November 2008 Archives

Larry Gordon has an interesting story in today's Los Angeles Times that describes an increase in recruitment of L.A.-area seniors by Midwestern and East Coast colleges.

The uptick is due to demographic changes that have decreased the size of the schools' traditional applicant pool, Gordon reports.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the number of high school graduates in the U.S. peaked this spring with about 3.35 million "Echo Boom" youngsters, offspring of Baby Boomers. The number is projected to drop by about 18,000 next spring and continue to decline for the next five years.

New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Michigan, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania are projected to have significant dips while states such as Texas, Florida and Arizona are slated for growth.

California is in a universe of its own. The "College Door" report estimates that the number of California students graduating from high school peaked at 423,615 in 2008. The state projects a slight decrease for 2009 and a nearly 7% decline by 2017.

However, California's population of young people will remain the largest by far -- about double that of Florida and New York -- and will continue to draw recruiters.

(snip)

That was good news to Carlos Ramos, a Gertz-Ressler senior who attended recent presentations by several East Coast schools and expects to apply to some of them. Ramos, 17, said he heard a clear message from the out-of-state colleges:

"They definitely want L.A. kids to be there," he said.

The story also notes that an increasing percentage of high school grads are Latinos, a group that has tended to go to college less than white students -- a trend that would need to change to reverse the coming decline in the size of incoming classes of college freshman.

Also of note: reps from colleges in the Midwest and the East Coast say they come to L.A. students in part to boost their student-body diversity, Gordon reports.

.... And, a late link: Los Angeles Unified settled its dispute with payroll software provide Deloitte Consulting, the district announced Wednesday. LAUSD will get $8.25 million and will not have to pay between $7 million and $10 million in bills from Deloitte. The settlement amount is much less than some had hoped, after a long-lasting fiasco with a software system that overpaid and underpaid thousands of district employees.LAT Daily News

The Manhattan Beach Unified School District on Wednesday will introduce its bond oversight committee and elect officers to the group. There will also be a progress report on the voter-approved $67.5 million Measure BB, which is to upgrade Mira Costa High School. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. and will be at the district office, 325 South Peck Avenue in Manhattan Beach. Information: 310-318-7345.

Mike Stryer, a Fairfax High School teacher and candidate for Marlene Canter's District 4 LAUSD board seat, says he'd like to close the eight local district offices, in a profile in the Palisadian-Post.

"It's just another layer of bureaucracy between the school site and the central office," he said. By closing the offices, the district could save $40 million to $60 million, which could be used to reduce class sizes, add electives and improve teacher training, Stryer said.

Of course, Stryer may at least in part get his wish before even facing voters, if Senior Deputy Superintendent Raymond Cortines' pledge to cut the local district budgets in half becomes a reality.

The profile of Stryer also notes that the candidate's two children attend private schools: Viewpoint School in Calabasas and Milken School in Bel-Air.

Stryer is the UTLA chair and head of the social studies deparment at Fairfax. He's got an unusual background for an urban school teacher. According to the story:

He received his bachelor's degree in political science from Stanford and his master's degree in international relations from Yale. He worked for JPMorgan Chase in international finance in New York and for the international divisions of a gift company and a sporting goods company in Los Angeles before changing careers.

Mira Costa High School's Model United Nations program on Dec. 6 will host a conference with more than 1,000 students participating from around the Los Angeles area. The event runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the campus, 1401 Artesia Blvd. in Manhattan Beach. The school's Model United Nations team successfully competed eariler this month in Montreal, bringing home 19 awards and recognition for best large delegation at the conference. Information: 310-318-7345.

The photo below shows a recent shot of Mira Costa's Model United Nations team:

Support for magnet programs has lessened, even as they better integrate students when compared to charter schools, the Los Angeles Times' Howard Blume reports in a story today about a new study.

Both magnets and charter schools typically appeal to families seeking accelerated academics, special course offerings or other enticements. Charters are different in that they operate independently of local school districts, free from some regulations that apply to traditional schools. While many charter schools value diversity, the report found that a focus on integration makes a difference.

Magnet schools achieve ethnic balance by actively recruiting and by paying for student transportation, the report said. Charter schools don't receive funding for transportation and rarely provide it, which means that low-income families can't get to desirable charters in higher-income areas.

