Teach for America just yesterday announced that this fall it will place 3,700 new teachers in schools nationwide, a 28-percent increase, the New York Times reported.

Further, the group reported a "surge in applications," receiving nearly 25,000 applications this time around, up from 18,000 last year.

Congrats!

A lesson to all teachers; or, at least to those angling for the spotlight at what could be all costs.

A Connecticut teacher has been canned after participating in the "Ugliest Guy/Hottest Wife" contest on the Howard Stern Show, according to Hartford-based WFSB.com.

Marie Jarry was reportedly removed from her second-grade teaching duties at Thalberg Elementary School after photos of her in a bikini appeared on the shock jock's website.

That $5,000 she and her husband won will undoubtedly come in especially handy now.

Since it's that time of year and since it's been on my mind since recently hearing an old OMD song -- not one I recalled but nonetheless which reminded me of their greatest hit, "If You Leave," which of course appeared on the amazing and award-deserving soundtrack for delicious 80s movie "Pretty in Pink," which culminated with age-appropriate melodrama at a high-school dance -- today's recollection concerns prom.

I attended high school in the 1980s, an era of big sunglasses and big hair and even-bigger shoulder pads, when C. Thomas Howell was considered a hunk and us kids were too naive to see that George Michael was gay. It was the age of new-wave music and The Facts of Life, of Valley Girl and "gag me with a spoon" and baby-oil at the beach and oh how I miss ye, California Coolers.

Every dance every year was a big deal at my school, from the semi-formal homecoming to the uber-casual (we were actually supposed to dress on the sloppy side) TWIRP -- a fancy name for a Sadie Hawkins dance, i.e., The Woman Is Required To Pay. But prom, which was reserved only for juniors and seniors, was, may I say, the shiznit.

Plans were belabored and fretted over, as were wardrobe possibilities, transportation options and strategies for breaking curfew and partying into the wee hours (sorry Mom). The boys especially aimed to stage elaborate one-act plays in their asking of girls to accompany them.

My senior year, my eventual date, Chris, opted for the painfully public and on-the-spot style of asking me, in his hatching of a plan to make said request during the open-question portion of the regular meeting of our student government, of which I was vice president and he was something-or-another (I am now pushing 40, so I don't remember everything).

To really ramp up the embarrassment factor, he attended this meeting outfitted in a powder-blue suit, repleted with a pirate-esque puffy shirt and an unfortunate, equally cheesy cumberbun. Brutal.

Unlucky for him, but to the not-small delight of my fellow council members who thought it was all very hilarious, Chris had not received the memo, as it were, that I was to miss that particular meeting.

Yes, it's true. While he was wandering into the government room, all tuxed up and eager to secure me as his date, I was flat on my back and full of nitrous, having my wisdom teeth removed. How do you like them apples?

When I later returned to campus -- I have no idea why I went back to school after that; what a perfect excuse for taking the whole day off! -- at least a dozen people informed me, most through belly-deep guffaws, what happened before Chris himself was able to locate me.

By the time he did find me, he'd changed out of that hideous outfit and abandoned his by-now well-leaked plan and simply said, "Well I guess you know I'm gonna ask you to Senior Ball. You wanna?"

Although, I'll admit, I was inclined to hold out for the invitation for which I'd really had a hankering (ain't that always the way?), I felt I had to acquiesce due to his great, yet-ultimately failed efforts to make a big to-do, and also not wanting to cause him greater embarrassment vis 'a vis a denial than he'd already suffered in the asking. Or the not asking, as it were.

And so I said yes. And so the day arrived.

There I was all dolled up in my taffeta, puffy-shouldered dress, my hair curled beyond belief, my bangs defying gravity so high were they sprayed with what was I'm sure a far-from-eco-friendly aerosol of some form, my blue eyeshadow and frosted-pink lipstick the icing on my personal cake. I'll just tell you, I looked hot!

The doorbell rings. My mom goes to retrieve young Chris while I retrieve his boutonniere from the fridge. I hear them chatting. I make my way toward the living room. I...

...gasp at the sight of him.

There he stood in the entryway, all smiles, dare I say radiant, clutching my corsage in his tanned hand and wearing -- that's right -- the very same powder-blue, pirate-shirt tragedy that I had accidentally but so gratefully avoided by spending that earlier day pinned under a dentist's drill.

