March 2008 Archives

The state is giving out nearly $200 million in grants and loans for building or modernizing career technical education facilities at high schools across California and two local spots are on the recipient list.

The Southern California Regional Occupation Center, commonly known as SCROC although they're now asking to be referred to as SoCal ROC instead (an image thing? not sure), will receive almost $3 million from the overall pot, for upgrading its health science and medical technology facilities.

And the Centinela Valley Union High School District will get almost $2 million to be spent at Lawndale High School on a project identified by the state only as relating to "arts, media and entertainment."

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? That Centinela's take will go toward perhaps, hopefully, finally finishing the extremely overdue performing arts center? If so, bravo, Centinela, bravo. I'll find out for sure and report back to you all, and asap!

The money in total is coming from the State Allocation Board (SAB), which has the Office of Public School Construction under its umbrella. Funding was awarded across 15 different industry sectors for 174 projects at high schools or other local educational facilities statewide.

The SAB provides grants to school districts for new school buildings and the modernization of facilities. The agency's new CTE Facilities program is a 50-50 process that requires a school to provide a matching contribution. A school district can apply for new construction or modernization funding if its facility is a comprehensive high school. A Joint Powers Authority can also apply for modernization funding if they were operating a career technical education program. The maximum grant is $3 million per project, per school site. If a district qualifies, the SAB can also loan all or part of the matching contribution.

A total of $185 million in grants were awarded. The SAB allocated another $14 million in loans for districts that were unable to provide the required matching funds (Centinela included, according to a state-provided chart).

And now for the requisite canned quote from an official-type person: “Governor Schwarzenegger has a strong, personal commitment and belief that career tech programs are an educational alternative that many California kids need,” said SAB member and Department of General Services Director Will Bush. “The benefit of these wonderful programs is that they provide the opportunity for our young adults to join the California workforce with enhanced skills and be more productive citizens.”

For a complete list of all the projects that received funding visit, click here.

Anyone planning to attend the Milken National Education Conference being held Sunday at the Westin Bonaventure downtown?

The goal of the event is being billed as: "to increase the nation's focus on high-quality teachers for every classroom in America."

The U.S. Department of Education is promoting the appearance of so-described "Bush education official" Kerri Briggs, who will participate in a panel discussion entitled "Measuring Teacher Effectiveness: Understanding and Implementing Teacher Assessments.” The talk will focus on "successful policies and programs that measure teacher effectiveness, including skills, knowledge and responsibilities, and their impact on improving the learning environment," a department press release says.

The Milken conference is being held in conjunction with the 8th annual National Teacher Advancement Program Conference.

If anyone goes, let me know next week what you learned.

Wow!

Now this is interesting, so I only apologize for not finding and bringing it to you sooner. My thanks to Scholastic's "This Week In Education" blog for helping me find it today, by pointing me toward the New York Times "Freakonomics" blog, which referred to the item about which I'm about to write.

Here it is: A Connecticut eighth-grader was recently suspended for three days, nixed from a dinner for honors students and removed from his vice-presidential post for buying a bag of Skittles from a fellow student, which apparently violates a school policy that prohibits any and all on-campus candy sales.

Again: wow!

The whole story is online at the web home of the New Haven Register.

Are our local schools equally strict? Talk to me, people.

So I spent my Thursday afternoon at El Camino College, first interviewing some students there for a story, then just hunkering down with my laptop to write. Something about the buzz of a campus motivates me and I got things done far more quickly than I ever do at my office.

But I digress.

When I was wandering around deciding where to situate myself, I picked up the current issue of the campus paper, The Union, which, by the way, is written and produced in the most beautiful newsroom I've ever seen, outfitted, as it is, with top-of-the-line, giant, gleaming flat-screen Macs and located in a spacious bottom-floor office of the college's brand-new Humanities building.

Speaking of the Humanities building, which we wrote about when it opened in February (it's the first all-new structure there in about three decades), The Union had a short story reporting that it has already been victimized by vandalism. Apparently a stairwell has already been tagged with graffiti, several brand-new desks have already been scrawled on with markers and a littering problem abounds.

Faculty especially are decrying what they call a lack of respect for the building, and the entire school.

English professor Mimi Ansite told The Union: "...some people don't want to treat the building as a privilege. That's a shame."

Cynthia Silverman, also an English professor, was more direct: "It won't take long for this to look crappy if we don't encourage student responsibility."

I have to say, I'm anti-vandalism overall, for buildings new and old, but this story made me especially sad because the Humanities complex truly is a gorgeous. Here's hoping the offending students tighten it up and keep the facility clean.

Rancho Palos Verdes resident and Cal State Long Beach professor Teri Yamada, along with her Cambodia-based colleague Kho Taraith, who she works with on the Nou Hach Literary Project, have been lauded with the Jeri Laber International Freedom to Publish Award.

Yamada supervises -- and Taraith, from Phnom Penh, actually directs -- the project, an international organization that supports Cambodian literature, writers and academics. (Nou Hach was one of Cambodia’s finest early modern writers, an intellectual and a diplomat.) .

“I’m thrilled that we have received this award,” said Yamada, a faculty member of the university's Comparative World Literature and Classics Department. She said she is proud of the project’s reputation as a literary organization that will publish any kind of literary expression within the genres of short fiction and poetry.

“There are other literary organizations in Cambodia directed by the government where participants must belong to a specific political party," Yamada added. "We don’t do that. We are apolitical. Everyone is welcome.”

The project’s cultural efforts include the Nou Hach Literary Journal, the Nou Hach literary competition -- an annual writer’s conference, the writer’s workshops, the classical poetry CD and booklet, the newspaper insert of short fiction and poetry, a literary radio program and a literacy outreach to rural areas.

Yamada's future goals include setting up an Internet café and desktop publishing business to provide an independent source of revenue. She anticipates using the award's accompanying $5,000 grant to fund the
upcoming fifth issue of the Nou Hach Literary Journal as well as a new printer and computer for the Phnom Penh office.