The study (PDF) was released today by the UCLA-based Civil Rights Project. It looks at changing diversity levels in magnet schools in the wake of court decisions and other factors that are forcing magnets to adapt (and sometimes shrink).

This may be of interest to those following the plans for South Region High School No. 15, the planned magnet campus at LAUSD's Fort MacArthur property near Angels Gate Park. That school is mandated to be 70 percent minority, and many of those children come from outside of San Pedro.

When things get busy here (as they do during holiday weeks), we kind of slack off on blog posts. You might have noticed. Sorry.

Anyway, here are a few links I've been meaning to post from recent days:

• Los Angeles Unified is considering cuts of up to $140 million this year, the Daily News' George Sanchez reports. Deputy Supe Cortines would halve the budgets of local districts, and cut Beaudry's budget by 30 percent. "It's just that bad," Cortines said
• The Los Angeles Times' Jason Song looks back on Friday's lockdown at Manual Arts High School in South L.A.
• The Associated Press reports that the federal goverment will withhold $1 million from California for failing to test eighth-graders in math. This is related to the whole eight-grade algebra conundrum.
• Another LA Times story: County juvie camps may become charter schools.
• From Friday, the Daily News' Sanchez reports on continuing payroll snafus within LAUSD.
• And ... UC students on Sunday protested proposed budget cuts, reports, yes, the LA Times.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday named LAUSD board member Richard Vladovic to the city's top youth commission -- the 15-member Commission for Children, Youth and Their Families.

The commission oversees several youth-oriented programs in the city, and advises the mayor and City Council on policy and legislative matters relating to services for children and their families.

Vladovic will take the seat of LAUSD board member Yolie Flores Aguilar, who has stepped down from the commission. His term will end in June 2011.

Several local students won awards for book reports they wrote as part of Los Angeles Unified School District's 2008 Books of Summer program, which encouraged parents and guardians to read with their children.

Ashley Silva of Fleming Middle School in Lomita was the district-wide middle school winner.

Also winning awards were:

• Ariana Marquez, 156th Street Elementary in Gardena, second place for first graders
• Kai Nuño, Taper Avenue Elementary in San Pedro, second place for second graders.
• Fathima Haseefa, Dodson Middle School in San Pedro, third place for sixth graders.

Honorable mentions went to:

• Kobe Kubes of Westport Heights Elementary in Westchester
• Lani Matsumura of Denker Elementary in Gardena
• Lauren Jackson of Kentwood Elementary in Westchester

The district announced the awards today.

Winners will receive several books and electronic learning games. They'll be honored at a Dec. 17 lunch at the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.

State high school students visiting the California State University Chancellor's Office YouTube channel will see new videos with a simple message: hurry up and apply if you want to attend a CSU.

The CSU system is asking students, high schools, education groups, news outlets, churches and communities to link and post these YouTube videos on their own websites.

Less than two weeks remain for the fall 2009 priority deadline of Nov. 30, 2008. At least nine CSU campuses will close their application periods for first-time freshmen on that day. Many campuses will follow soon after.

Find more information and apply online at www.csumentor.edu.

Members from the U.S. Air Force recently visited three campuses of Centinela Valley Union High School District to share their experiences in the service. The photo above shows Col. Alvin Drew talking about weightlessness as he flew on a two-week mission to the International Space Station in 2007 at Hawthorne High School.
Students also heard about "life and death situations" from Capts Ariel Batungbacal and Rebecca Hammond and Staff Sgt. Amber Gonzalez, who all had worked in intelligence-gathering in Iraq and Afghanistan.

ABout 1,000 university students on Sunday held a demonstration at UCLA's Bruin Plaza to protest Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget cuts to higher education, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The demostration comes a week after UC officials considered plans to limit freshman unless the state provides more funding, while the California State University system agreed to cut enrollment by 10,000.

The governor's proposed cuts, they said, would result in higher tuition, lower enrollment, larger class sizes and fewer student services.

"Students are being shortchanged," David Kirui, 21, a fourth-year undergraduate from UC Berkeley, told the crowd in Bruin Plaza. "We are sick and tired of the budget being balanced on the backs of students."

Schwarzenegger recently recommended a $65-million cut from the $3 billion in state money the UC system expected for the 2008-09 school year.

West High School special education teacher Randy Spencer died Tuesday evening from apparent natural causes, school officials said.

