April 2008 Archives

The education page over at MSNBC.com has this very interesting feature about a fascinating new way that some colleges are trying to attract students: By designing ads aimed specifically at sought-after pupils.

And by "specifically," I mean, like, to the name. Literally.

Among the kids included in the story are 18-year-old Nicole Pollock, of Pennsylvania, whose name, in an ad campaign by Wilkes University, was "plastered ... on billboards, pizza boxes and gas pumps -- and even aired a commercial on MTV -- in hopes of getting her to enroll. As one message put it: "We just hope you're on your way to Wilkes University next year."

Wow! Imagine driving down the highway and seeing your name on a billboard, begging you to attend some fancy school.

So far it sounds like this new technique is more or less unique to Wilkes University, but it can't be long before other schools follow suit to some degree, right? Let me know if you hear of such a thing happening anywhere around here.

I'm on an email list for Hermosa Beach schools that sends out periodic updates from the two-school system. I received the latest such note just now and it informs that View School was broken into on Tuesday night and relieved of a laptop computer and flat-screen monitor from the campus library.

The district is asking anyone with information -- or anyone who sees suspicious goings on around Hermosa schools -- to call the police department asap. Hermosa PD is at (310) 318-0234.

Remember my post of earlier this month about a Santa Ana teacher who got arrested after two kids looking for school supplies in her classroom cabinet found a gun and ammo instead?

Well just yesterday said teacher -- one Jayne DeArmond, 51, who headed (it's probably safe to say previously headed, considering) a third-grade class at Diamond Elementary School -- was charged with two felonies, according to the LA Times.

My-Thuan Tran writes in a brief that DeArmond is facing "one felony count of possession of a firearm on school grounds and one felony count of child endangerment by a caretaker. She was scheduled to be arraigned today. If convicted, she could face up to six years in prison."

Uh-oh.

A new GI Bill is in the works, updating the old version to continue encouraging homebound service people to pursue education by helping them pay for it.

U.S. Represenative Jane Harman, who hails from our area, today announced her support for the bipartisan legislation that would -- for soldiers returning from Iraq or Afghanistan with at least three years active duty -- provide "benefits to cover the costs of a four-year education up to the level of the most expensive in-state public school, along with a stipend for housing, books and other expenses," according to a press release.

"Education benefits would be available to troops who have served at least 3 months of active duty service since September 11, 2001," it adds, "including members of the National Guard and Reserve."

Through a series of highly dramatic recent emails -- "for the first tme EVER in the
history of Mankind!" -- I've learned about an event tomorrow that I'll pass on to you.

It's the arrival at Long Beach Airport of the Wings of Freedom tour, a traveling display of six rare war planes (all from World War II era, three are bombers and three are fighter jets) that will settle in locally for five days and be available for up-close tours and, for a more than nominal fee, actual in-the-sky rides.

"This is an event of historical proportions," declares the nonprofit Collings Foundation, which sponsors the gig.

Starting tomorrow and through next Tuesday, visitors can check out the B-24 Liberator, B-25 Mitchell and B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers, plus the P-38 Lightning and two P-51 Mustang fighter crafts.

It costs $6 for kids and $12 for adults to take an on-ground look. If you want to fly, however, fees are thus: $425 per person for the B-17 or B-24; $400 for the front fuselage and $325 for the waist gun section of the B-25. P-51 flights are $2,200 for a half hour and $3,200 for a full hour. For reservations and information on flight experiences call 800-568-8924.

"The WINGS OF FREEDOM tour is one of the most extraordinary and unique
interactive traveling historical displays of its kind."

Wahoo!

More info is here.

California's "Superintendent of Instruction" Jack O'Connell will be in Long Beach tomorrow, making a rare public appearance.

I kid, I kid! That man makes more public appearances than you can shake a stick at; you wouldn't believe how many emails I get (sometimes several in one day) announcing his many speaking engagements.

Nonetheless, he will be in Long Beach on Thursday, when those of you participating in the annual state PTA convention will be treated to what are promised to be "brief remarks" from O'Connell.

If I had to wager on what topics he may tackle, I'd say the budget crisis and the achievement gap will rank right up there.

This very minute cheerleaders of Redondo Union High School are assembling outside school district headquarters on Inglewood Boulvard, planning to speak their mind during the 6:30 p.m. scheduled school board meeting.

Apparently their beloved coach, Cathy Horzen, was recently fired -- or forced into resigning, I'm still trying to determine details -- and the girls are not pleased. They plan to say so to school board members in hopes, I'm guessing, of somehow swaying this decision the other way.

Word is they were outside the administration building on campus early this morning, before school started, doing a similar thing, picketing with signs decrying their affection for Horzen and pleading that she be reinstated.

If you want to join in, or hear what they have to say, get down to RBUSD HQ post haste! The address is 1401 Inglewood, across from the Pacific Crest Cemetery. The board room is upstairs.

This story is from Monday's Washington Post, but I just now came across it and, as per my headline, all I can say is OMG.

It's about young teachers with provocative Facebook pages and the related implications. As reporter Ian Shapira writes, "In states including Florida, Colorado, Tennessee and Massachusetts, teachers have been removed or suspended for MySpace postings, and some teachers unions have begun warning members about racy personal Web sites. But as Facebook, with 70 million members, and other social networking sites continue to grow, scrutiny will no doubt spread locally."

It's intriguing and not a little cringe-inducing. Enjoy.

Our blogs were disabled for a while yesterday for some fixing, so I'm still ramping back up from the weekend. My apologies.

Our environmental reporter, Kristin Agostoni, had a piece in Monday's paper about a Manhattan Beach-based effort, Planet Pals, to launch eco initiatives such as composting at local schools.

Check it out. The green movement marches on. Yay!

Our sister paper, the Long Beach Press-Telegram has a story today (which also appears in the Breeze) about students at Cal State Long Beach getting pretty p.o.'d yesterday when an apparently extremely right-leaning religious group came on campus to express their polarizing opinions, which included "large signs warning of God's "anger" and "judgment" for groups like gays and lesbians, Jews, Muslims, Mormons, "unsubmissive wives," adulterers and "people that talk to their pets more than God," Kevin Butler reports.

Oh boy.

...this time the advice addresses how to keep your kids in their educational rhythm even during the not-too-far off summer-vacation season.

Courtesy of another tutoring company, Club Z, I present to you the following suggestions (again from provided flackage and this time including a plug for the company's services, sorry) for staving off what they're calling the "summer brain drain":

1. Take frequent trips to the library and register your child with a library card. University of Florida's Richard Allington notes that the best predictor of summer reading loss is a lack of books at home and limited access to library books, so keep a good selection of high interest, level appropriate books around the house. Schedule a consistent "reading time" daily for your child.

2. Attend thematic programs at the library. Libraries often host a great variety of summer programs for kids that celebrate reading.

3. Talk to your child's teachers and ask them what your child will be learning next year at school. This way you can tie in family trips with next year's curriculum to create a more meaningful hands-on experience. For example, if your child will be studying a unit on the civil war, plan a visit to Gettysburg.

4. Give your child a gift card to a bookstore, or give books as gifts.

5. Check out audio books from the library for your child to listen to stories in the car.

6. Consider summer tutoring. Tutoring can help children catch up or get ahead. Take advantage of the summer months to remediate or accelerate your child in areas like reading comprehension, mathematics, writing or SAT/ACT test prep. Club Z! even offers programs in music and study skills (with an emphasis on note-taking strategies, reading comprehension skills & prioritizing deadlines) that will help your child start the school year off right.

7. Research has revealed a direct connection between learning to play a musical instrument and an increased aptitude in mathematics. Consider introducing your child to music lessons over the summer.

Well apparently this Saturday is the second-to-last SAT administration date of the school year, an occasion being capitalized on by at least one organization as an opportunity to dispense advice for keeping kids' stress levels down going into the test.

The New York-based Academics Plus Tutoring Center recommends the following, which are taken from the just-received flackage:

1. Breathe. Breathing deeply can have a significant impact. When you are anxious and tense, it's common to start breathing shallowly, and then less of the good stuff (oxygen) goes in and less of the bad stuff (carbon dioxide) goes out. Shallow breathing can result in fatigue, irritability, mental confusion, lethargy, and even lead to more stress.