She'll officially receive the award in April at the annual PEN benefit dinner hosted by International PEN, the world’s oldest human rights and international literary organization.

Administered by the Association of American Publishers, the Laber Award is given annually to a book publisher outside the United States who has demonstrated courage and fortitude in the face of political persecution. First bestowed in 2003, it has previously recognized such groups as the independent Iranian publishing community, in care of the Shirin Ebadi Center for Defenders of Human Rights.

The award is named in honor of Jeri Laber, one of the founding members of the International Freedom To Publish Committee, who served as co-founder and director of Helsinki Watch from 1979 to 1995. The IFTPC itself was founded by the Association of American Publishers in 1975. It was one of first groups in the world formed specifically to defend and broaden the freedom of the written word and to protect and promote the rights of book publishers and authors around the world.

For more information about the Nou Hach Literary project and Journal, see www.nouhachjournal.net.

For several months now, Redondo Beach Unified School District has been printing its own monthly paper, School News, which features short reports, updates and commentaries by Superintendent Steven Keller, every principal in the district and an assortment of others with ties to the local school scene.

The current issue includes stories about Redondo Union's success in the recent Los Angeles County Academic Decathlon and the participation of 30 high schoolers in the city's Chamber of Commerce "Leader For a Day" event, plus advice on choosing the best camp for your kids.

Kudos, Redondo. Your paper seems like a great way to keep everyone in the loop about the myriad goings-on districtwide.

Fourth graders at Silver Spur Elementary School in Rancho Palos Verdes had a day full of hands-on activities designed to enhance their knowledge of Golden State history.

The campus's inaugural "Old California Day," which has just concluded, featured guest speakers on subjects including Native American beading, native plants and California's cowboys.

The 100-ish participating fourth graders also got to get their hands dirty -- literally -- panning for gold in a makeshift vat of water, silt and sand; crafting adobe bricks; painting tiles; and making candles.

Inspired by required curriculum, the event was the brainchild of teacher Gail Warner.

For complete and colorful details on the day, see the School Notebook page in Monday's Daily Breeze.

A current first-person feature on Teacher Magazine's website contends that maintaining good relationships with parents is essential to successful teaching.

Writes Danielle Mbadu of Kaplan Higher Education:
"I firmly believe that the types of relationships and encounters that are in place between teachers and parents can have a profound effect on student learning and growth. In my experiences, the parents that I am in contact with the most frequently, whether through e-mail, open houses, or face-to-face communication, have the children who do the best in my class. One reason for this is that those students know that their mom or dad and I are in touch with each other. In those instances when parents and teachers are working together, the students know there is support. That means a lot to students, even if they do not freely admit it."

Makes sense to me!

A new study indicates that there's an ongoing and alarming growth of gangs in suburban neighborhoods. Actually, the U.S. Department of Justice report says gangs are on the upswing in every socioeconomic area across the country.

Commenting on the study, a gang expert from consultancy Seraph, which bills itself as a problem-solving company for schools, government agencies and more, asserts that suburban kids are being recruited in ever-larger numbers.

What do you think, South Bay school types? Is it happening in even the tonier neighborhoods here?

In celebration of Women's History Month, the Torrance-adjacent El Camino College on Thursday hosts a luncheon to honor past recipients of its "Women of Distinction" award.

Guests at the 12:30 to 2 p.m. event, being held in the school's east dining area, will honor South Bay women who have made a difference in their communities and pre-celebrate Cesar Chavez Day.
Featured speaker Ann Lopez, author of "The Farmworker's Journey," will discuss the struggles of women migrant farm workers as well as her personal journey “from Nature Lover to professor.”

The “Women of Distinction" award recognizes outstanding women from the El Camino College area and honors them for their contributions to the community. Honorees are selected based on their contributions in one or more of the following areas: professional accomplishments; leadership and/or mentorship; and social,
educational, or health services.

Those nominated must also live or work in the communities within the college district: El Segundo, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Lawndale, Lennox, Inglewood, Hawthorne and Torrance.

With ever-more fervent interest in green everything -- technology, building et al -- it's only natural that colleges start offering an increasing number of related courses of study.

A school in the Pacific Northwest, the Oregon Institute of Technology, has launched the nation's first four-year undergraduate degree program in renewable-energy systems, which includes classes in photovoltaics, biomass and hydropower, among other things.

The New York Times has a good piece on its website.

If you're looking for an outside-the-box way to spend your Saturday evening, consider this:

Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, currently the President's Marymount Institute Professor in Residence at Loyola Marymount University, will direct a performance piece based on his poem "Samarkand.”

Actual performances start at 8:30 p.m., but the makeshift marketplace serving as the set opens at 6 p.m.

The flackage says this:

"The interactive performance will capture the market imagery from Soyinka's book of poems, "Samarkand and Other Markets I Have Known.” The market will be complete with international merchants, performances of all kinds and staged readings by accomplished international actors including Danny Glover, CCH Pounder and Michael Learned.

Could be cool. I'm just sayin.

Heads up, Westchesterians: LAUSD Superintendent David Brewer will be at Cowan Avenue Elementary School at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, hosting a meeting in the wake of what tipsters tell us was an acrimonious campus vote to join the district's new Innovation Division.

More commonly called iDivision, the reform initiative aims to give schools get more autonomy from LAUSD in exchange for increased accountability.

Teachers and parents alike must buy in to the plan with majority votes among both groups. The Cowan community greenlighted participation in iDivision but we've heard through the grapevine that it's been a polarizing issue there.

How I'm suddenly coming across all these education stories from abroad I don't know, but please bear with me while I tip you off to another, which, coincidentally, has to do with bare-naked broads. It doesn't sound like a school story, I know, but it is, sort of.

Here's the deal: Parents and school types in Britain are up in arms about the burgeoning popularity among kids there of an online video game called "Miss Bimbo."

The upshot on this so-called game: Every player is assigned a naked virtual character to look after, cyber gals that they can enter in beauty contests and send out clubbing. They also take on "missions" for their characters that include getting breast implants, managing their weight with diet pills and finding them rich men to date.