Spencer spent his 25-year career working with special needs students at the campus and was described by fellow educators as extremely caring and a father figure.

"One of his students signed a poster in his memory today as, 'your loving son," said West Principal Ben Egan. "He had that same effect on the adults here. It's a really hard day as we all try to make sense of this."

Tomorrow morning, students at Carson's Ambler Avenue Elementary School will celebrate the election of the first African-American president with a morning event for "Barack Obama Day."

From a Los Angeles Unified press release:

Various classes will recite poems and sing songs about president-elect Obama. The entire student body will celebrate the presidency of the first African American president and the 44th president of the United States of America.

"Students will also articulate how they now know they can aspire to be the president of the United States because he looks like us," said Althea Sidney, the school's Title I Coordinator. "We are a school of color and proud of Barack Obama's accomplishments."

Ambler's student body is almost 85 percent black and a little over 11 percent Hispanic, according to last year's data from the California Department of Education.

The California Department of Education has posted a new page on its website that tracks school closures and assistance related to the recent fires. It's here.

Might be worth a bookmark ... because who knows how many more wildfires await?

This was too awesome not to add into the blog.

A college intern at a Minnesota TV station after getting fired threatened an executive producer and kicked out the glass of a conference room door in an attempt to get at her, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Jennifer Nicole Anato-Mensah, 21, a University of Minnesota student, "just lost it" after she was let go from the part-time paid internship.

According to court documents:

Several newsroom employees heard Anato-Mensah shouting, yelling obscenities and threatening Danielle Prenevost, 33.

Prenevost attempted to walk away from Anato-Mensah, but the intern followed her. A male employee stepped between her and Prenevost, who went into a nearby conference room. The male employee tried to get Anato-Mensah to calm down and pack up her things, but Anato-Mensah left her desk and again tried to get to the conference room, the complaint said.

Several male employees then stood at the conference room door as Anato-Mensah continued to yell and swear and try to push her way in. At one point, she kicked at and broke a window in the conference room door. She had to be restrained to keep her out of the room, the complaint said.
"The whole situation was very scary," Prenevost said.

Authorities charged the student with criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct.

Skin care company Murad, Inc. announced today that it will join the El Segundo Chamber of Commerce to offer grants to area teachers for classroom materials. Previous grants have been used for items like computer projectors, graphing calculators, books for classroom libraries, computer software, art supplies and physical education equipment. The grants are eligible to educators at any school in the El Segundo School District and will doled out for the current school year. Information: 949-916-6880

A Sacramento Superior Court ruled recently that only school nurses have the authority to administer insulin shots to diabetic students in California.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports California has one of the highest ratios of students to school nurses in the country: 2,150 to 1. There are 2,800 nurses in the 9,800 public schools across the state.

In a class-action lawsuit filed in 2005, parents had argued that with so few school nurses left in California, they were having to keep their diabetic children out of school or leave jobs to administer insulin shots themselves.

The California Department of Education settled with parents in 2007 and sent an advisory to districts throughout the state urging them to allow trained, unlicensed school staff to give the shots if a nurse or parent wasn't available.

Nancy Spradling, the executive director of the California School Nurses Organization said that "state law and the Business and Professions Code and the Nurse Practice Act all state clearly what falls under the category of nursing, which includes administering injections."

Improper administration can lead to low blood sugar, which can result in coma and death, she said.

The California State University system will push up application deadlines and raise its academic bar as a way to cap enrollment for the 2009-2010 academic year, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The state's high school graduates probably will bear the brunt of the downsizing, which will lower the school system's 450,000 population by 10,000. The move comes as the nation's largest four-year college system anticipates $66 million in midyear budget cuts, and further reductions for 2009-2010.

Cal State is not the only higher education institution reporting financially driven enrollment issues. The University of California said it might have to limit admission to its most popular campuses and send more students to those with extra space, typically Riverside and Merced. At the state's community colleges, actual enrollment probably won't be limited but students' access to classes may be, officials said.

The New York City public school system's effort to offer parents A-through-F grades for individual campuses may hide some important information, according to an article in Saturday's New York Times.

The grades are based on year-to-year progress, which critics say isn't a good way of showing whether the schools are effectively educating students. The system can result in a school that is essentially failing overall but has improved getting the same "A" that a high-achieving school might receive, Jennifer Medina writes.