2. Focus on what you can do. Test day is the time to relax and be kind to yourself, and not worry about what you "could've" or "should've" done. Take a few moments to acknowledge yourself for all your hard work, take a few deep breaths and apply yourself to the best of your ability.

3. Fuel your body. Food plays a major role in minimizing stress levels. Complex carbohydrates keep your brain alert; fruits and vegetables provide much needed energy; and nuts, such as almonds, keep your blood sugar levels balanced. These healthful foods help fend off fatigue and avoid the negative effects of anxiety caused by low levels of energy and difficulties concentrating.

4. Limit caffeine. Coffee and other drinks containing caffeine are stimulants and can potentially increase one's anxiety level. Studies indicate that caffeine can exacerbate stress and panic which are certainly emotions that students experience on the day of the SAT. Water is the best option for hydration.

5. Visualize. Use the powerful process of visualization or meditation. Both have been shown to lower blood pressure and levels of stress hormones in the body. On test day, relax your body and mind and imagine yourself achieving your goals. An increased ability to maintain focus and a stronger sense of calm will maximize your chances to do well on the SAT.

6. Keep pace. Part of being a successful test taker is using time effectively. Practice pacing yourself during your preparations so that on the day of the test you move through the exam at a comfortable and easy pace.

7. Support yourself. Use break times to support yourself; check in with yourself and see how you are feeling. Did you forget any of your strategies? Have you been communicating with yourself in a positive way? Identify the trouble spots and use this information to make effective modifications once you move onto the next section of the test.

8. Don't beat yourself up. Conserve your mental resources and conduct yourself in a way that will maximize your chances for success. As you move through the exam, steer clear of negative thinking patterns. Keep your focus on doing the problems to the best of your ability and in the most effective and structured way possible.

Pass it on!

That's right, it's memory time again. As I said last Friday, I'll now make my last entry of each week a remembrance of my own that somehow pertains to school or my former life as a student or what have you.

Capiche? Cool.

Today I turn to a page from elementary school, fifth grade to be exact, and a class trip to an environmental camp called Sly Park. Going there was a rite of passage for fifth and sixth-graders among schools in our area, a trip made every fall and the source of pre-arrival jitters based mostly on the long passed-down rumor that among the required activities at Sly Park was eating a live worm.

As it turned out, the proffered worm was in fact an optional snack, but anyone who successfully swallowed one got a special T-shirt bearing one of the slimy guys in the formation of a lightning bolt, with "SLY PARK" spelled out in big block letters through its center. Needless to say, and perhaps foretelling of the timid palate I retain to this day, I declined the nightcrawler and was perfectly satisifed with the butterfly-adorned shirt reserved for unadventurous epicureans like me.

So in fifth grade, I'll just come right out and tell you, I was a total tomboy. We are talking Tuffskins and sneakers and the occasional football jersey (Los Angeles Rams - old school!); baseball hats, pocket knives, dirt bikes, et al. My BFF at the time was this kid Joey, with whom I would regularly ride said dirt bikes and play by the creek, collecting polliwogs and crawdads and sometimes small frogs (we'd get them all in a bucket with water, stare for a while then toss them back) and poking mud with sticks, because somehow poking mud with sticks is fun when you're in fifth grade. Go figure.

At some point, I guess because we got along really well and he was a boy and I a girl and maybe because it just seemed like what we were supposed to do, Joey asked me to "go" with him, as in go steady, as in boyfriend-girlfriend stuff, people. Actually his friend Aaron asked on Joey's behalf, instructing me, if my answer was yes, to stand in the center of my driveway after school one day and just wait. I did, and soon enough Joey rode up on his bike, stopping long enough to kiss me (to be precise, he licked my face as my lips remained locked up like the Hello Kitty diary I kept next to my bed) then simply ride away again.

We never spoke of that incident and our friendship proceeded as it always had, except that we were now "going," which didn't seem to be much more than something to tell people and pretend like it made us somehow cooler.

Now back to Sly Park. Like I said, I was a tomboy, and as I think I told you last week I was also, at this age, pretty painfully shy. So being stuck in a cabin with, A) a bunch of girls when all your friends are boys and B) a bunch of girls you don't know very well when you're shy was pretty much, well, torturous, and I recall counting off the days in my head and desperately wanting the week to end.

About halfway through the trip, Aaron -- friend of Joey and I, same Aaron who asked me to go with Joey -- made a similar unexpected approach, finding me outside the girls' cabin as I made my way to the dining hall, walking beside a camp counselor since I was too shy to befriend anyone else. So he comes up and says, "Joey isn't going with you anymore. He's going with Sunny now."

Shocked and dismayed -- as much as a fifth grader can be shocked and dismayed at the loss of something she never even knew the meaning of, which is to say, A LOT -- I asked him why.

"Because she's prettier than you."

Ouch.

I thereafter began counting down the minutes until we returned home and every second until we boarded the bus I felt smaller and shyer (or is it shier? more shy? I'm having a vocabulary lapse, which I'm allowed at 5 p.m. Friday, right?) than I ever had before. Bottom line: It totally sucked.

After a temporary rift -- i.e., two days of not speaking and looking at each other awkwardly -- Joey and I were able to resume our friendship. It helped that Sunny dumped him the day we returned from camp for a fourth grader (a younger man, egads!), I believe his name was Cobe, who, she told Joey, "is cuter than you."

The moral of the story: Even fifth graders have karma issues.

Postscript: The very next year, Sunny and her girlie crew, for whatever reason I never actually knew, decided to take me under their wing and make me their "project," and it wasn't long before I'd tossed out the Tuffskins and was shopping at the Esprit outlet in San Francisco, wearing blue eyeshadow and pegging my pants, begging to have my ears pierced and, having miraculously been coaxed out of my shell and into an actual social circle for the first time, was hosting parties wherein we'd all link arms and dance Rockettes style to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun."

What a difference 12 months makes. Take heart, shy kids. Take heart.

In an effort to stem the massive bleeding expected to be induced by a proposed state budget that would slash education funding by billions, Torrance Unified is the latest local district to launch a targeted fundraising campaign, asking parents to pony up to help save programs and jobs.

The school system has already approved some $9 million in cuts for the 2008-2009 budget that include many jobs and a host of student services.

"Save Our Schools," a campaign of the Torrance Education Foundation, is asking for $360 per child in an effort to combat the cuts. The Torrance Council of PTAs has started a related awareness and contact-your- legislator sort-of effort called "Flunk the Budget."

A letter addressing both movements is en route to all Torrance Unified families.

Anyone wishing and ready to send a check should make it payable to TEF - SOS and send it to TEF - SOS, P.O. Box 3385, Torrance, CA 90510.

I'm guessing you'll hear more about this -- a lot more -- in the days and weeks to come.

Rock Around the Block, an annual fundraiser of the Wiseburn Education Foundation, the body that itself raises funds to help support programs of the Wiseburn School District, is ready to roll for tomorrow.

Being held this year at the brand-new Dana Middle School campus, at 5330 W. 135th St., in Hawthorne, the events offers a smorgasbord of family fun, from train rides and face painting and a live Nintendo Wii competition to live music, bingo and food.

The festivities start at 9 a.m. and run until 2 p.m. Enjoy!

Awww... this is cute stuff.

The San Francisco Chronicle today has a copy block and some great wild art -- a few photos plus a video -- of local school kids there (well, at Edna Maguire Elementary in Mill Valley, to be exact) releasing 120,000 ladybugs into their campus garden. There's one great shot of a little boy smiling big, with the adorable red insects all over his sweatshirt and in his hair.

Just something sweet to look at over lunch on this lovely Friday (yay!).

I came across a couple interesting stories this morning about math, both suggesting that commonplace teaching methods once believed to make the subject easier to understand in fact make it harder.

First up, MSNBC has a piece from Reuters about a new study in the journal Science, by a Ohio State University researcher, who found that students actually absorbed more via abstract than real-world examples.