Wow.

According to the Daily Mail, the game already has 200,000 registered players in Britain, most of whom are aged 9 to 16.

Double wow.

Needless to say, most adults are offput, to put it mildly, while the game's creators have taken a more it's-just-a-game-so-stop-freaking-out attitude.

Read all about it.

So in my perusing the web today, seeking, as always, education-related nuggets to share with you lovelies, I come across this English-language paper out of China, the China Daily.

You know how we're always getting word of how much higher student achievement is there, how their work ethic is more intense and how they leave school far better prepared than kids here in our country?

Well guess what? They apparently don't see it that way. Not exactly anyway. China Daily has a story on its website today about a nationwide survey that revealed a "yawning gap between large investments in education and its returns."

In polling thousands of residents aged 16 to 60, of various levels of education, the study determined that only 16 percent of respondents felt they got their money's worth and that "those with higher education voiced greater disappointment at the quality of education received."

"Even with a master's degree, I failed to find a decent position in big companies," Mao Xin, a 26-year-old Beijing resident, told China Daily yesterday. "My textbook knowledge gave no advantage whatsoever in the competition."

Who woulda thunk?

You can read the whole story here.

Oh, those legislators!

Get this: There is a new bill now in the Senate Appropriations Committee that, if enacted, would "request the University of California to conduct a study to research the meaning of the term 'proficiency' in California and other states and recommend a definition of the term to the Legislature, the state Board of Education and the superintendent of public instruction ...," according to the California School Boards Association's latest newsletter.

Further, the state board "would be required to consider adopting the definition of proficiency recommended by the University of California ... and to report the accountability data to the U.S. Department of Education by Jan. 1, 2010."

The No Child Left Behind Act already appeared to be pretty well-loathed, in its existing form anyway, but really, if our politicians are considering drafting entire laws to define what even the word 'proficiency' means in the Golden State, it must be even worse than I thought!

You've still got time to mull this over, because these meetings remain in the offing, but the Torrance Unified School District has scheduled three public workshops aimed at drumming up input on the school system's proposed bond measures.

The district has discussed -- but not yet voted whether to go forward with -- putting a two-bond package on the November ballot that all told would equal about $350 million. The money would go toward fixing aging facilities and to rebuild, at its original location, J.H. Hull Middle School.

In three community meetings set for April 15, April 30 and May 7, Superintendent George Mannon, business chief Don Stabler and other cabinet members, as well as school board trustees, will be on hand to offer info, answer questions and receive feedback on potential projects to be completed, if a bond in fact succeeded.

All three sessions will be held at 7 p.m., at Hull at Levy school, located at 3420 West 229th Place, in Torrance.

Can you imagine?

Apparently Hollywood producer Brian Grazer, partner to Ron Howard (yes, that Ron Howard, he of Opie and Richie Cunningham and oh yeah, Forrest Gump, Splash et al) in Imagine Entertainment, for years has employed a "cultural attache," someone he pays to read for him, introduce him to interesting people from all walks of life and explain to him absolutely everything he doesn't quite understand but wants to.

What's more, Grazer supposedly pays this person some $150K and -- the topper -- his best attache so far was formerly a tutor because the Hollywood big-wig always seeks someone who has that "teacherlike quality." With all the potential teacher layoffs rippling across California, he could soon have an abundance of candidates.

The New Yorker website has a piece about the Grazer gig. Check it.

Ok, college types, have you heard of this? There's a new-ish website out there (slowly coming up on its first anniversary) targeting the higher-ed crowd with its low-brow content. It's gossip, y'all.

Claiming it aims only to enable "anonymous free speech on college campuses," JuicyCampus.com is basically a clearinghouse of mostly crass comments about university students and professors alike. It's wildly popular, natch, but also becoming controversial. Students at some schools, Malibu's Pepperdine among them, have even implored the site be banned from campus internet servers, so hurtful can the content be.

Apparently you can post anonymously, but are encouraged to name names when you're ranting about that girl in the dorm next door or that prickly professor you're not so fond of.

What do you think? Is it free speech gone too far, or is it just harmless venting?

Read the San Francisco Chronicle's recent piece then check out the site for yourself.

I just came across a link to this Baltimore Sun story today, despite its March 4 publication date, but it's interesting and well-worth a read if you have a few spare minutes tonight.

The piece stems from a survey of educators in Maryland's Howard County that found 60 percent of responding teachers report having been subjected to "harassing behavior" by parents.

I'm guessing the issue isn't limited to Maryland, even though this particular article is. Check it out.

Any chance any of you had been followers of Glamour magazine's "Man Needs Date" blog? It was penned by a guy named Mike Cherico, a self-described "edgy English teacher" who is allegedly an educator somewhere in Los Angeles.

Alas, the glossy has recently canned Cherico due to an ongoing onslaught of complaints about him. See short items at Glamour and Gawker.

It always seemed odd to me that a teacher would be blogging his extremely personal details for, theoretically, anyone -- students included -- to read, but maybe that's taking a prudish view. Anyway, it doesn't matter now, I guess, with Cherico being shown the proverbial door.

The Wiseburn School District at its most recent board meeting received a whopping $25,000 donation from Chevron.

The company has long made annual financial gifts to the tiny, well-respected district.

According to the school system: "This year's donation will underwrite the cost of installing Smart Classroom Technology into five of the new Dana Middle School classrooms. This tool will enable teachers to quickly judge student understanding while, at the same time, it will engage students in the learning process."

The New York Times website has an interesting story today that says many states report overly optimistic graduation rates to the feds, but use the real figures at home, altogether clouding our view of how bad the dropout problem actually is.

From the Sam Dillon-penned piece:

"Like Mississippi, many states use an inflated graduation rate for federal reporting requirements under the No Child Left Behind law and a different one at home. As a result, researchers say, federal figures obscure a dropout epidemic so severe that only about 70 percent of the one million American students who start ninth grade each year graduate four years later.