The grades, which the city calls progress reports, are more performance management review than consumer report, blunt shorthand rather than nuanced evaluation. The fact that a school got an A is not necessarily a clear indication that parents should want to send their children to it.

The progress reports were introduced last year and have been a "hallmark," Medina writes, of NYC schools Chancellor Joel Klein, who's being talked about as President-elect Barack Obama's potential education secretary.

A similar project in Los Angeles Unified (which is second only to New York in school-district size nationally) is set to deliver school report cards to parents in January. There seems to be some trepidation around this effort.

The California Teachers Association on Monday launched a 60-second radio ad that makes the same "our future economy depends on educating our children" argument made in an L.A. Times op-ed published yesterday.

The ad notes that California ranks 46th nationwide in per-pupil funding. It doesn't specifically mention Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plans to cut $2 billion from state K-12 education funds.

Here's CTA's release.

By the way, it's American Education Week.

A Carson High School nurse revived a ninth-grader who collapsed and was found unconscious today.

The student, who was known to have a heart condition, was revived by the nurse's rescue breathing, a Los Angeles Unified School District spokeswoman said.

The student was found on the ground during lunch period between the dean's office and the library. He was taken to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. No other info right now.

Los Angeles Unified schools have remained open today, despite smoke from the fires in Sylmar and elsewhere. Outdoor activities such as P.E. were canceled for the day.

Children who were displaced from their schools will be accommodates at other campuses, where they'll be fed regardless of whether they have a meal ticket or are eligible free-or-reduced lunch. Displaced kids should be registered at the front office.

Also, the district is providing crisis teams for students who lost their homes.

*The district will allow outdoor activities to resume tomorrow (Tuesday), it announced after school on Monday.

A few budget shortfall links from today's papers and over the weekend:

Starting with this lede from an editorial in the Sunday Los Angeles Times:

For California's schools, the question of the state budget shortfall comes down to this: Will they have an utterly unthinkable year, or just a horrible year?

The editorial calls for a moratorium on No Child Left Behind sanctions, which cost school districts money, as well as a lifting of the class-size limit from 20 (for K-third grade classes) tp 24 or 25. The ed board also recommends the state free up categorical funding, which usually goes only to specific programs.

The ed board also on Sunday looked at the irony of Measure Q's forthcoming riches -- $7 billion limited largely to construction and physical improvements -- in a year of budget crisis that may even force school closures. The editorial calls for the district to "use money more judiciously" and "focus on its core mission at a time when it may not be able to afford much else."

In an op-ed oday, UCLA professor Saree Makdisi writes, "There is nothing left to pare" of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to cut education funding in an effort to close a gaping budget gap.

Schwarzenegger's plan would slash $2 billion in K-12 education funding, $330 million from community colleges, $66 million from Cal State schools, and $66 million from the UCs.

"To under-fund our educational system is to jeopardize our position in the global economy," Makdisi argues.

Also today, the Times takes a look at the budget issues facing Los Angeles Unified.

On Sunday, the Breeze ran my (entirely un-budget-related) story about the push for school uniforms in LAUSD.

Continuing their months-long battle to oust Principal Anna Barraza, teachers at Dolores Street Elementary School will hold a "sit-in" at the Carson campus next week.

The event follows multiple demonstrations since May that have brought attention to the staff's effort to get rid of a woman they call a "lemon principal." Barraza and her union have defended her strict adherence to district policy and pointed to increased academic achievement.

The sit-in will take place Monday at 3 p.m.

*It's been moved to Thursday, UTLA folks tell me.

The Los Angeles Lakers on Friday will recognize two Torrance Unified teachers as Teachers of the Month. The two will be honored during the half time show and given a plaque and $50 gift certificate.

The honorees are Martin Bray, who teaches pre-kindergarten at Edison Elementary, and Glen Kamida, who teaches music at Arlington, Carr, Edison, Lincoln, and Yukon schools. Bray has spent 33 years in the Torrance Unified School District and Kamida is a 16-year vet.

In Los Angeles Unified news today:

On the second anniversary of Superintendent David Brewer's hire, the Los Angeles Times' editorial board called for him and the Board of Education to "chart a graceful course for his departure."

The district needs better leadership during a "a treacherous moment for a school district that has long operated on the edge of failure," the ed. board wrote, citing a $200 million budget shortfall.