The New York Times also posts a story with its take on the same study.

It's pretty interesting actually. What do you think, teachers?

Today's paper has a short story about Los Angeles Unified's most current exit-exam results for the Class of 2008. Naush Boghossian, from our sister paper, The Daily News, reports that 85 percent of the district's seniors have passed the test required for graduation in California. The number is a one percent increase over Class of 2007 scores by this time last year.

I have some calls out to see if any of our local South Bay districts are now crunching their own such numbers (the LAUSD release pertains to the test's February administration). Stay tuned for that. The state isn't doing its own release this spring, planning to wait for summer sometime, I'm told.

Al Adams, the beloved former band leader of Mira Costa High School -- he retired in 2003 to much fanfare in his honor, 15 years after first joining the Manhattan Beach Campus -- has died. He was 66.

I have the story in today's Daily Breeze, replete with details about tonight's informal memorial on Manhattan Beach Pier, starting at 6:55 p.m. and running until 10 p.m. It's been prganized by former students, who ask those interested in attending to bring their memories, stories, even instruments, to pay tribute to the "proverbial music man" as a colleague described him.

From the many students and parents I talked to yesterday, it sounds like Adams was a really wonderful guy. Rest in peace.

On the eve of Earth Day -- how serendipitous is that? -- a group of eco-minded students from Torrance's South High will be honored by the local school board for the recent environmental efforts that scored them a national, $50,000 award.

The school's Landfill Improvement For the Environment, or LIFE, team, emerged from the crowd of competitors in the Lexus Environmental Challenge to become one of 14 first-place winners nationwide.

Holla!

The 10 South students, their teacher/advisor Joan Davidson and the school will all share the $50,000 prize in varying amounts, with the students each receiving $3,500 scholarships, Davidson getting a $5,000 grant and the school itself receiving a $10,000 grant. The campus reportedly plans to purchase a solar panel and attempt to become the first "renewable energy" school in the South Bay.

Making the kudo-collecting rounds this week, the students and Davidson tonight will be recognized by trustees of Torrance Unified during their regular board meeting, set for 7:30 p.m. in district headquarters at 2336 Plaza del Amo.

Tomorrow the group heads to Lexus's Torrance headquarters to receive their big, giant check and accompanying photo op with company muckety-mucks; on Wednesday they're being honored by the local PTA , as they've also won two state-level awards from that organization.

Bravo, young Spartans, bravo!

Sad as it is for schoolkids here in California, this actually makes perfect sense.

MSNBC posts a story today about school districts in other states advertising here for new teachers, attempting, apparently, to capitalize on Cali's much-publicized budget woes and win away educators who have been pink-slipped with offers of higher pay and, in some cases, signing bonuses.

Interesting, right? Have any of you seen such ads, and are you thinking about pursuing opportunities in other states? If so, let me know: shelly.leachman@dailybreeze.com.

Remember the parental freakout that went national a while back over a Portland, Maine middle school's decision to start offering prescription contraceptives to students in an effort to combat the region's high rate of teen pregnancy?

The Associated Press is reporting today, some six months after the controversy came into the spotlight, only one girl has actually used the program. Local parents remain supportive, the story says.

Do you think that would ever fly around here?

Memories, of the way we were...

Ahhh, memories, sights and sounds and images tucked away in the far reaches of our brains, now and then emerging out of nowhere to remind us of what once was, whether that once was was good, bad or ugly.

Starting today, I'll finish every Friday with a memory of my own, dredged from that part of my own mind-bank where I've stored all my past experiences school-related, however remotely, so as to stay on topic, this being a school blog and all.

Since this is my first stab (and also since I'm eager to start my weekend -- TGIF!), I'll make my inaugural rehashing on the short side, employing as much brevity as possible (my intro is long enough, I know) in regaling you with my recollection of the first time I was forced to endure a school picture session.

It was in preschool, I was wearing a forest-green turtleneck and my hair was cut into something of bowl, though my bangs were somewhat squared off. And then there was that unfortunate cowlick that remains to this day.

A shy girl with a distaste for speaking to, much less interacting with, anyone other than my parents, my sister and select friends, I was, to put it mildly, extremely displeased when a strange man came at me with a comb -- pulled, by the way, from a large jar stuffed with the plastic contraptions, which at the time didn't occur to me but now that I think about it was very hygienically suspect -- then proceeded to instruct me to "smile pretty for the camera."

I did not comply. In fact, I went the opposite direction and, as I was often wont to do in my childhood (as I'm so frequently reminded, still, by my sister), I swallowed any semblance of a smile and instead shoved my bottom lip out as far as I could get it and settled into the poutiest pout you ever did see.

And I wouldn't budge, despite the photographer's pleas -- not to mention those of my teacher, who was there with the rest of my class, all lined up and awaiting their own closeups -- to please smile. Just once, please.

It was not to be. And so he took the picture of pouty preschooler Shellly, a picture that to this day hangs on the wall at my parents' house, forever reminding me -- with not a little pleasure, I must admit -- of the fiery toddler that was and how, as just wee 5-year-old (wait, are you 4 in preschool, or 5? I forget), I managed to so fluster a grown man.

Happy weekend, y'all. Send your own school memories to me anytime: shelly.leachman@dailybreeze.com.

Oy.

EdWeek has a doozy today about the vexing problem now facing the Texas school system: What to do with all those many children, some 400-plus of them, recently removed from the polygamists' compound, the Yearning For Zion ranch, in Eldorado.

For now anyway, the state is sending school supplies and materials, and not a few teachers, to school the kids at the shelters housing them until all the legal wrangling is worked out.

Interesting.

You can access a chunk of the story here. You can read the whole thing by registering with the site, I do believe.

PBS recently featured San Diego-based High Tech High, an admission-by-lottery charter founded and run by business leaders and built on competition. The school is big on cross-curricular teaching, hands-on activities and entrepreneurship -- especially in the realms of science and technology.

Anyway, it's an interest report, and easy enough to read, being a transcript of the broadcast now posted online.

Enjoy.

There's an e-waste collection event tomorrow in Hermosa Beach, which will benefit the city's schools.

Run by 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, any electronics you want to trash will be accepted -- from your old computers and TV sets to cell phones, printers and more.

The group will collect the goods from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., or until it fills two trucks with said e-waste, on Saturday. You can find them in the parking lot at Valley School, 1645 Valley Drive in Hermosa.

Half of the net proceeds will be donated to the Hermosa Beach Education Foundation, which helps fund programs of the local district.

Just don't toss out your Commodore 64s. Those are collector's items now, people!

LAUSD is hosting an "international cultural fair" tomorrow, Saturday, in Gardena, inviting community members to a day full of music, food and family activities including face painting, arts and crafts and more, at 186th Street School.

A collaboration with the Harbor Gateway Task Force, the event will also highlight a student-made "peace mural" that will be unveiled during the festivities.

Set to run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., the official ceremonies will begin at high noon.

186th Street School is located at 1581 186th St., Gardena, 90248.

Sounds look good family fun for your Saturday, oui?

The San Francisco Chronicle has the story today, out of its Washington D.C. bureau, about the ongoing "credit crunch" in financial markets is starting to have a trickle-down effect on the student-loan sector.

Zachary Coile reports that several lenders in recent weeks have stopped offering federally guaranteed student loans. Actual students have yet to feel the impact, he adds, quoting some financial aid types at various universities who don't see cause for concern ... but it's something people are keeping a close eye on, regardless.

It's well worth a read if you or your kids are about to be in the market for a student loan.

I received this press release today from Torrance's Riviera Elementary School, which has a number of activities ongoing related to Earth Day, upcoming on Tuesday, the 22nd. Such things include the decoration and distribution of paper grocery bags bearing eco-friendly messages.

Here you have it, from campus Earth Day coordinator and PTA member Karen Wheeler:

"This is to announce Riviera Elementary School’s participation in the fifteenth annual Earth Day Grocery Bag Project! The students have decorated paper grocery bags with environmental messages. On Earth Day, April 22, 2008, and continuing through the week, shoppers at Sprouts Farmers Market in Torrance can receive their groceries in the decorated bags.The people in our community will get a very clear and positive message that the students at our school care about their environment.