California, for example, sends to Washington an official graduation rate of 83 percent but reports an estimated 67 percent on a state Web site. Delaware reported 84 percent to the federal government but publicized four lower rates at home."

It's interesting; read it all if you have time.

Hoping to stave off the layoffs of nearly 60 full-time teachers, some Palos Verdes community members have launched an intensive fund-raising campaign dubbed Save Our Teachers Now.

Banding together for the two-month effort (the campaign goes through the end of May), a coalition consisting of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District, the Peninsula Education Foundation, all fifteen units of the PVPUSD council of PTA’s and Booster Clubs from many of the individual schools aims to raise $1.2 million.

From the press release:

"As a result of the budget proposed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the PVPUSD faces an annual budget reduction of $3,700,000. The district will be forced to adopt a budget for the next school year, which after many other cutbacks and the prudent use of reserves, will still lead to the lay-off of 59 full-time teachers. A loss of this number of teachers, which would be added to approximately 20 retiring teachers not being replaced, will cause the district to face an “absolutely unacceptable increase in class sizes," according to Walker Williams, Superintendent of Schools for PVPUSD.

If the campaign succeeds in reaching its goal, a large portion of the involuntary lay-off notices which went out on March 15th will be rescinded. Save Our Teachers Now is soliciting donations to the campaign from individuals, organizations, and foundations. The campaign was launched with lead gifts totaling $250,000 from the Peninsula Education Foundation, and several of the PTA units, and is asking all district parents to make a tax-deductible donation to the campaign of at least $200 per student enrolled in PVPUSD.

Among the programs in the district to be lost, in the absence of a successful Save Our Teachers Now campaign, are Option 1 kindergarten, 3rd grade and 9th grade class-size reductions (20:1) put in place over the last several years by the district. In addition, personnel such as counselors, librarians, nurses, and technical support specialists, as well as elementary music, will be cut back from current levels. In a recent on-line survey completed by the Peninsula Education Foundation, 952 respondents stated preserving smaller class sizes was the number one priority at the elementary and intermediate schools levels, and the second priority at the high schools, behind only academic and College counseling.

Dave Wagman, President of the Foundation commented, “We feel that this campaign addresses the powerful concerns of our district’s parents for their children’s education. This campaign gives them a positive and meaningful way to deal with their frustration with the state of education funding in California.”

The group has also established a website: www.saveourteachersnow.com.

The Committee to Recall (embattled Manhattan Beach Unified trustee) Bill Eisen has had its petition certified by Los Angeles County and has now embarked on its signature-gathering effort.

To be eligible for the November election, the group has 60 days to collect 4,400 certified signatures. They are actually aiming for some 6,000 signatures, a spokesperson said Monday, to ensure they meet the county-required minimum.

Hoping to raise awareness of the recall campaign and, I'm guessing, to collect some signatures on the spot, the committee this coming Sunday, March 30, from 4-6 p.m., will host an event at Shade Hotel.

From a press release:
"We will be asking people who care about our schools to come out and show their support, collect petitions and learn about the signature-gathering process, and help us get the word out. There will be a silent auction table, and anyone who is willing to donate items for auction is asked to send an email to info@recallbilleisen.com.

My apologies for the accidential alliteration; it just spills out sometimes (see, even in my disclaimer I do it!).

Now, on to the item as intended:

At Wednesday night's Manhattan Beach Unified board meeting, Vicki Whipple of Waste Management announced the company, along with partner agency Keep America Beautiful, is gifting the district with a $5,000 grant to further its efforts to go green.

To be dispersed among all 7 schools, where Whipple said she has already performed "waste audits," the money will go to "promote recycling, waste reduction and litter abatement" initiatives.

I haven't heard of anything quite like this happening locally, but let me know if I'm wrong:

To protest the state budget cuts to education, teachers staff and students in Alameda earlier this week made their feelings clear by standing inside garbage cans on a busy street corner, giving their two cents to passers-by.

As one kid told the San Francisco Chronicle: "If they trash the schools, kids would be trashed too," said Ben Holmes, 7, explaining with a first-grader's clarity why he was standing in a gray trash bin on the corner of Park and Central earlier this week.

And as writer Nanette Asimov deftly noted, "For drama, it's hard to beat a child in a garbage can."

Indeed. Let me know, via shelly.leachman@dailybreeze.com, if you hear of any similar protests planned at South Bay school districts.

This one will get you thinking:

The Christian Science Monitor covers a study out of Chicago that examined why so few public school students there go on to college, or settle for a lesser education than they report actually wanting.

According to the story, "Eighty-three percent of (Chicago Public School) students aspire to a four-year degree, but about 40 percent of those don't even apply for one, the study found. Among top-achieving students, only 38 percent enrolled in a school that matched their qualifications.'

As the writer further notes, the study may have focused on Chicago students, but it "highlights challenges faced by students everywhere – especially those who are the first in their families to apply to college."

Read the whole thing here.

This one actually is for real: Ford Motor Company and ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" have joined forces on a new campaign, Educate to Escape, that will result in one lucky school landing a $250,000 green makeover.

A just-launched nationwide contest asks entrants -- whether students, parents, school staff and teachers or community members -- to nominate their schools by answering essay questions about why their campus deserves an eco-friendly makeover.

Green improvements made to the winning school will be largely contingent upon the winning essay and specific school needs, but eco-friendly solutions may include energy-efficient appliances, athletic fields made of organic/sustainable materials, vegetation roofing, solar paneling, Energy Star lighting and insulation, programmable thermostat and triple-pane windows.

In addition to the Educate to Escape green school makeover contest, entrants will have the opportunity to win a 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid in the Educate to Escape sweepstakes.

Entries are due by May 18, with the winner set to be announced in June. The actual makeover will be completed later in the summer.

To enter and for more information on the contest and sweepstakes, including official rules, go to www.educatetoescape.com.

