Recently in CENTINELA VALLEY Category

I recently wrote about Hawthorne High School's International Business Academy and a competition in NYC students were preparing to attend. Well, they've returned. Here's the press release from the Centinela Valley Union High School District:

The Hawthorne High School International Business Academy returned after competing in New York City against students from Austria, Canada, China, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Finland, Latvia, Great Britain, Indonesia, Spain, Sweden, Italy, and Romania. The team won 4th Place at New York's International Virtual Enterprise for Best E-Commerce Website with video. There were over 230 E-Commerce website submissions worldwide.

More than 3,000 Young Business Leaders from 30 countries presented their businesses at the 13th Annual Virtual Enterprise Trade Fair. The fair is an opportunity for students to exhibit and sell virtual products and services through virtual businesses in a competitive marketplace with their local and global colleagues and peers. "We believe that high school students can best be prepared for whatever comes next with a rigorous curriculum that includes increasingly more challenging work and a program like Virtual Enterprises, which offers a truly hands-on experience in the work of business," said Peter C. Davis, president of McGraw-Hill Education. "Combine academic achievement with strong performance in this program and you've got a recipe for success in any career in the 21st Century's knowledge economy." Virtual Enterprises International was launched in New York City public schools in 1996 to develop future business leaders. There are now 500 schools offering Virtual Enterprise programs representing 11,500 students.

Hawthorne High School's School of International Business is one of the newest Small Learning Communities in Centinela Valley Union High School District. Other academies at Hawthorne include: School of Engineering, School of Visual and Performing Arts, School of Criminal Justice, and School of Info Tech. Other academies that Centinela students can choose from are: Environmental Careers, Multimedia Careers Academy (Leuzinger High School); Academy of Media Arts, Biomedical Careers, Marine Science Academy (Lawndale High School).

The Sacramento Bee has posted a database that lets you see the average teacher salary for school districts across the state. I thought it contained a few surprises -- worth checking out.

Locally, Lennox School District posted the highest average salary: $75,233 -- the fifth-highest in Los Angeles County. The lowest figure in the South Bay was from Centinela Valley Union High School District: $62,268.

The statewide average was $66,995.

Now I'm off to look at teaching credential programs ...

Students from Leuzinger High School's English Language Development program are collecting funds to donate to the relief effort in Haiti. Donations can be addressed to: Rebecca Smith, English Language Development Coordinator, 4118 W. Rosecrans Ave., Lawndale, CA 90260.

The Centinela Valley Union High School District's school chief warned of looming challenges and thanked two outgoing board members for their years of service at a meeting Tuesday.

Jose Fernandez, who was named superintendent of the long-embattled district last December, said the state-wide charter school movement and more funding reductions mandated by Sacramento lawmakers could have substantial consequences for the local public school system.

"Public education as we know it is under siege," Fernandez said. "Not only is our funding being cut, but people are questioning what we do. Charter schools are a threat to us, in the sense that they are selective in the students they accept."

Centinela Valley is made up of three high schools - Lawndale, Leuzinger and Hawthorne - an adult school, and a continuation school.

Outgoing board members Frank Talavera and Rudy Salas thanked their colleagues on the board, district officials and area voters at Tuesday's meeting, their final as minority-voting members of the long-divided Board of Education.

"I leave this spot with no enemies," said Talavera, who lost his bid at re-election to recent Lawndale grad Maritza Molina. Molina attended Tuesday's meeting, sitting in the front row.

"I know we had disagreements, but that's part of the process," Talavera added. "I tried to serve Area One (Lawndale) to the best of my ability. I would encourage everyone to move forward and get this district back to where it's supposed to be. Centinela Valley has had its glory days, and they're not over yet."

Talavera then specifically thanked Fernandez and Assistant Superintendents Bob Cox and Tom Connolly.

"I'm still going to be around," Talavera added. "Thank you for letting me serve my community these last four years."

Throughout much of their time on the board, Talavera and Salas have consistently voted against the majority made of President Gloria Ramos, Sandra Suarez and newly re-elected member Rocio Pizano. Often, tension on the board was palpable to meeting attendees. Nonertheless, the tone Tuesday evening was civil. Optimistic, even.