Other Earth Week activities at Riviera will include: a used book drive to support the struggling libraries of two public schools in Compton, plastic waste-free lunch days, and a walk-with-your-kid-to-school day. We invite you to contact us to find out more about the specific activities at our school and the commitment of our students to the issue of environmental education.

The Earth Day Grocery Bag Project is a grassroots, nonprofit, international educational effort coordinated on the Internet at www.earthdaybags.org. A report from our school will be added to the website, so others will know about our efforts. The project started in 1994, with 43 schools reporting the decoration and distribution of 13,000 Earth Day Grocery Bags. By 1999, the number of schools reporting in reached nearly 1,200, with students decorating almost 400,000 Earth Day Grocery Bags! Every report from all the previous years is on the website. There are also thousands of pictures of schools from around the world involved in this project."

Thanks for sharing, Karen!

Here's one for your calendar, all you spoken-word, slam-poetry fans: Torrance High School next Thursday night -- that's one week from today, got it? -- is hosting its first ever poetry slam competition to which the public is invited.

There are 7 individual finalists and 3 team finalists, with the winners in each category set to receive $100, not to mention the title "2007 Slam Champion."

The event is the baby of English teacher Ilene Marshall, who informs me the festivities include a guest appearance by nationally renowned slam poet Shihan, a past U.S. champ and featured performer on the HBO series "Def Poetry."

Marshall says in an email that she's been "floored by the talent of these students" and suspects we all will be, too.

If you're intrigued, and free next Thursday, April 24, the competition kicks off at 7 p.m., in the Torrance High auditorium.

Word.

The New York Times has a cool feature today about this great nonprofit program that, as J. Courtney Sullivan puts, it "pairs high school girls from disadvantaged backgrounds who want to be writers with women who are authors, journalists, playwrights, poets and editors. The group produces an anthology of student writing each spring, and puts on several public readings."

Called Girls Write Now, it's about a decade old, but it's the first I've heard of it. Probably because it's a New York thing, oui? If you've heard of anything at all similar here -- outside of 826LA, with which I'm extremely familiar, having been a founding volunteer at 826Valencia in San Franciso -- let me know!

Ever on top of things, I just came across the following, fascinating story today, although it was actually published about two months ago. (Props and thanks to Alexander Russo's This Week In Education blog for alerting me.)

Appearing in New York Magazine and penned by San Francisco-based writer Po Bronson, the intriguing piece titled "Learning to Lie" examines a load of recent research into lying by kids -- when they start doing it, why they do it, what they do it for, etc. -- that suggests they're simply following in their parents' footsteps.

Here's a short sample:
"The most disturbing reason children lie is that parents teach them to. According to Talwar, they learn it from us. “We don’t explicitly tell them to lie, but they see us do it. They see us tell the telemarketer, ‘I’m just a guest here.’ They see us boast and lie to smooth social relationships.”

Disclaimer: It's a long, beefy read. Also it's pretty interesting stuff. You make the call, people.

This is likely to set other school districts' mouths to watering with wishes their own cities would/will do the same thing someday.

Check it out: The Manhattan Beach City Council voted Tuesday to give cash-strapped Manhattan Beach Unified $500,000, stat, to help the school system recover from some of its financial woes, which have only been made worse by the governor's budget proposal to slash education funding.

City reporter Andrea Woodhouse has the story in today's Daily Breeze.

Courtesy of reporter Megan Bagdonas, via her story in today's Daily Breeze, a few more details for you on the TIP Academy's withdrawal of their petition to start a charter school in Palos Verdes.

Yet it's still unclear precisely why they backed off ... could it be something to do with the 500-or-so peeved parents who packed a public hearing on the matter, many of whom decried the very idea of a charter in their area?

Two classrooms at The Castle Preschool in Hawthorne earlier today were dedicated for use by Los Angeles Universal Preschool, whose programs have no income restrictions, opening up opportunities for low-income parents who make too much to qualify for Head Start of state-funded preschool.

LAUP apparently provided nearly $700,000 to upgrade the Castle classrooms, and for new educational materials and playground equipment. The organization will also subsidize the cost of preschool spaces to provide low- and no-cost preschool to every child enrolled.

The new school, located at 14025 Cordary Avenue, in the Thorpe Park area of Hawthorne, will serve as many as 80 preschoolers.

LAUP does require a small "parent investment fee," based on average income of residents within the school's zip code. That amount, for Hawthorne residents (zip 90250), is $200 for the year, or about $17 per month.

I bring you this press release from Cal State Long Beach, which details the triumph of a campus math team in a national contest. One of the three-member team, grad student Joshua Lampkins, hails from Gardena and attended El Camino College before transferring to LB.

Here you go, courtesy of the CSULB communications peeps:

"A team of three students from California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) turned in the campus' highest-ever finish at the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, the oldest and most prestigious math competition in North America.

Graduate student Joshua Lampkins, senior M. Tip Phaovibul and sophomore Sarav Patel teamed up to finish 42nd out of 516 college and universities in the 2007 Putnam math contest (scores were just recently release from the Dec. 1 competition). Their combined score led to CSULB's highest ranking since resuming the competition in 1999, said mathematics professor and team advisor Kent Merryfield.

In addition, Lampkins scored among the top 200 individuals out of 3,753 participating students. In fact, Lampkins, who earned his B.S. degree in mathematics from CSULB, joined three UC Berkeley students as the only four California competitors ranked in the top 200. He tied among four students for 188th place.

The Putnam competition, which began in 1938, is for undergraduate students from the United States and Canada and is sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America. For the contest, campuses field teams of three students, along with alternates if desired, and the six-hour exam is administered on each participating campus under the direction of a faculty advisor. This year, Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Stanford and Duke were the top five institutions.

As for CSULB's performance in the Putnam, Patel said, "we may get counted out as a CSU, but we've shown that we can definitely compete with the more prestigious schools this year."

All three students have a clear idea of their future career paths, especially Lampkins and Phaovibul who will be moving on from CSULB after the spring semester.

"I will be entering a Ph.D. program in the fall, possibly UCLA," Lampkins said. "I would like to study number theory and/or combinatorics. The two main career options for Ph.D.s in pure mathematics are teaching and researching, and after I get my degree, I am not sure which one I will pursue."

Phaovibul has received a full doctoral fellowship from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He was president of the CSULB Mathematics and Statistics Student Association and is vice president of CSULB's College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics Student Council.

"My current goal is to obtain the Ph.D. in mathematics, specializing in analytical number theory," with the aim of becoming a university math professor, he said. "But, during summer, I would like to go to Africa and build houses and schools for the orphans over there."

Patel, CSULB President's Scholar, has a different career path in mind after graduation. "I'm planning on attending medical school after I graduate next year, although I may end up taking a year off to travel or work," he said.

Patel has been coaching the Mathcounts program at McAuliffe Middle School in Los Alamitos. "I actually participated in Mathcounts while I was in middle school, so it definitely feels good come full circle and work with the kids."

Congrats. I stink at math personally, but I'm glad we have people out there that don't!

The TIP Academy, a charter school that's been seeking to operate in Palos Verdes, sparking a whirlwind of controversy there that culminated recently in a heated public meeting on the matter, has withdrawn its application to the school district.

A press release from PVPUSD says the group withdrew its charter petition on Monday, just about exactly two months after first submitting it.

I don't yet know why myself, but reporter Megan Bagdonas is on it. Watch for the full story in Thursday's Daily Breeze.

A press release I received today from Redondo Beach Unified details their increases and improvements in all things AP, from the number of students in AP courses to the number taking and passes AP exams.

For your reading pleasure:

Redondo Beach, ca, April 15, 2008: Redondo Beach Unified School District has accumulated five years of data from Redondo Union High School in order to better compare student enrollment and achievement in advanced placement classes. The five year comparison, from 2004 through 2008, examines total number of students enrolled in the classes, total standardized tests administered, and percentage of students who passed these given tests.