“We integrated eco-friendly renovations into our entire season of makeovers on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” said Paige Hemmis of ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” “In the long run, thinking green reduces the amount of energy used as well as the costs associated with running old or inefficient appliances. Schools minding their money due to budget cuts may find that integrating eco-friendly renovations will cut their costs dramatically over time.”

All you teachers will appreciate this, it's been circulating around the web today and thanks, actually, to my mom, a now-retired, former public-school teacher herself, it made its way to me. CBS is not really plotting such a scenario, but imagine if they did.

Behold:

Have you heard about the next planned "Survivor" show?
Three businessmen and three businesswomen will be dropped in an elementary school classroom for 1 school year. Each business person will be provided with a copy of his/her school district's curriculum and a class of 28 - 32 students.

Each class will have a minimum of five learning-disabled children, three with A.D.D., one gifted child, and two who speak limited English. Three students will be labeled with severe behavior problems.

Each business person must complete lesson plans at least 3 days in advance, with annotations for curriculum objectives and modify, organize, or create their materials accordingly. They will be required to teach students, handle misconduct, implement technology, document attendance, write referrals, correct homework, make bulletin boards, compute grades, complete report cards, document benchmarks, communicate with parents and arrange parent conferences. They must also stand in their doorway between class changes to monitor the hallways.

In addition, they will complete fire drills, tornado drills, and [Code Red] drills for shooting attacks each month.

They must attend workshops, faculty meetings,and attend curriculum development meetings. They must also tutor students who are behind and strive to get their 2 non-English speaking children proficient enough to take the Terra Nova, Diagnostics and FCAT tests. If they are sick or having a bad day they must not let it show.

Each day they must incorporate reading, writing, math, science, and social studies into the program. They must maintain discipline and provide an educationally stimulating environment to motivate students at all times. If all students do not wish to cooperate, work or learn, the teacher will be held responsible.

The business people will only have access to the public golf course on the weekends, but with their new salary, they may not be able to afford it. There will be no access to vendors who want to take them out to lunch, and lunch will be limited to thirty minutes, which is not counted as part of their work day. The business people will be permitted to use a student restroom, as long as another survival candidate can supervise their class.

If the copier is operable, they may make copies of necessary materials before, or after, school. However, they cannot surpass their monthly limit of copies. The business people must continually advance their education, at their expense, and on their own time.

The winner of this season of Survivor will be allowed to return to their old job.

Lance Armstrong's LIVESTRONG campaign has launched a national contest for schools, challenging teachers and students to get involved in the fight against cancer.

The winner will win an in-person visit from the celebrated cyclist himself, who is a cancer survivor.

The 4-1-1, via the Lance Armstrong Foundation:

To enter, teachers must teach a lesson from the LIVESTRONG at School curriculum. LIVESTRONG at School offers free online lessons to teach K – 12 students about cancer in a way that is age-appropriate, hopeful, inspiring and empowering. Lessons include: national standards, clear learning objectives, engaging videos, extension activities, a check for understanding and ways that students can get involved in the fight against cancer.

After completing the lesson, teachers should:
*Work with their students to answer the question: “What does LIVESTRONG mean to you?”
*Create an entry. Be creative! Entries can be a picture of a class engaged in a cancer awareness activity, a letter written by students, a poster with artwork contributed by the whole class, a video of a skit or something entirely new.
*Register and submit their entry online

The winning entries will be creative and compelling and should show that students are engaged in the fight against cancer and demonstrate how people incorporate the idea of LIVESTRONG into their lives.

All entries must be received by 5:00 p.m. CST on May 1, 2008. The class that submits the winning entry will receive a visit from Lance Armstrong. Second prize is Nike gear from the LIVESTRONG Collection for the entire class, and third prize is a LIVESTRONG at School poster signed by Lance for the classroom and LIVESTRONG wristbands for the entire school.

Everyone who registers will receive a LIVESTRONG at School poster to hang in their classroom and LIVESTRONG wristbands. The winners will be announced on LIVESTRONG Day on May 13, 2008.

To register, visit www.livestrong.org/school.

Two area schools fared very well in the 22nd Annual LA County Regional Science Olympiad held this past Saturday, March 15, at Cal State Los Angeles.

Palos Verdes' Cornerstone Elementary took gold in elementary division, ranking first place out of 48 schools after competing in 20 different categories, including "A is for Anatomy," "Deep Blue Sea" and "Weather or Not?" Park Western Place Elementary, of San Pedro, snared second place.

In addition, Palos Verdes High School was among the top-five scorers in the high school category, according to preliminary results. Competing in 23 categories, such as cell biology, herpetology and remote sensing, PV ranked fourth in a total field of 33 schools.

For the full list of results for participating schools, click here. (Note: Division A is elementary, B is middle schools, C is high schools.)

For more information on the Science Olympiad, a 20-plus-year tradition here, visit their website.

The Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District has called a special meeting for Tuesday night, to hold a public hearing regarding TIP Academy, the charter school hoping to open a location on the Hill.

Academy representatives will make a presentation, then the public will have an opportunity to speak its piece to the board.

The session kicks off at 6:30 p.m., in the gym at PV High, 600 Cloyden Road.

We're hearing that some Torrance Unified teachers, fourth- and fifth-grade instructors, to be exact, will be rallying outside tonight's Board of Education meeting, hoping to raise awareness of the potential impact of increasing class-sizes.

Putting more kids in classrooms is among the money-saving measures that the local district -- and undoubtedly many others across the South Bay and California -- are likely to enact due to the proposed state budget that will slash education funding by billions. Torrance alone is projecting a more than $9-million shortfall.

Torrance Unified trustees meet tonight, in the district headquarters located at 2336 Plaza Del Amo. Open session begins at 7:30 p.m.

Here's the text of the email circulating:

The 4th and 5th grade teachers will be holding a rally
at 6pm tonight, outside the Board of Education
facility on Plaza del Amo. Our teachers want to raise
awareness of the challenges our children will face
with the proposed class size increases, projected to
be ~36:1 in 4th/5th grade next year. Please bring your
family and friends and support the teachers in their
efforts to draw attention to the real impact the
education funding crisis will have on our children.