Also, the Daily News' George Sanchez reports that, in the face of that budget shortfall, the district has frozen almost all purchasing and prohibited the use of district credit cards. The freeze was announced Monday is a memo sent by Senior Deputy Superintendent Raymond Cortines.

*Add a hiring freeze: Sanchez's updated story, with more details.

The Orange County Register reports UC Irvine biologist Alexander McPherson continues to refuse an order to take a mandatory sexual harassment prevention training course.

Campus officials took McPherson off his supervisory role and told him that he could be placed on an unpaid leave from his $148,740 a year job if he didn't comply with state standards.

"This is not an assault on feminist positions. It's not about gender politics," McPherson told the Register. "This is strictly about civil liberties and academic freedom."

His remarks follow an email to campus executives which says, "I have consistently refused to take such training on the grounds that the adoption of the requirement was a naked political act by the state that offended my sensibilities, violated my rights as a tenured professor, impugned my character and cast a shadow of suspicion on my reputation and career."

What do you think about this? Should supervisors at state-paid institutions be forced to take sexual harrassment prevention classes or does this hinder academic freedom?

School across the South Bay are preparing for the big one today as part of a statewide earthquake drill. Torrance Unified and El Segundo Unified will be among the districts planning a simultaneous duck-and-cover exercise to be followed by an evacuation.

El Segundo superintendent Geoff Yantz said individual campuses at the district usually schedule monthly earthquake drills but the organized effort, planned since last spring, will allow officials to test district wide communications in case of an emergency.

"We have the system in place," he said. "It's about testing and coordination and understanding protocol and procedures at this point."

Declining enrollment in Los Angeles Unified has been an argument made by those battling new campuses that are being funded by district's the massive multi-billion construction program.

... including those debating the proposed "annex" campus to San Pedro High School, also known at South Region High School No. 15. (Pedro High's enrollment has been on the decline, on par with the district.)

Now we've got numbers for this school year. As of Oct. 6 ("Norm Day"), the district's enrollment is as follows:

Elementary Schools.....................297,316
Middle Schools............................132,250
Senior High Schools....................168,915
Continuation High Schools..............3,825
Alternative Ed. & Work Centers......3,638
Special Education Schools.............3,914
Span Schools...............................23,745
Community Day Schools....................932
Opportunity Schools or Centers.....2,516
Independent Charters..................51,087

TOTAL K-12 ENROLLMENT.............688,138

Last year's enrollment was 694,288. So that's a drop of 0.89 percent, or 6,150 students.

That decrease is the smallest year-over-year drop since the district's peak enrollment of 747,009 in 2003. Since then, LAUSD is down 7.9 percent, or 58,871 students.

District demographers say they expect enrollment to begin to rise again some time between 2010 and 2015.

USA Today reports on a new study that suggests the economic downturn is forcing cutbacks at school districts across the country, threatening academic gains made in recent years.

According to a survey being released today by the American Association of School Administrators, nearly half of superintendents are reducing hiring and cutting back on supplies. Twenty percent already have laid off staff, and another 31% have considered it.

"This is scary. This is the worst that I have seen," says Daniel Domenech, the group's executive director, an educator for nearly 40 years.

Depending on where they are, school districts rely on a mix of property, income and sales taxes, both state and local. Domenech notes that revenue from all three have fallen nationwide as foreclosures and unemployment have increased.

The survey, which queried more than 800 superintendents across the United States, found the following measures had already been taken to address budget crunches:

* Altering thermostats (62 percent)
* Eliminating non-essential travel (56 percent)
* Reducing staff-level hiring (48 percent)
* Reducing consumable supplies (48 percent)
* Increasing class size (36 percent)
* Deferring maintenance (36 percent)
* Reducing instructional material (35 percent)

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the California State University system may have to limit its enrollment from its 23 campuses because of the state's tightening budget.

System trustees on Wednesday will consider a proposal for the enrollment cuts as well as a plan to increase tuition for business school graduate students.

While individual campuses have closed enrollment in the past, such a move has never been imposed across the entire system, which is the largest four-year university operation in the country. The proposal does not estimate how many students could be denied admission, but it could be thousands.

His proposal follows the announcement this week by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is beset by a multibillion-dollar shortfall in the state budget, of midyear funding cuts of $66.3 million to CSU. This summer, the state slashed $31.3 million in CSU funds.

