and Western avenues in San Pedro.

The campus was 13 years in the making and gives students an updated, more spacious learning environment. Here's our story.

Rising tuition costs for undergraduate and graduate degrees has put the pinch on students once they get to the "real world," according to this AP article.

Here's an arresting statistic...

More than $17 billion in private student loans were issued last year, up from $4 billion a year in 2001. Outstanding student borrowing jumped from $38 billion in 1995 to $85 billion last year, according to experts and lawmakers.