The meetings are open to the public starting at 7:30
p.m. the evening of the meeting. The board room is
located in the Educational Materials Building at 2336
Plaza del Amo.

Two years after George W. commissioned a committee to determine why American kids essentially suck at math when compared to students in many other countries, the group's report is ready.

"In the end, they found a math instruction system that's "broken and must be fixed" if the USA is to compete with established economic powers or emerging ones such as China," reports USA Today.

Read the whole piece for all the dirty details.

The spring issue of American Educator is now available online and it includes some pretty in-depth stuff on with new and seasoned teachers alike weighing in on why state standards are necessary -- and why they're mostly lacking in clarity and specificity.

The cover tag reads "There's a Gaping Hole in State Standards." See for yourself.

Teachers and directors of high-school and middle-school theater and arts programs are invited to apply for the 2008 Broadway Teachers Workshop being held this summer in New York City. The three-day intensive series of workshops and seminars will be conducted by renowned theater educators and several Broadway professionals.

Two sessions are being offered -- from July 14-16 and from July 17-19 -- featuring classes on everything from production resources and creating choreography for non-dancers, to stage combat, casting a Broadway show and makeup techniques.

There will also be two master classes: one with "Wicked" composer Stephen Schwartz and one with Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Marsha Norman, who wrote the books for "The Secret Garden" and "The Color Purple," as well as "Night, Mother."

Cost of the workshop is $549 before April 1; and $599 thereafter. Tuition includes eight workshop sessions and a ticket to four shows. Five percent of ticket proceeds are donated to a non-profit organization or charity selected by the group.

For more information and applications, click here.

The LAUSD Office of Environmental Health and Safety invites the public to a California Environmental Quality Act scoping meeting concerning its planned South Region High School #15. (The new school is meant to relieve San Pedro High.)

The session is focused on informing and obtaining community input on issues to be considered in a draft environmental impact report, a state-required evaluation of the potential environmental effects of the project, including noise, traffic and the like.

The meeting is set for tomorrow, Thursday, March 13, from 6 to 8 p.m., in the auditorium of Dana Middle School in San Pedro (1501 S. Cabrillo Ave.)

I missed this one yesterday, but I'm blogging it today for your reading pleasure: A Los Angeles Times piece that looks at parent-teacher conferences and how both parties navigate the recurring sessions that can at times be awkward and contentious.

An intriguing chunk from writer Carla Rivera's story: "Retired teacher Kristine Valentine recounted a session at Budlong Elementary School, south of Exposition Park, at which a woman, defensive about her son's poor classwork, refused to sit, towering over Valentine in an apparent attempt to put her at a psychological disadvantage.

When Klein taught at Jefferson High School in South Los Angeles, the mother of the ninth-grader was so fed up after hearing repeatedly of the teenager's disruptive exploits that she asked Klein not to call her anymore for conferences.

The relationship between parents and teachers has often been somewhat tenuous. But many educators say that today's so-called helicopter parents are not partners as much as hovering, overly protective defenders of their children. Parents, in turn, say many schools overemphasize test scores rather than the abilities of individual students. And some worry about college admissions, which have become increasingly competitive and anxiety-inducing."

The academic decathlon team of Torrance's North High was honored by its campus community with a special reception Tuesday night.

Held in the school library, the reception paid tribute to the 2007-2008 team, who placed fifth in the recent county competition, barely below long-dominant West High, which placed fourth this year.

North's team members are: Amir Abbasi, Travis Bentsen, Cory Goodwin, Stacy Hester, Devin Ketch, Nasar Khan, Jessica Lao, Donna Leong and Manuel Valverde. Their advisor is Dylan Barth and their assistant coach is Delaiah Barth.

Redondo Union High School senior Andrew Kim this week was named to California’s first-ever All-State Academic Team. He was one of 25 Golden State students so lauded — and the only South Bay local who landed on the list.

The elite group emerged from a total 144 standout public-school seniors recognized Tuesday during Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s inaugural Academic Recognition and All-State Academic Team Awards Dinner, an event conceived to honor teens for their outstanding achievements.

“I think it is extremely important that we take the time to honor the hard work, dedication and commitment to excellence all of these students have demonstrated,” Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

Echoing the Governor’s comments, the state’s Secretary of Education David Long said the impetus behind the event’s creation was to “celebrate our state’s greatest natural resource — the students themselves.”

The 144 honorees were chosen by county superintendents, on a proportional basis, based on the size of the county. The 25 All-Staters were then chosen by the Governor’s Office based on grade-point average, SAT scores and class rank, as well as extra-curricular activities, community service and volunteer activities.

Kim, an award-winning sports writer and manager of Redondo Beach Unified’s student-run internet provider, boasts a GPA of 4.53, an SAT score of 2300 and a class rank of No. 1.

Giselle Serate, a 10-year-old homeschooled 4th-grade student from Rancho Palos Verdes, beat out more than 90 contestants in the "7th Annual $1,000 National Elementary School Spelling Bee" on March 9 in Long Beach.

She correctly spelled pharaoh and surveillance to win the $1,000 prize.

If you think you can spell, sign up for Justin's "Third Annual National Adult Spelling Bee" on Sunday, May 4, in Long Beach at www.AdultSpellingBee.com.

If you're in higher education and working on any projects or initiatives to help your peers working in the elementary-school ranks, you may be eligible for the annual grants awarded by the California Postsecondary Education Commission. See the flackage (i.e., the press release) below:

Three South Bay robotics teams participated in this past weekend’s FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) San Diego Regional, earning gold and silver at the event.

Beach Cities Robotics (Mira Costa and Redondo Union High Schools, the BeachBots (Hope Chapel Academy of Hermosa Beach), and the TorrBots (Torrance's North, West, South and Torrance High schools, combined) demonstrated their design and driving skills in the two-day competition.

A total 49 high-school robotics teams, representing schools in California, Alaska, Nevada, Colorado, Michigan, Idaho and Canada met at the event to demonstrate their mastery of this year’s FRC game.