Pizano, who won her bid in area five (the Lennox portion of the district) against Susie Diaz and union-endorsed candidate Jessica Felix, thanked her constituents and vowed to continue to work with district officials to stabilize the district.

"I wanted to say thank you to the community for having faith in myself," Pizano said. "I will be putting 110 percent of my ability into serving for the next years. I know we're moving in the right direction. If we stay focused and on track we can make so positive changes."

Her comments were met with applause.

When his time came to speak, Salas warned about future challenges facing the school district.

"Public schools are under attack," he said. "They're under attack by charter schools and under attack by funding."

We have differences but we do provide a great service to our community," Salas added, speaking to board members. Salas lost his seat on the board to former Hawthorne school board member Hugo Rojas.

He implored members to monitor federal legislation that may impact federal funding and increase the number of charter schools, which can drain enrollment pools and subsequently affect state funding for Centinela and other public school systems.

Lastly, Salas thanked the board, district officials and members of the community.

"I owe Centinela Valley more than it owes me," he said. "I've learned so much over the last four years. I've grown immensely. Thank you so much."

His comments were also met with applause.

Fernandez, speaking last, echoed Salas' comments and closed the portion of the meeting with a word of hope, specifically thanking Salas and Talavera for their service on the board.

"There is still a place for traditional education," he said. "We are on the right path. We've been crawling out of an abyss and are working are way up. This is a new start for the administration and the board. Whatever water is under the bridge, let it flow. It's not of the benefit of the students and the community to fight those battles."

Look for a story on the district's new assistant superintendent of educational services in tomorrow's Daily Breeze.

Here's an article on the recent Centinela Valley Board of Education elections.

Candidates vying for a seat on the Centinela Valley Union High School Board of Trustees will take center stage this evening at 6:30 p.m. in the cafeteria at Lawndale's Will Rogers Middle School. The event is sponsored by the Lawndale Elementary School District PTA and, from what I've heard, all seven candidates plan on attending. There are three open seats on the Centinela Board.

In Area One, recent University of California, Santa Barbara grad Maritza Molina will be facing current incumbent Francisco Talavera. In Area two, incumbent Rudy Salas will be running against Hugo Rojas, a current member of the Hawthorne school board. In Area five, incumbent Rocio Pizano will be running against Susie Diaz and Jessica Felix.

The Centinela Valley Secondary Teacher's Association is endorsing Salas, Talavera and Felix. Elections will be held November 3. Rogers Middle School is located at 4110 W. 154th Street in Lawndale.

A few personnel changes were announced at the Centinela Valley School District Board of Education meeting last night.

Raul Carranza, a former principal at a south Los Angeles charter school, was
named to the top post at Leuzinger High School and Damon Dragos was named as Lawndale High School's new principal.

Dragos, the former principal at La Cañada High, replaces Vicente Bravo, who
was named Director of Curriculum and Instruction for the district.
Bravo was principal at Lawndale for three years and replaces Debbie Johnson,
who has left Centinela Valley.

Diane Fiello, assistant superintendent of educational services at the
district, was dismissed from her position by the board during the
long-delayed meeting.

After being pushed back a day, the public portion of the meeting was delayed
an additional three hours while board members sat in closed session.

Once the meeting got underway, board members apologized for the long wait.

"I would say we wasted your time by making you sit here for four hours -
although we did have a lot of business to attend to," board member Rudy
Salas said, pausing. "I can only chalk it up as strategy."

Board members Sandra Suarez and Rocio Pizano also apologized. The meeting was scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. - it started at 8:05 p.m. Many of the seats in the room were full by 5 p.m., with a group of students and adults waiting with yellow speaker cards in hand. By the time 7:30 rolled around, many had left.

*For more information check out the story that ran in the Daily Breeze today.

I wrote a story today about Centinela Valley Union High School District board on Monday voting to make Jose Fernandez its longterm superintendent.

Some on the board said they decided to keep the money-minded leader on the job for consistency as the cash-strapped district regains its financial footing.

But several teachers at the meeting that I spoke with were unhappy that the supe search wasn't more thorough and a few others hinted that Fernandez doesn't have enough of an educator background to lead.

What do you think? Please be civil and stick to the point here.

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.

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.

Federal officials announced today that smaller school buses will be required to have harness-style seat belts and larger buses will phase in taller and safer seatbacks.