In a story that runs in tomorrow's paper, the Los Angeles Times takes on a constellation of issues surrounding Los Angeles Unified's plans to build an "annex" to San Pedro High at the former Upper Reservation of Fort MacArthur.

For the District 4 seat, add:

• Bev Meyer, who's listed as an educator and arts advocate
• Ben Austin, head of the Steve Barr (Green Dot)-backed Los Angeles Parents Union, former deputy mayor to Richard Riordan, former comms director for the 2000 Democratic Convention in L.A., etc.

Doesn't look like Austin has reported any contributions to the city Ethics Commission just yet.

*One more filed Saturday: Geoff Forgione, an attorney.

Candidates for the three LAUSD board seats that will be filled by voters in March must submit their declarations of intent to run by noon Saturday.

As of this morning, four applicants have filed to run for the Westside District 4 seat, which Marlene Canter is relinquishing after two terms.

• Bill Ring, a parent activist, former head of the Parent Collaborative and a publisher of the seemingly defunct "Guerilla Guide to L.A. Unified"
• Mike Stryer (website already up!), a teacher at Fairfax High School, where's he's been a UTLA chapter chair, who has raised almost $11,000 since August
• David Jimenez, who's listed as a psychologist
• Steve Zimmer, a teacher at Marshall High School and community organizer who's raised almost $26,000 since May

I hear there may be at least one more candidate filing.

For Julie Korenstein's District 6 seat (northeast San Fernando Valley), two candidates have filed:

• Nury Martinez, mayor of San Fernando
• Louis Pugliese, a lecturer at Cal State Northridge (and maybe an LAUSD teacher?) who's run for the board previously and has got $11,200 in the bank, mostly from loans

No one has filed thus far to challenge Monica Garcia for her District 2 (downtown and environs) seat.

Higher-ups in the education community are speculating about the Obama administration's possible approach to the candidate's pledge to fix No Child Left Behind, the 2001 education law that sought increased accountability by focusing on standardized testing.

The Washington Post has a short story today with some top educators' thoughts. With the economy in the toilet, education is probably not the president-elect's top priority, they concede.

But he's got some promises to fulfill.

Obama has said he wants to add $18 billion in funding for schools and dramatically expand access to preschool. On his campaign Web site, he said "teachers should not be forced to spend the academic year preparing students to fill in bubbles on standardized tests." He promised to "improve NCLB's accountability system so that we are supporting schools that need improvement, rather than punishing them." He also indicated that he could support merit pay programs designed in concert with teachers.

Translating those big ideas into the nuts-and-bolts of policy will be a painstaking process.

The new education secretary will play a big part in all this, of course. One Washington thinktank is holding a contest naming that appointee, the Post reports.

Possibilities, according to the Post story: New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein; Chicago Public Schools Chief Arne Duncan; Stanford University education professor Linda Darling-Hammond; and Jon Schnur, co-founder of New Leaders for New Schools, an education adviser in the Clinton White House.

Meadows Elementary on Friday will host its fourth annual campus fundraiser beginning 8:50 a.m., 1200 Meadows Ave. in Manhattan Beach. Students, teachers, and staff will run, jog, or walk for 30 minutes to raise money for the school's arts and science programs. Information:310-977-8625.

BP Carson Refinery on Thursday handed California State University, Dominguez Hills $50,000 to create a scholarship fund beginning in fall 2009. The fund will provide five $2,000 scholarships to first-time freshman or community college transfer students living in Carson, Long Beach or Wilmington. The scholarships are aimed at students majoring in chemistry, physics, mathematics, business administration or environmental sciences. Information: 310-243-2455

The Redondo Beach Educational Foundation will host a meeting Thursday beginning at 6:30 p.m. at Delzano's by the Sea, 179 North Harbor Dr. in Redondo Beach. Tickets are $10 and are available online at www.rbef.org or at the door. Dinner and two drink tickets are included in the price. Information: 310-291-3042.

Then they might want to make the move to New Hampshire. Time reports education officials there announced Oct. 30 a plan to give teens an option to skip out on the last two years of high school in favor of traditional or technical colleges if they pass rigorous state tests.

Officials there say the tests will guarantee higher competency in core school subjects, lower dropout rates and free up millions of education dollars, according to magazine.