Beach Cities Robotics and BeachBots faced one another on opposing alliances in three exciting final matches at the San Diego Regional, earning gold and silver medals, respectively.

Next stop for all three South Bay teams is the Los Angeles Regional on March 21 and 22 at the L.A. Sports Arena. The event is free and open to the public. More information is available at www.usfirst.org.

In taking my regular Monday cruise around various websites whose education coverage I enjoy, I found several things were posted over the weekend that are likely of local interest. Without further ado, a slough of links for your review:

From the New York Times:

1. A piece about the increased promotion of gap years, i.e., taking time off between high school and college rather than diving right in to upper academia.

2. This feature on a school slated to open in 2009 in New York City focuses on the charter school's promise to offer off-the charts teacher salaries: Teachers will earn $125,000 (yes, that's $125,000). And get this, administrators are paid less than teachers, with even the principal starting at $90K.

3. A good-news, bad-news piece about an expected coming decline in high-school graduates setting up easier entry to college for the kids who do make it to commencement.

Just two more things:

From the Washington Post, a short story on a study related to class-size that found smaller classes don't benefit all students.

And finally, and just for fun: From Slate magazine, a review of two new high-school focused reality shows. "High School Confidential" tracks students from their freshman year to graduation; "High School Reunion" brings together selected past classmates 20 years later -- and hopes for high drama, per the reality-TV way.

Fox 11 news followed our lead on the story about the North High student who is spearheading a letter-writing campaign to fight school budget cuts. Here he is on TV:

Here's a link to the story we ran in the Breeze on Saturday.

Los Angeles School Board member Richard Vladovic will talk about how the state budget will affect local schools at 6:30p.m. Monday at a meeting of the Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council.

Vladovic also will talk about other issues of concern to San Pedro.

The council meets at Peck Park Auditorium, 560 N. Western Ave., San Pedro. Other agenda items include the city's budget, a discussion of trees on North Gaffey Street and lending possible support for an after-school program at Dana Middle School.

The LA Times has a story this morning about a program that could revolutionize students' success in math. The article tells the story of a Hollywood school that has been using Singapore textbooks to teach math for the past two years and saw its test scores jump 31 points.

How did that happen?

It's a question with potentially big implications, because California recently became the first state to include the Singapore series on its list of state-approved elementary math texts. Public schools aren't required to use the books -- there are a number of other, more conventional texts on the state list -- but the state will subsidize the purchase if they do. And being on the list puts an important imprimatur on the books, because California is by far the largest, most influential textbook buyer in the country.

The decision to approve the books could place California ahead of the national curve. The National Mathematics Advisory Panel, appointed by President Bush, will issue a report Thursday that is expected to endorse K-8 math reforms that, in many ways, mirror the Singapore curriculum.

But of course, there's a problem.

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

A former award-winning West High School (Torrance) academic decathlete, now a freshman at UC Davis, was arrested there Wednesday night when police found two pipe bombs in his dormitory room.

See reporter Larry Altman's story for more details.

Torrance resident Roger G. Robins, Assistant Professor of History and Political Science at Marymount College in Rancho Palos Verdes, has received a Fulbright Scholar award to lecture in Japan for the 2008-2009 academic year. Robins will be offering graduate and undergraduate courses in American history and religion at Tokyo University.

Want to see some student art? Wonder if there are any budding Jackson Pollocks or Georgia O'Keeffe's lurking around the South Bay?

The works of local high schoolers will be displayed and judged in an annual art contest behind held Monday in Torrance.

The press release from Torrance Unified:

The 10th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Visions of Unity Student Art Contest will take place on Monday, March 10th at the Torrance Memorial Health Conference Center at 6:30p.m.

Every year students from all four Torrance Unified high schools submit entries in one of 5 categories - sculpture and ceramics, painting and drawing, poetry, essay, and fiction. Student entries explore ways individuals can work together to cultivate greater healing, harmony, and understanding within their communities.

The Visions of Unity contest is sponsored by the Human Relations Forum of Torrance with community partners including Torrance Memorial Medical Center, Torrance Unified School District, The South Bay-Harbor-Long Beach Volunteer Center, Torrance League of Women Voters, and Palos Verdes Chapter LINKS, Inc.

This event is possible because of generous donations by Toyota Motor Sales, Anastasi Development Corp, KTLA 5, Baha'i Communities Foundation, Palos Verdes Chapter LINKS, Baszile Metals Service, Shirley Ho for Torrance Memorial Medical Center, Virco Manufacturing Company, and Dorothy Wu.

This event is free and open to the public. Torrance Memorial Health Conference Center is located at 3330 Lomita Blvd, in Torrance.

Parents who teach their kids at home rather than send them to bricks-and-mortar schools may soon need something else to get the job done -- a teaching credential.

A state appellate court ruled this week that parents cannot educate their kids at home unless they are credentialed.

Get all the details from the Los Angeles Times.

Becoming the latest area school system to decide to soon seek more money from voters, Centinela Valley Union High School District trustees on Wednesday night approved a resolution calling for a parcel tax election on June 3.

If successful, the measure would implement a .04 (yes folks, that's four cents) per square-foot tax per parcel, per year. A typical 50 x 100 lot would run about $200 annually.

Seniors and disabled persons will be exempt from paying.

More details to come on this later today.

Another of my faves, the San Francisco Chronicle, recently ran a feature on an intriguing new program there aimed at combatting chronic truancy.

The Center for Academic Re-entry and Empowerment, or CARE, is run from a YMCA in the city's rough and rundown Bayview-Hunters Point district. It's a collaborative effort of the city, the school district there, law enforcement and various community groups.

An excerpt from staffer Jill Tucker's story:

"The center is a throwback to the era of truant officers who rounded up kids off street corners and brought them to a dog-pound detention center until someone picked them up.

The city's new center took that old-school idea and stretched it. Instead of being sent to their most recent school, the teenagers are expected to come back to the center to attend academic and life-skills classes and work with a mentor while they and their families get hooked up with community services they need.