Results (see below) demonstrate that student enrollment has increased in each consecutive year since 2004, totaling a boost of 42%. Administered tests have also been amplified by 62%.

These increases should be noted and applauded, as student passing rates have been preserved—or even slightly improved—despite the larger student participation. Redondo Union High School has encouraged wider participation in advanced classes while maintaining excellent achievement outcomes.

Total # of students taking an AP exam:      
2004   = 346
2005   = 379
2006   = 392
2007   = 424
2008   = 493
Total increase = 147 students or 42%
 
Total # of AP tests administered  
2004   = 592                
2005      = 706
2006      = 798
2007      = 826
2008      = 958
Total increase = 366 tests or 62% increase
 
AP Pass Percentage (Score of 3 or higher)
2004      = 81%
2005      = 78%
2006      = 78%
2007      = 85%
2008      = TBD                   

2008 - 100% of students enrolled in AP classes have paid money to take the AP exam.

Nice work, RB. How you other folks doing?

The state Department of Education just emailed me -- and, I'm guessing, every reporter in California that's on their contact list -- with a heads up that they've added a section on their website that hosts a compendium of pertinent information related to the budget issues that have so consumed public districts these days, what with the Governator's proposal to slash education funding in order to save the state some money.

Anyhoo, thought I'd share a little of this with you:

For starters, the actual link.

Details, according to the note I received:

*The first section has links to specific topics like teacher layoffs, and the affect of the budget crisis on teacher education programs and schools in specific California regions.

*The second section lists data from the field and news reports on school budget cuts by county, then school district.

*The third section lists State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell's news releases about the budget cuts in reverse chronological order.

There she blows. Check it.

The city of Torrance just announced the names of local kids selected for participation in its annual "Students & Government Day," during which the students -- eighth graders, all -- shadow various city workers and officials, from the Mayor on down, then kick off the evening's City Council meeting by playing those parts and conducting a little business.

The event is set for Tuesday, May 6, with the council-meeting portion kicking off at 7 p.m.

Winning students were chosen based on essays that addressed the topic: "a new student involved project that could help the Torrance community and enable students to make a difference in their community."

Without further ado, then, the selected students:

*Alex Baumgartner, St. James School
*Will Bingmann, Richardson Middle School
*Jasmine Galvan, St. Catherine Laboure School
*Maurick Gaunt, Madrona Middle School
*Amanda Goodwin, Magruder Middle School
*Aubree Graham, Bert Lynn Middle School
*Richard Herrada, Calle Mayor Middle School
*Gina Hong, Madrona Middle School
*Grace Huang, Madrona Middle School
*Hunter Johnson, First Lutheran School
*Jonathan MacNeil, Bert Lynn Middle School
*Makeena Martin, Calle Mayor Middle School
*Rebecca Miller, First Lutheran School
*Nicholas Mata, St. Catherine Laboure School
*Amie Morales, Casimir Middle School
*Leila Northington, Hull Middle School
*Caitlyn Pacina, Jefferson Middle School
*Ashley Poh, Casimir Middle School
*Cassida Ruggeri, Calle Mayor Middle School
*Chad Simon, Calle Mayor Middle School
*Michiko Sugimoto, Bert Lynn Middle School
*Lara Windisch, St. James School

Congrats to all.

Continuing my tangent of alerting you to education-tinged stories in other people's papers, here's something out of today's New York Times.

It relates the tale of a student-cum-con-man, who falsified transcripts, lied on his application and was ultimately rewarded with not only admission to Yale University, but more than 30 G's (that's $30,000-plus, people) in scholarships.

Smarty pants!

Apparently the deception of the devious Mr. Akash Maharaj was discovered by officials last year and he was promptly dismissed from the school ... and this is all coming to light only now thanks to student paper the Yale Daily News, which reported it earlier this week.

Run by the state the last five years, since going bankrupt and taking a $100-million bailout loan, the school board of Oakland Unified this week regained a wee bit of power, and promptly, apparently, abused it. Nice!

The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting today that Oakland trustees, on Tuesday given back the authority to hire and fire, turned around Wednesday and named an interim superintendent "without public participation or discussion."

"The school board also came up with the job description behind closed doors," staffer Jill Tucker writes.

All such decisions "should have been made in public," California First Amendment Coalition executive director Peter Scheer is quoted as saying, further noting that the board may have violated the state's open-meeting law known as the Brown Act.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting today that USC is gradually nixing German as a major course of study there, and will ultimately eliminate the department altogether, though a handful of basic language courses will continue to be offered.

Many professors and students are up in arms, but the school's top dogs say the move makes sense for a small department with a high percentage of anticipated faculty retirements.

Speaking of the U.S. News & World Report rankings (I had a post yesterday about a possible shift in their methodology for determining said rankings): Loyola Marymount University informed me today that, for the first time, its School of Education landed on the magazine's list of, you guessed it, "Top Schools of Education."

From the press release:
The list ranks more than the 250 top Schools of Education, out of more than 800 schools around the nation. LMU placed 117th on the list. It was the fourth highest ranked Jesuit institution in the country and the 13th top ranked school in California.

“This is the first year our School of Education was eligible for consideration for the U.S. News & World Report rankings,” said Shane P. Martin, dean for the School of Education. “I’m so proud of the work our faculty, staff and students do that made this ranking possible. I know we’ll continue to work hard and move forward in the years to come.”

Graduate programs at 278 schools granting doctoral degrees in education were surveyed in fall 2007 and early 2008. Of those schools, 245 responded; 242 provided the data needed to calculate rankings based on a weighted average of the 10 quality measures. Some of the measures included a quality assessment survey given to deans; average GRE scores and acceptance rates; faculty resources and research activities among faculty.

Top ranked schools included Stanford, UCLA, Vanderbuilt and Columbia. Other Jesuit institutions included Boston College, Fordham University and Marquette University.

Visit the U.S. News website for complete rankings. To learn more about LMU's School of Education, go here.

The state Department of Education released its annual list of California Distinguished Schools yesterday and 10 South Bay sites are on the list.

Being honored this year are 343 elementary schools (middle and high schools are lauded in alternate years) deemed "exemplary" from a field of 839 eligible campuses that applied for the distinction.

Local schools on the list are:

*From El Segundo Unified, both Center Street and Richmond Street elementary schools
*From Redondo Beach Unified, Jefferson and Tulita elementary schools
*From Torrance Unified, Arnold, Edison, Riviera and Towers elementary schools
*From Wiseburn School District, Juan Cabrillo Elementary
*From LAUSD, 156th Street School (Gardena)

Congrats to all! The schools will be officially feted in May during a dinner at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim.

You know those annual rankings of college and universities printed by U.S. News & World Report, generally prestigious but more and more controversial?

Well, it appears the magazine may be on the verge of altering its methodology, and high-school counselors may be thrown into the mix.

At least that's according to the web publication Inside Higher Ed, which is reporting today that U.S. News has sent surveys to about 1,600 high school counseling offices, asking them to evaulate colleges and noting that the results may (i.e., perhaps, but not definitely -- they're taking a wait-and-see approach) be used in next year's rankings.

Leave it to MTV, great exploiter of adolescent angst and drama, erego disguised under a veil of "reality," vis a vis shows such as "Laguna Beach" and "Newport Harbor" and "My Super Sweet Sixteen," which all combined would have you think that today's teens are all about partying, hooking up, complaining to their parents and going to Cabo. They certainly, apparently, wouldn't be caught dead actually studying on camera.

Not that I would know, because of course I only watch PBS and C-SPAN (wink, wink). But enough about my viewing habits.

The network that more or less originated reality TV with its landmark series "The Real World" is finally taking one of its teen-centered shows on campus. Premiering next week, "The Paper" puports to documents the inner workings of Florida-based Cypress Bay High School's newspaper, The Circuit, focusing especially on competition among juniors seeking to become the next editor-in-chief.

Find a show summary on MTV's website.

Cypress Bay High, FYI, is said to be the largest high school in the country, with some 5,300 students.

For 90 minutes Wednesday night and again Thursday, refreshments will be served as the faculty and staff Port of Los Angeles High School answer questions and offer information during the San Pedro-based charter campus's "enrollment open house."