Those "who want to go to a prestigious university may stay and finish the final two years, taking a second, more difficult set of exams senior year.
"We want students who are ready to be able to move on to their higher education," says Lyonel Tracy, New Hampshire's Commissioner for Education. "And then we can focus even more attention on those kids who need more help to get there."

What do you think? Are junior and senior years in high school overrated?

Last summer, we surveyed more than 400 moms and dads at www.dailybreeze.com to find out what parents want in a new Web site. This week, we launched www.SouthBayFamilyTalk.com, a Web site crafted with their wish list in mind.

Here's what's on it:
* Listings for hundreds of family-friendly events such as library story times, SAT classes, puppet shows and nature hikes.
* A database of more than 40 South Bay spots for family outings, with reviews and driving directions. It's searchable by a child's interest, including choices for nature lovers and car aficionados.
* A separate list of free and cheap activities.
* A database of dozens of restaurants that offer "Kids Eat Free" meals searchable by day of the week.
* An interactive forum for South Bay parents to ask a question or give an opinion on everything from recommending the area's best ballet teacher to how much the tooth fairy ought to shell out.
* A list of local parenting support groups.
* A spot to highlight outstanding children and teens in our community.
* A photo gallery to show off a child's birthday party and a place for parents to share information on the services they used.

This is an interactive site that will get better as more people use it to post their questions, recommendations and photos. Please use it and share the link with South Bay parents, grandparents, teachers and caregivers you know.

Seventy-seven out of 86 local school bonds across the state passed on Tuesday -- almost 90 percent of them, according to the California Department of Education.

In total, the bonds that passed will raise $21.8 billion for local school construction and modernization.

(Apparently, it's part of nationwide trend that defied the foundering economy: About 82 percent of bond issues across the country passed, representing $67 billion, according to a story in "The Bond Buyer." The approval rate -- 85 percent -- on the West Coast and in Alaska and Hawaii was higher than elsewhere in the country.)

Many of the school bonds in California passed with a more than the minimum required 55 percent of the vote, but less than the two-thirds threshold that was lowered by voters with the passage of Prop 39 in 2000. That proposition was spearheaded by then-state Sen. Jack O'Connell, who is now the Superintendent of Public Instruction for the state.

In a statement, O'Connell said:

"While the vast majority of school bonds, school improvement facility districts, and parcel tax proposals were approved, I would point out that three of the four parcel tax proposals that were not successful won the support of an overwhelming majority of the voters, but failed to meet the two-thirds approval requirement. Eight years ago, California voters wisely agreed to lower the required vote threshold for school bonds from two-thirds to 55 percent. I continue to support lowering the voter approval threshold for parcel taxes to the same level."

All six measures that the Breeze was following, of course, passed -- even Centinela Valley's measure that required a two-thirds vote. Countywide, all 23 schools measures passed.

More detail on Tuesday's school measures (from the CDE release) follows:

It was a good Election Day for local school districts as millions of dollars worth of bond measures passed despite one of the worst economic seasons in a generation.

Torrance Unified passed two school bond measures totaling $356 million, which kept some elementary and middle schools off the chopping block. It is the first time voters approved a bond measure in the district in 10 years.

According to my story today about Torrance Unified's effort:

Other South Bay school districts also had positive Election Day outcomes in their bond elections.

Centinela Valley earned a 70.3 percent passing rate for the $98 million Measure CV and El Segundo Unified passed a $14 million Measure M with nearly 67 percent.

In Manhattan Beach, a bond measure to pay for a $67.5 million plan to upgrade Mira Costa High School passed with 61 percent of the vote.

Additionally, Manhattan Beach school board member Bill Eisen - a thorn in the side of his colleagues - was recalled with nearly 72 percent of the vote. And voters unanimously decided to replace Eisen with former Manhattan Beach Mayor Joyce Fahey.

I'd like to get some reaction about the successful bond measures. Tell me what you think.

Voters were ready for a fifth bond for Los Angeles Unified. Really ready: 68.94 percent of voters approved Measure Q, the $7 billion bond that is intended to repair existing campuses and give funds to charter school facilities.

District officials must be relieved.

For final results, go to the county Registrar-Recorder's site, click "school districts," then "Q."

More on this later ...

There are 23 school bonds on the ballot across Los Angeles County. Statewide, there are 96 local school bonds and 21 local parcel tax proposals.