If Jacqueela stays the expected nine weeks, she will earn 15 credits toward her diploma and perhaps get the skills to make it in high school.

For many of the students, the accumulated years of missed school have left them so far behind that building a future on the back of an education had fallen out of their grasp. The YMCA center probably is their last hope.

"Our goal is to get the kids back in school with a map to graduation," said Gina Fromer, executive director of the neighborhood's YMCA."

Read the whole piece then let me know, via shelly.leachman@dailybreeze.com, if you've heard of anything similar in the South Bay.

You may have by now noticed my affinity for the New York Times, so frequently do I link to their stories. Here we go again, this time from their Sunday magazine. I just came across this at 5:30 this morning (yes, 5:30 a.m. and no, I don't usually come to work this early) -- an in-depth feature on a growing movement toward single-sex publication education, which argues that separating boys and girls helps both parties be more productive.

The lede: "On an unseasonably cold day last November in Foley, Ala., Colby Royster and Michael Peterson, two students in William Bender’s fourth-grade public-school class, informed me that the class corn snake could eat a rat faster than the class boa constrictor. Bender teaches 26 fourth graders, all boys. Down the hall and around the corner, Michelle Gay teaches 26 fourth-grade girls. The boys like being on their own, they say, because girls don’t appreciate their jokes and think boys are too messy, and are also scared of snakes. The walls of the boys’ classroom are painted blue, the light bulbs emit a cool white light and the thermostat is set to 69 degrees. In the girls’ room, by contrast, the walls are yellow, the light bulbs emit a warm yellow light and the temperature is kept six degrees warmer, as per the instructions of Leonard Sax, a family physician turned author and advocate who this May will quit his medical practice to devote himself full time to promoting single-sex public education."

And further down: "Separating schoolboys from schoolgirls has long been a staple of private and parochial education. But the idea is now gaining traction in American public schools, in response to both the desire of parents to have more choice in their children’s public education and the separate education crises girls and boys have been widely reported to experience."

It's pretty interesting stuff, though I will warn you: it is LONG.

The board of Centinela Valley Union High School District has called a special meeting, to discuss and decide whether to attempt a parcel tax in the June 3 election.

No details yet on what shape and size the tax would take, but such things will certainly be revealed during the public session, scheduled for 5:30 p.m. tomorrow, Wednesday, March 5, in district headquarters behind Lawndale High (14901 Inglewood Ave.).

If trustees go for it, they won't be alone in asking voters for money next election: Hermosa Beach City School District voted last week to attempt their own parcel tax in June, while Hawthorne board members green lighted a $20-million bond effort.

The Palos Verdes Homes Association is offering qualified high school seniors, college students or graduate students an opportunity for awards from the Brandel Scholarship fund.

Eligible applicants must be accepted at or attending an accredited college or university with a major in architecture, civil engineering, land use planning, or fine arts.

In addition, at least one parent must be a property owner in Palos Verdes Estates or the original Miraleste area of Rancho Palos Verdes. Selection criteria include academic achievement, essay, letters of recommendation and community activities.

The deadline to apply is April 11, 2008. Applications may be obtained from the Homes Association office, 320 Palos Verdes Drive West, Palos Verdes Estates, or from area school guidance centers.

These educational scholarships were established in memory of Harry Brandel Jr., who served on the board of Palos Verdes Homes Association for 44 years. For more information, call (310) 373-6721.

The private Vistamar School in El Segundo hosts a community meeting tonight aimed at offering parents better understanding of their teens' needs and how best to help them launch into college life and beyond.

Described as an interactive panel discussion, "Ready to Launch: Coming of Age in the South Bay" will explore the challenges teens face from three perspectives: personal health, family dynamics, plus school and community interaction.

Featured speakers include pediatrician Rosette Manio, M.D., former Head of Pediatrics for Talbert Medical Group in Long Beach, on the health and wellness concerns of adolescents; adolescent psychiatrist Jim Perkins, M.D., an associate clinical professor at UCLA with a private practice, on family dynamics that may come into play as teens move toward adulthood; and Dan Golden, Vistamar's own Director of Life Planning and Experiential Learning, on how high schools, colleges and communities can best support teens as they grow into adults.

The event is free and open to the public. It's being held from 7-9 p.m. tonight (Tuesday, March 4) at Vistamar School, 737 Hawaii Street, in El Segundo. For more information, call 643-7377.

The New York Times has one of those "I bet this happens here, too" kind-of pieces online right now. It's a look at the social stigma around receiving free- and reduced-price lunches in school. Apparently it's uncool and many kids choose to skip eating rather than be seen in the free line. Awful, right?

From Carol Pogash's story:

"Lunchtime 'is the best time to impress your peers,' said Lewis Geist, a senior at Balboa (High School, in San Francisco) and its student body president. Being seen with a subsidized meal, he said, 'lowers your status.'

San Francisco school officials are looking at ways to encourage more poor students to accept government-financed meals, including the possibility of introducing cashless cafeterias where all students are offered the same food choices and use debit cards or punch in codes on a keypad so that all students check out at the cashier in the same manner."

Read it all. Interesting stuff.

As the education community at large laments and protests a proposed California budget that would slash funding to schools by a total $5 billion statewide, the California State University system is the latest to get in the mix with an official fight-back campaign. Dubbed "The Alliance for the CSU," it launched yesterday here locally, at CSU Dominguez Hills in Carson.

Read my entire story for details.

Just wanted to post a brief note to readers of the School Notebook blog. I have left the Daily Breeze after 4 1/2 years covering schools in San Pedro, Carson, Wilmington, Gardena, Lomita and the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

As the Breeze looks in other directions for education coverage of these areas, I'll just note that I've had a blast reporting on these schools. I've learned a lot from the teachers, administrators, parents and others who provide the daily sweat to educate the area's diverse community of students.

Other opportunities lay ahead for me, which I'm excited to tackle.

Thanks again.

Paul Clinton