Parents and guardians of current eighth-grade students -- from any district; the free, public charter is open to anyone -- are invited to the 250 West 5th Street site, from 6 - 7:30 p.m., to learn more about the school that offers elective coursework in maritime studies and international trade and boast the motto, "The world is our classroom."

Enrollment applications and admissions information may also be obtained by calling (310) 832-9201 ext. 272 or via the school's website.

An academic living locally -- one who, coincidentally, has been quoted here in the Daily Breeze a time or two -- has just been awarded a prestigious Fulbright Scholar award.

Thanks to the honor, Torrance resident Roger G. Robins, Assistant Professor of History and Political Science at Marymount College in Rancho Palos Verdes, will spend the 2008-2009 school year lecturing in Japan, where he will lead courses in American history and religion at Tokyo University.

Congrats Roger, that rules!

According to flackage sent my way by the school, "the Japan Lectureship is one of the most coveted awards in the Fulbright Scholar Program, which will send approximately 800 U.S. faculty and professionals abroad this year."

Established in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late Senator J. William Fulbright, the program’s purpose is to build mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the rest of the world.

Award recipients are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields. The program is sponsored by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. It operates in over 150 countries worldwide.

You've likely already heard about this by now, but I just got a heads-up email in my in box this afternoon.

Do you know about The Petition Site? It's a website where you can find petitions to sign on any number of topics, from a proposed ban on hunting Swiss cats and exporting their skins (yuck, right?) to promoting the importance of pre-K education.

It's actually pretty interesting (and a total time suck, so be forewarned) to peruse the mind-boggling myriad of petitions that are currently being circulated.

What may be most intriguing to you school types right now though, is this one, which aims to keep Prop 98 in place and stave off the Governator's proposed cuts to education funding.

Last summer I profiled Redondo Beach youngster Zoe Ezzes, who paints rocks and sells them for $1 apiece in a few spots around town and donates all the money to aid efforts in Darfur. At the time I wrote about her, she had already some $700 on behalf of the organization Jewish World Watch, which provides solar cooking kits to women in the war-torn region.

I learned today that instead of slowing down, Zoe is ramping up her efforts, including launching a website to help spread the word and sell her happily decorated small stones.

The site features a brief, photo-full summary -- aimed at young readers -- of the situation in Darfur, plus a gallery of Zoe's creations and a visual explanation of how to paint the rocks on your own. There's also a message board, a donation button (it takes you to Paypal) and some good news: To date, the tween has raised nearly $4,500.

Keep on keepin' on, Zoe. Nice work!

The Pulitzers were announced Monday, as you may have heard. Congrats Washington Post (the paper dominated the journalism categories, with six awards) and music legend Bob Dylan (he scored the Special Citation), the first rocker to take that prize.

Several educators were also honored, with five professors -- three from California -- also earning Pulitzers. Here's the rundown:

*From our backyard (almost), UCLA professor emeritus of history (who holds the same position at the University of Oxford) Daniel Walker Howe won the history prize for his book "What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848."

*Also from UCLA, history professor Saul Friedlander took the cake in the general nonfiction category for "The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945."

*Cal Berkeley English professor Robert Haas won the poetry prize for "Time and Materials."

From outside the Golden State, MIT associate professor of writing and humanistic studies Junot Diaz won the fiction prize for "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" and John Matteson, an English professor at City University of New York's John Jay College, took biography honors for "Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father."

This should interest a lot of you, teachers and parents alike:

The Associated Press has an interesting story today about a new study that found that "(d)yslexia affects different parts of children's brains depending on whether they are raised reading English or Chinese."

The study's lead author, University of Hong Kong professor of linguistics and brain and cognitive is quoted as saying, "Our finding yields neurobiological clues to the cause of dyslexia."

Results were reported online Monday by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. I found the AP piece at the Washington Post.

As if you don't have enough to read already, I know, but Washington Post education writer Jay Mathews for the second year running has just released a list of his favorite education blogs.

His picks time around feature everyone from the cerebral (U of South Florida professor and Education Policy Analysis Archive editor Sherman Dorn, who Mathews places "among the great original thinkers of education wonkery") to the "contrarian," as he calls journalist-turned-author Joanne Jacobs.

I know what you're going to say: My school blog is the only one you need. Thanks so much, but I'm giving you permission to stray to some of these others, as long as you return here, too!

I'm slow to start today, distracted all morning playing catch up on emails and voicemails and, admittedly, neglecting the blog. But then again, many of you are on spring break this week, so maybe you're avoiding your computer (which is what I do on the rare occasion I take vacation) and haven't noticed. But for those of you who have noticed, my apologies to all!

Here are a couple good stories (penned by other people at other publications) for you to check out:

1. The Los Angeles Times has a story many of you will be interested in: It's about several LAUSD campuses about to be forced to share classroom space with charter schools.

2. From the Grey Lady's Sunday edition, the New York Times' piece about the resurgence of philosophy as a popular major at many universities is pretty interesting as well.

That should get you started until I get in gear and find a few more nuggets for your Monday enjoyment. (Do the words "Monday" and "enjoyment" even belong in the same sentence?)

The Los Angeles Times today goes deeper into the current state of homeschooling in California, which is back in the spotlight since a recent legal ruling (since vacated, pending a re-hearing in the next few months) that only credential-bearing parents can teach their kids at home.

Seema Mehta features two South Bay families in her story -- the Torrance-based Brownings and the Curtos, whose kids who attend classes at Hermosa's Hope Chapel in addition to learn at home with mom Kym.

It's a good read, with a nice accompanying photo gallery online.

In answer to the headline's question: Yes, they can and they do, says a Stanford professor who's been researching how human behavior is affected by their experience with avatars (you know, those virtual characters you can create online).

Jeremy Bailenson, an assistant professor of communications at the NorCal-based Ivy League school, tells the Chronicle of Higher Education this week that "Our virtual identity is not separate from our physical identity."

The magazine's feature goes on: "As the director of Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab, Mr. Bailenson has explored ways that online behavior spills over to the real world. People assume that, if anything, online activities emanate from offline lives. But Mr. Bailenson and his colleagues have shown the reverse. Their experiments demonstrate, for instance, that people who watch their avatars — cartoonlike versions of themselves — gain weight from overeating are more likely to adopt a weight-loss plan in real life."

The press releases keep pouring in about the various area schools that scored well in myriad recent academic competitions -- academic decathlons, science olympiads et al.

The latest concerns the performance of Pedro-based Park West Place Elementary during the latter contest; specifically, the 22nd Annual Los Angeles County Science Olympiad held March 15 at Cal State LA.

Details, courtesy of an email from one Luanne Stevens (thanks, Luanne!): A team of fifteen 4th and 5th grade students from Park Western Place Harbor Math Science Magnet took home gold medals from the the Science Olympiad. With 48 elementary schools competing, the highest-scoring teams received gold medals, while the others were awarded silver and bronze based on the team's total score. Park Western Place had the second highest total score in the competition.

Team members are as follows: Isaac Cano, Brandon Choe, Sophia Collins, Kate Finn, Celeste Goodwin, Hanethzie Granados, Zane Grissett, Austin Labador, Nicholas Martinrez, Cassidy Mernin, Amanda Perez, Evan Rezai, Gary Runnels, Yasmine Saxey-Santillo and Scott Stevens. Team leader is Susan Goldberg, the school's Magnet Coordinator.

Congrats, Park Western!

For those of you who haven't heard yet -- although these kids have done such a great promoting job you likely have absolutely already learned of this -- the green-themed "Cooldown" club of Redondo Union High School tomorrow night is hosting its inaugural "Project Cooldown" benefit concert, hoping to amass some cash on behalf of efforts to stem teh spread of global warming.

Daily Breeze reporter Kristin Agostoni profiled the kids and previewed the concert in today's paper.

I just today discovered a blog that's a great resource, timely too: Called "Campaign K-12" includes all things presidential-election-oriented and is aimed at an audience of education-interested readers.