In the Daily Breeze's coverage area, there are six school bonds before voters today.

• Centinela Valley Union HS District, Measure CV, $98 million
• El Segundo USD's Measure M, $14 million
• Los Angeles Unified's Measure Q, $7 billion
• Manhattan Beach USD's Measure BB, $67.5 million
• Torrance USD's Measures Y and Z, total $355 million
• Los Angeles Community College District's Measure J, $3.5 billion

For those of you that want a primer on school facilities funding in California (come on, people, it's fun!), always useful EdSource has a good rundown.

California voters have also approved $35.4 billion in bonds for statewide funding of school facilities since 1998 (most recently in 2006). That money gets distributed on a monthly basis to districts and individual schools by the State Allocation Board.

California schools superintendent Jack O'Connell is asking voters to support local school bond measures on Tuesday's ballot.

"Historically, California voters have overwhelmingly supported local school bonds and parcel tax proposals. However, with all of the frightening news about our economy recently, I am concerned that voters in our state may be hesitant to vote for these measures," O'Connell said in a news release.
"It is now more critical than ever to support schools in our communities."

The state's budget deficit has put education funding on the chopping block and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger hints education cuts will be needed to close the gap.

Education Week has a little primer on the two presidential candidates' positions on education issues. Check it out, yo.

The students of 232nd Place Elementary School in Carson recently raised more than $6,400 for the American Heart Association.

The school tied the efforts to maintain heart health with the yearly effort to remain drug, alcohol and violence free by celebrating both Jump Rope for Heart and Red Ribbon Day together.

All of the students participated in a one hour jump, dance, and sing-along and dressed in Red Ribbon Week "red" clothing to underscore their intent to life a safe and healthy life.

After reading about the apparent murders of five homeless people who were found dead today in Long Beach, I realized the site where the bodies were discovered is less than three-quarters of a mile from the location of a planned Los Angeles Unified campus.

Of course, there does not appear to be any link whatsoever, but I thought I'd point it out.

Here is a map that is close to where the bodies were found. (The LAUSD site is to the north, northeast of the intersection of Santa Fe Avenue and Carson Street. The San Diego (405) Freeway runs between the school site and the place where the bodies were found.)

The district just broke ground on the site Oct. 23. The planned new high school that would cater larger to Carson students. It is being build on property that the district purchased in the city of Long Beach, which is continuing a legal battle against the district to stop the project.

The campus is next to a Dominguez Park and Dominguez Elementary School (both are to the north). To the west and north of the school are more residential areas.

To the south, closer to the site where the bodies were found, is a large shipping container yard. The areas south and east of the campus are largely industrial, which caused some critics of the district's plans to call the site inappropriate.

David Zahniser has a story in this morning's Los Angeles Times about Los Angeles Unified's plans to develop worker housing on large campuses, including Gardena High School.

District officials say the plan would fill a need for employees who cannot afford to live near their jobs. Opponents of the $7 billion bond that goes before voters on Tuesday are crying foul.

But the development plan is drawing fire from opponents of Measure Q, the district's $7-billion construction and repair bond issue on Tuesday's ballot. Critics contend that the district should not seek to increase property taxes to pay for new facilities if it has enough real estate to start housing its employees.

The California Charter School Association, which has fought to get the district to provide space for charters per state law (and recently touted a charter's legal victory over the district - see PDF), is also not pleased.

Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who originally backed the plan along with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, has pulled her support.

Hahn now says that she was wrong about the housing plan, which was presented to her before the district placed the measure for $7 billion in bonds -- twice the original amount -- on the ballot. Hahn said she is perplexed by the school system's desire to build homes in Harbor Gateway when, as part of its construction program, it is destroying homes in nearby Wilmington, also part of her district.

"There are certainly a lot of hurt feelings because the district has taken people's homes," she said. "So for them to be in the business now of building housing is a cruel twist."

One of the projects would build housing units on the north end of Gardena High's large campus (it's the largest in the district -- 55 acres, I believe). This was on a board agenda back in June and again recently but -- gah! -- I haven't found the time to write about it.

Interesting stuff.

Also -- be sure to check out Daily News reporter George Sanchez's story about $700,000 in donations made to the Yes on Q campaign by construction firms that stand to benefit from district projects.