The Associated Press reports the seat belt mandate begins in 2011 and is directed to buses weighing 5 tons or less.

Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said she stopped short of requiring seat belts for larger buses because that could limit the number of children that can squeeze into seats, forcing some children to travel in ways that aren't as safe as school buses.

School districts sometimes expect as many as three younger children to share a bus seat, but if there are only two belts installed per seat then fewer children can ride the bus.

"We wanted to make sure that any measures we put forth don't needlessly limit the capacity of the buses and then force that school or that school district to have more children walking, riding with parents, biking, etcetera," Peters told The Associated Press in an interview.

The AP also reports the height of seatbacks on buses will move up to 24 inches from 20 inches which keep taller, heavier children from being thrown over seats in a crash. The rule will likely be phased in the fall of 2009 and become fully effective in 2011.

A UCLA study reports nearly three in four teenagers say they were bullied online within a year but only 10 percent of them reported it to parents or other adults.

Reachers said the most prevalent forms of bullying online include name-calling, password thefts, threats, sending embarrassing pictures, sharing private information without permission and spreading nasty rumors.

According to UCLA:

Of those who were bullied online, 85 percent also have been bullied at school, the psychologists found. The probability of getting bullied online was substantially higher for those who have been the victims of school bullying.

The study used a survey of 1,454 between the ages of 12 and 17, who were recruited through a popular teen website. Nearly half the teens said they didn't tell anyone about the online bullying because they believed they "need to learn to deal with it" and 31 percent didn't for fear that doing so would restrict their Internet access.

They're baaack. Well, not exactly. Lawmakers might consider a plan to call everyone back to Sacramento to discuss the state's need for a short term $7 billion loan, according to the Sacramento Bee.

Because of the credit crunch and less state revenues Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could declare a special session where legislators may look at different ways to make up the budget hole, including cuts to schools.

Scott Plotkin, executive director of the California School Boards Association, said lawmakers "might as well stay home" if they are planning to make up the latest shortfall with cuts alone. His group and other school organizations believe the state should use tax increases to balance the budget.

"If they come back into a special session because revenue projections are in decline for the current year budget, it probably could only mean bad news for schools unless they're inclined to have a conversation about new revenues," Plotkin said.

Maybe, according to the Sacramento Bee.

State Treasurer Bill Lockyer warned this week that Congress needs to put the nation's finances in order so the state can pay its bills in November for critical needs like teacher salaries.

Lockyer said the fiscal crisis may drain California's reserves by the end of October because the state can't sell bonds and short-term securities for cash flow needs.

"The credit market is frozen because financial institutions are afraid to commit capital amid enormous uncertainty," the treasurer said in a written statement.

"More urgently, because the state budget was so late, we have only four short weeks to complete what otherwise would be a routine revenue anticipation note sale to meet the state's cash-flow needs," Lockyer said.

Exhausting California's cash reserves would have dire consequences, he said.

"Payments for teachers' salaries, nursing homes, law enforcement and every other state-funded service would stop or be significantly delayed," Lockyer said.

"And California's 5,000 cities, counties, school districts and special districts would face the same fate."

Education Week reports rising federal academic standards is a growing concern among the nation's educators and state policy makers but not in the presidential campaign.

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain have rarely touched the subject of No Child Left Behind.

According to Ed Week:

In their education proposals, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain have outlined specific plans to address provisions of the almost 7-year-old federal education law. Both would refocus the teacher-quality section to bolster the recruitment of new teachers and to experiment with new forms of teacher pay. Sen. McCain promises to make school choice and tutoring available to students in struggling schools sooner than the current law allows.

But neither candidate has said what he would do to address significant questions about the NCLB law's future, such as whether to keep its goal of universal student proficiency in reading and mathematics by the end of the 2013-14 school year, how to increase the rigor of states' academic standards, and how to improve the interventions in schools failing to meet achievement goals.

A lot of people out there have called me about the glut of negative news about education and said they want to read something nice for a change. That's a good idea. So I am considering writing a story each week that takes me and a photographer into the K-12 classroom, where the actual business of learning happens.

I want the community of parents, teachers, principals, district types and students to email me at vu.nguyen@dailybreeze.com and tell me why I should visit your school and write about it. I'll probably focus on one subject so if there is an amazing math teacher or an interesting science instructor out there, let me know what they're doing right.