Hosted by Education Week, the Michele McNeil-manned blog offers some good nuggets, like how election officials in Ohio have recently levied their largest fine ever against a school-choice lobbying group called All Children Matter and how John McCain is apparently consulting Jeb Bush about education policy.

Check it out if you have time, especially if, like me, you're a big fan of the whole clearinghouse/ round-up-of-key-issues-all-in-one-place-so-you-don't-have-to-read-every-paper-everywhere idea.

There's a certain middle schooler in my life, who shall remain nameless but I will tell you she's related to me, who is sweet, funny, generous, kind and bright, a standout gymnast and altogether great kid with big dreams that include college.

One problem: She's performing really poorly in school -- extremely poorly -- and no one seems to be able to adequately impress upon her the fact that solid academics now will position her to actually achieve that university fantasy down the road.

And so this New York Times story today especially intrigued me. It's about a middle school in upstate New York that is experimenting with a unique new strategy for dealing with students like my niece. Any kid whose grade in any class falls below 65 percent, or who shows a noticeable lack of effort, is being, the paper reports, "excluded from all aspects of extracurricular life, including athletic contests, academic clubs, dances and plays, unless they demonstrate improvement on weekly progress reports filled out by their teachers."

Interesting, oui? Can't wait for the follow-up story to hear how well it did, or didn't work.

Please, someone, tell me this is a joke. Please?

Third-grade teacher Jayne DeArmond, of Santa Ana's Diamond Elementary School, was arrested yesterday after some kids came across a gun in an unlocked supply cabinet in her classroom. The gun wasn't loaded, but guess what? There was some ammunition sitting right beside the weapon.

I don't even know what to say, which is totally uncharacteristic of me, trust.

The Los Angeles Times has a take today.

I came across this cute story on MSNBC today, about a little kid who discovered an error on a display sign at the Smithsonian (which had apparently been there for decades, fyi), alerted the organization via a comment box and ultimately received a reply letter informing him the mistake was to be eradicated asap.

It's a fun read.

Check it out then tell me: Did you know what the Precambrian was when you were in fifth grade?

All I can remember from that time is doing a report on New Jersey that I'm sure was entirely based on information found in the "N" volume of that year's Encyclopedia Brittanica; finding it hilarious that there was a kid in class named Thor; and being elated when Joey Toler asked me to go with him.

But the Precambrian? No, I definitely do not recall learning anything about that. I'm not sure I even know what it is now!

Kids these days, I tell ya...

Handed down from the communications office at LA Unified today, heads up of next week's scheduled earthquake drills at schools districtwide.

Is this where we get under our desks, or do the stop-drop-and roll? Oh wait, earthquakes, that's where we stand in doorways, right? As a native and lifelong Californian, who lived seven years in San Francisco in between forays to SoCal, you'd think I'd have this one down.

But enough about me. Here are the deets:

"LAUSD students will participate in the annual spring 2008 earthquake exercise drill designed to familiarize all students and staff with the safe school emergency response plan at their school. Earthquake drills will be conducted from April 7-11 and will include an inspection and testing of all district radio equipment.

This year students at three selected schools will be videotaped during the simulation drill. District administrators at the Office of Emergency Services plan to use the video to train staff and inform parents about what happens at a school during an emergency.

“We want to assure parents that schools are the safest place for their children,” said Superintendent David L. Brewer III. “Emergency drills are very important and a great way for the district to put safety plans in motion and affirm their effectiveness.”

Each district school has an emergency supply container located in a safe place on campus. These safety bins are stocked with water, first aid supplies and search and rescue equipment. Containers hold half a gallon of water a day for each person sheltered on campus for a three day period. In addition, school cafeterias store a three day supply of canned food. School site emergency supplies, fire alarms and sprinkler systems are also inspected regularly.

“Our office is dedicated to making sure that school staff, students and families are aware of the safety plans in place at their school,” said Bob Spears, Assistant Director of Emergency Services. “We cannot prevent an earthquake from happening, but we can make sure that our schools are well-equipped to serve our students and staff.”

'Nuff said.

As I was wheeling around the South Bay this afternoon after interviewing folks at LAX (for our story about the sudden shut-down of ATA Airlines), trying to decide where I should stop for lunch, I tuned into NPR for my afternoon news fix.

Almost as soon as I turned my radio on, a correspondent named Dan Collins launched into a report from Lima, Peru, where apparently all teachers are now required to take an annual "National Teachers Exam."

Of 180,000 educators who took the most recent test, Collins said, 95 percent failed. You heard that right. 95 percent. Failed. Ouch. Now that's gotta hurt.

The results have been characterized as "appalling." No duh.

However, as with all standardized tests everywhere, this one as well is controversial, with one camp calling it an inadequate measure of teacher competency and another saying, essentially, that it's the teachers who are inadequate, not the test.

One teacher interviewed on air by Collins decried the fact that the exam is given at all -- apparently it's a new thing in the country's effort to improve education there -- saying that Peru's powers that be aren't invested enough in educating educators and that teachers get "low pay and poor training."

Sound familiar?

A similar source went on to say: "More needs to be done to give Peruvian students the education they deserve."

Now, where have you heard that before?

As they do each year, educators in El Segundo Unified convened recently for an in-service event that doubled as a day to celebrate the cream of its crop.

Four women this season were named "Teachers of the Year" for the small suburban district whose campuses, its high school especially, with its austere brick and lush green grass, have become a film-crew favorite.

The honorees, who were officially feted March 14 in an Embassy Suites ballroom, are: Marie Loye, a former optician-turned-teacher who mans a first-grade class at Richmond Street School; Center Street kindergarten teacher Marva Murray; 19-year special-education veteran Roberta (Bobbie) Misak; and El Segundo High social-studies teacher Sarah Briney (who, incidently, grew up in 'Gundo schools and had Murray for first grade!).

This is too sweet to go unmentioned, so here you have it:

About a week ago or so -- it could have been two weeks, I lose track of time so easily, sigh -- my colleague Megan Bagdonas wrote a short story about efforts on the Hill to raise enough money to fund salaries for teachers who may be laid off from Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified due to the massive funding cuts all but certainly coming down from the state.

Well a few days ago Megan gets faxed copy of a letter from Silver Spur Elementary first-grader Isabella Parks, who donated and hand-delivered her stash of stockpiled "chore money" to the "Save Our Teachers Now" campaign.

Here's the text , unedited:

"I'm Isabella Parks and I whant to save are teachers. This will be a big oppertonuty for me so here is all the money I have from my chores."

Tres adorable!

Hey all you stay-at-home types, this should make you happy: I heard today that the recent appellate court ruling that rankled the homeschooling community for declaring that parents who teach their kids en casa will have to have teaching credentials has been vacated.

A rehearing is reportedly pending in the next few months, possibly as soon as June, according to the Pacific Justice Institute.

Of course the state Department of Education had already told parents to remain calm, assuring them that the ruling would not be enforced until the battle is fully fought ... but still, those folks must feel pretty good today, and optimistic that the law will ultimately find in their favor.

We shall see! Knowing the legal system, we won't see for quite a while... but someday, homeschoolers, someday.

I just found a solid tidbit out of South Bay-adjacent Long Beach in my overzealous junk mail filter. (Don't you love those things? They frequently filter out what you want yet sometimes send through offers for services that should remain unspecified on a school-centered blog. Go figure.)

Anyhoo, perennial Broad Prize for Urban Education finalist Long Beach Unified is in the mix again this year, one of just five districts nationwide - and the only in California - competing for the $1-million in awards given annually to urban districts making the greatest progress in raising student achievement. The winning school system will get $500,000 for student scholarships; the four remaining finalists will each receive $125,000.

Up against Long Beach are Aldine Independent School District, near Houston; Broward County Public Schools, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Brownsville Independent School District, on the Texas-Mexico border; and Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

The awards will be announced Oct. 14 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

A finalist every year its been eligible for consideration, Long Beach actually won the kitty in 2003. Only one other California district -- Garden Grove Unified, in 2004 -- has ever won the top prize.

Who doesn't love a little Chaka? Am I right?