The moral of today's tale: You can run, but you can't hide.

Happy weekend, y'all! I'm out!

Reporter Jill Tucker writes: "The supervisors voted 11-0 Tuesday afternoon to approve a resolution promising the money from the city's rainy day fund. The official transfer of funds can't happen until the city passes its annual budget in June."

There's an Associated Press story, which I found at USA Today, about a Tuesday-released survey by think-tank Education Sector that reveals: "More than half of teachers believe it's too difficult to weed out ineffective teachers who have tenure, and nearly half say they personally know such a teacher."

It also said: "About 70% of teachers in the Education Sector survey said receiving tenure was just a formality that has little to do with teacher quality."

Have any thoughts about this? Let me know: shelly.leachman@dailybreeze.com.

The fallout continues for LAUSD, which now has not one but two molestation scandals on its hands.

First there was the story I mentioned yesterday, of a former assistant principal, now in jail facing sex-related allegations involving three teens, and how district big-wigs apparently knew about the transgressions and relocated the guy rather than relieve him of his job.

Today, the LA Times continues to follow scandal numero dos, about a Santa Monica-based middle school teacher accused of molesting at least five female students, at least one of which acts, Tami Abdollah reports, is evidenced on a videotape. Ew.

Further, a Santa Monica police lieutenant is quoted as saying "we do believe there are others out there." Meaning more victims.

Behold: The Los Angeles Times reports today that, and I quote, "Senior Los Angeles school officials, including the district's police chief and its former chief operating officer, knew of sex allegations against a school administrator months before he was transferred to a Watts middle school, where he allegedly molested two students, officials said Monday."

Uh-oh.

This all concerns the recent allegations againt former Assistant Principal Steve Thomas Rooney, accused of molesting two students at Markham Middle School and one girl at the Foshay Learning Center. Rooney was arrested in March and is being held in lieu of $1-million bail, the Times says.

And just moments ago, LAUSD's newly named Senior Deputy Superintendent Ray Cortines released a statement -- a seven-page document, mind you, of text, flowcharts, matrixes and bulletpoints -- saying, among other things, that there was a "breakdown in the usual, official line of communication" and that, "(a)s a result of this regrettable occurrence, we have begun correcting our process."

Again, OMG and again, uh-oh.

The Bernard Osher Foundation has pledged $70 million to the system, the "largest single gift that has ever been given to community colleges in the history of this country," Woodruff said in her remarks.

More of what she said:
"So you can imagine that this gift from Mr. and Mrs. Osher, which will provide $1,000 scholarships for students at all 109 of our community colleges, is going to make an absolutely incredible difference in the lives of our students. These scholarships will send a powerful message of hope to students all over the state that the Oshers and others believe in them and want to help them realize the American dream of getting a college education. And for many of our students I know that these scholarships will make the critical difference between whether or not they will be able to succeed in school and get that college education -- and particularly now, given the state of our economy, these scholarships are more important than ever. This gift is not only going to have a very significant impact on the success of our students but also on our colleges.

"I think it is brilliant how the Osher Foundation has structured this gift. The first $25 million of the gift will immediately fund an endowment which will enable us to begin giving scholarships to students next year in 2009, but the second $25 million of the gift must be matched two to one by the community colleges. And by making the gift in this manner it will provide a very powerful incentive that will help our colleges raise other private funds. You know, I have always dreamed of having an endowment like the Harvards and the Stanfords and now, with Mr. Osher's help, we are on our way to having a $100 million endowment which will provide 5,000 scholarships every year for our students.

"But that's not all. The Osher Foundation is providing an additional $20 million to support scholarships at the University of California and the California State Universities, but these will be restricted to community college transfer students. (Applause) And of course this is so important, because so many of our students do transfer to UC and CSU. In fact, almost two-thirds of all CSU graduates are community college transfers and similarly, almost one-third of all UC graduates are community college transfers. So this gift will continue to help our community college students after they leave us and have transferred to UC and CSU to help them so that they can complete their four-year degree."

The largest public higher-education system in the U.S., the California Community Colleges serve some 2.6 million students at 109 schools.