Even the California Science Center loves them some Chaka Khan, trumpeting as they did today her expected visit there tomorrow with a group of schoolkids from Watts and Compton to help celebrate the one-millionth visitor to the "Body Worlds" exhibit (you know, that fascinating show that features some 200 actual human bodies and body parts?).

The event is a good fit for the "I Feel For You" singer (she also originated "I'm Every Woman" in a version that totally predates Whitney Houston's, FYI), who has an eponymous foundation dedicated to assisting at-risk women and children with a particular focus on education and autism.

Chaka Believes, a program of the Chaka Khan foundation, works with middle school students in LAUSD's Local District 7 in the Watts and Compton area. Targeting kids in at-risk communities, Chaka Believes aims to help them raise their achievement levels in school and go on to college by providing scholarships and workshops for students and parents alike.

You go, Chaka.

Let me start this entry by saying I find it highly depressing that the following study even exists and hopefully it's more a case of "you can reach whatever conclusion you want if you conduct the study just so" than it is accurate, but hey, what do I know?

Here's the dillyo:

The Every Child Matters Education Fund, a non-partisan nonprofit, today released a report that says the state a child lives in can adversely affect his or her life, so much so that kids in the state's that rank lowest according to "a wide variety of child well-being indicators" are...

* Twice as likely to die in their first year as children in the highest ranking state.
* Three times more likely to die between the ages of one-14.
* Roughly three times more likely to die between the ages of 15-19.
* Three times more likely to be born to a teenage mother.
* Five times more likely to have mothers who received late or no prenatal care.
* Three times more likely to live in poverty.
* Five times more likely to be uninsured.
* Eight times more likely to be incarcerated.
* 13 times more likely to die from abuse and neglect.

Tito, bring me a tissue. That is awful!

Among the factors used to arrive at this determination, and to rank the states accordingly, were poverty, race, educational achievement, political culture, taxes and weak federal policy on things such as health insurance, child abuse and poverty.

From the press release:
"Based on a wide cross-section of 10 major child well-being standards, the 10 bottom states identified in the Every Child Matters Education Fund report are:  Arizona (41); South Dakota (42); Nevada (43); Arkansas (44); South Carolina (45); Texas (46); Oklahoma (47); New Mexico (48); Mississippi (49); and Louisiana (50). 

The 10 top states for children by the same measures are:  Maine (10); Washington (9); Minnesota (8); Iowa (7); Hawaii (6); New Hampshire (5); Rhode Island (4); Connecticut (3); Massachusetts (2); Vermont (1)."

I guess our fair Golden State falls somewhere in the middle. Do you think we're nearer the Top 10 or the bottom? And why is New England so dominant?

To learn more about the report and the Every Child Matters organization, which is calling these "life and death" differences the "forgotten campaign issue" of 2008, visit this website.

Props to LAUSD for ongoing efforts to green its fleet of school buses, which, it's just been announced, are being bolstered by a grant to its transportation-services branch from the South Coast Air Quality Management District that will be used for 40 compressed natural-gas (CNG) buses.

That brings the district's total green fleet to 173 buses, reportedly the largest of its kind in the state. Impressive!

More impressive still is that later this year, according to a district press release, the AQMD expects to award LAUSD an additional $9.1 million to purchase 60 more such buses as well as CNG fueling infrastructure.

With each CNG bus valued at $185,000, the grant funding allows LAUSD to receive a cost savings of $138,000 per bus.

"We owe it to our children and our community to provide a healthy school environment to and from home," Superintendent David Brewer said. "These CNG buses are investments that safeguard our students from breathing toxic diesel exhaust.”

The district's board of education in 2003 adopted the Healthy Breathing Initiative, which included a commitment to only accept bids to purchase or to contract buses fueled by alternative fuels, or green diesel school buses that meet strict emission standards.

Here comes a canned quote for your reading pleasure:
"As we change out our old bus fleet, all new buses must help improve our environment and assure that our children and bus drivers would not be harmed by dangerous pollutants,” trustee Julie Korenstein said. “Air quality and its impact on the health of children should be a growing concern for all of us.”

Another:
“LAUSD has the oldest school bus fleet among major urban school districts and we appreciate our partnership with AQMD who continue to help us with the financial challenges of school bus replacement,” said Transportation Director Enrique Boull’t. “Together, our goal is to provide new energy efficient, lower-emission and safe school buses to our children.”

And finally:
“LAUSD has been proactive in acquiring clean-fueled, natural gas school buses to replace its aging diesel models,” said William A. Burke, Ed.D., chairman of the AQMD Governing Board. “This will benefit the thousands of children riding those buses on a daily basis as well as air quality across our region.”

Lastly, some background info, courtesy of the district's communication staff:
CNG buses run on an alternative fuel for gasoline (petrol) or diesel fuels. Natural, clear and non-corrosive, these vehicles have lower smog-forming emissions than their diesel counterparts. All new school buses come equipped with improved safety features including 3-point lap and pelvic seat restraints, fire suppression systems, additional emergency exit capability, anti-lock braking systems, automatic parking brakes, flame-retardant seats, raised, fully padded seatbacks and methane leak detectors.

What follows is seemingly stale news -- the event occurred on March 15 -- but a) I just heard about it and b) it's still relevant and worth a hearty congrats to one local school.

Here goes: Redondo Beach-based St. Lawrence Martyr School landed in the top 10 -- from a total filed of 103 Catholic schools -- during the Los Angeles Archdiocesan Academic Junior High Decathlon held recently at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.

The South Bay team placed 9th in the competition that includes challenges in mathematics, religion, social studies, fine arts, current events and science, as well as logic and super quizzes. In addition, several students scored well in individual categories: Molly Hunt placed 10th in religion; Kristen Lee placed 9th in fine arts, Michael Luna landed at 6th place in current events and Matthew Kurata scored a 4th place finish in science.

The team's head coach, Vivian Lee, reports that the kids worked diligently to prepare for the competition, “giving up their days off, coming in early and staying late."

Congratulating Lee and the entire team, school Principal Shannon Gomez remarked, “It just goes to show that if you put your mind to something and work hard, you can accomplish anything!”

In addition to Hunt, Lee, Luna and Kurata, the team members are: Amanda Shimizu, Devon Kent, MacKenzie von Helmolt, Luis Perez, Bryce Lomas, Lauren Jones, Kristin Lee, Matthew Petersen, Colby Smith, Dylan Biel and Shannon Martin.  

The Academic Junior High Decathlon was the brainchild of Dr. Mark Ryan in 1989.  Today the 2008 AJHD still honors his goals to: promote academic excellence; collaborative spirit and cooperative learning skills; and logical higher–order thinking while recognizing the contributions of parents, teachers, school administrators and community members in supporting high standards for all students. Above all AJHD celebrates the diversity, excellence and tradition of Catholic schools.
 

St Lawrence Martyr School is a Catholic elementary School with grades K-8, currently boasting an enrollment of some 300 students. The school has been in existence for over 50 years.

A recent Torrance High School grad and a teacher who resides here have both snared big awards from the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship.

Holla!

Local Angie Mazzotta, an educator at LA Unified's Audobon Middle School and Magnet Center, was named "Teacher of the Year," while former Tartar Daniel Uribe, 18, was one of two "Global Young Entrepreneurs of the Year” for the foundation's Southern California region.

Both will be officially honored Wednesday at a special "Salute to the Entrepreneurial Spirit" ceremony in New York City. The awards are given annually to outstanding teachers and students in 34 regions throughout the U.S., Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa.

The NFTE is devoted to teaching entrepreneurship and business skills to low-income young people.

Mazzotta is being lauded for her comittment to increasing education and economic opportunities for low-income youth.

Uribe is being recognized for his operational business, Lazer Bearings, hereby adding to his list of accomplishments. He already placed third in the NFTE National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge and first in the NFTE Greater Los Angeles Regional Business Plan competition.

Along with the honor, both will receive a boatload of cash to put toward professional development (Mazzotta) and business capital or future education (Uribe).

Ok, they're only getting $1,000 each, but to most kids, many teachers and, dare I say, a majority of journalists, a $1,000 could qualify as a boatload.

Regardless, congrats to them both!