P.S. Make sure the principal of your school or district official gives us the okay.

A UC Riverside study concludes the majority elementary schools in the state won't meet No Child Left Behind standards by 2014, when all students are required to show proficiency in math and English.

The study reports about half of the state's elementary schools will fail to meet federal academic guidelines by 2011.

According to the Riverside Press-Enterprise:

The English proficiency standard is likely to trip up more schools than math, according to the study. Low-income students and English language learners are the two groups of students least likely to meet the proficiency standards.

And

Schools and districts in California had to have about one-fourth of students proficient in 2007. This year, the standard is 32 percent or higher, depending on the school and type of test. The required proficiency level will go up by about 10 percentage points each year from now until 2014, unless the law is changed.

Wiseburn and Centinela Valley Union High school district boards today will discuss Wiseburn's attempt to switch to a K-12 system and bring in a charter high school.
Wiseburn is a K-8 district that sends some of its students to Centinela Valley high schools.
But Wiseburn has tried to divorce itself from the low performing district for years which has resulted in lawsuits from Centinela Valley to stop the efforts.
The meeting will be held at Wiseburn School District Board Room at 5 p.m., 13530 Aviation Blvd. in Hawthorne.

Researchers and safety experts in Maryland don't seem to think so. They said lowering the drinking age to 18 will cause more car accidents and deaths.

The experts told state legislators to keep the drinking age 21 and that they should consider tougher penalties for teens who break the law.

According to the Washington Post:

"The risk of a fatal crash increases with the first drink, especially for drivers aged 16 to 20," said James Fell, a senior program director at Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation.

The announcement is a response to college leaders' calls for a discussion on lowering the drinking age to 18 because it could promote moderation.

The Arizona Republic:

The reasoning behind the proposal, known as the Amethyst Initiative, is that the higher drinking age actually encourages binge drinking, a major problem on many college campuses. Nearly 100 college presidents from schools ranging from Duke University to Ohio State (but not Arizona or Arizona State) are in favor of the idea.

What do you think? Is lowering the drinking age to 18 a good or bad idea. I'd like to hear from teens on this idea.

If you liked this year's record-long budget impasse, you'll love the one that's expected to happen nine months from now.

As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger likely signs a spending bill for this year's budget, the San Francisco Chronicle reports officials warn "a crisis of equal magnitude looms next year because of the weakened economy, uncertainties about the use of future lottery revenue and political gridlock among state legislators."

Until then, schools can finally exhale for now and collect $58.1 billion in state dollars that have been held up for nearly three months. The amount is an uptick from last year's $56 billion but it amounts to a 0.7 cost-of-living increase --- a drop in the bucket of the 5.66 percent increase school districts hoped to get, or about $3 billion less than educators would like to see, according to Jennifer Kuhn, analyst at the state Legislative Analyst's Office.

Education leaders last week slammed the plan, saying it doesn't help local school districts pay for the rising costs.

State Superintendent of Instruction Jack O'Connell called the plan a "gimmick," while California Teachers Association President David Sanchez and California PTA President Pam Brady each urged Schwarzenegger to use his veto power to leverage a more education-friendly budget.

"The proposed budget includes a reduction of the cost-of-living adjustment that will further tighten the vise on local school budgets as districts across the state face increased costs for supplies, food, transportation and employee health care costs," O'Connell said in a statement. "These reductions are a disservice to California's 6 million school children and the thousands of educators across the state."

The San Francisco Chronicle has a pretty good breakdown of what the budget means to the average person.

WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU: The new money doesn't cover inflation - yet the cost of salaries, benefits, books and more is rising. Students and teachers will feel the impact as teaching positions remain vacant, class size grows and even bus routes are cut back. Yet many programs - from special education to gifted education - were spared.

Stay tuned to see if lawmakers can magically fix the way public schools are funded by the summer.

The California State PTA wants parents to lobby lawmakers for a new budget deal that brings a more stable revenue stream to education. The legislature argues there is enough money for schools in the proposal --- at about $58.1 billion, up from $56.7 billion last year.

But the group backs Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plan to veto the current budget saying it only puts a short-term bandage on school finances. The proposed budget has about $9.3 billion coming through early tax collections.

According to the San Diego Union Tribune:

Critics complained that the tax speedups are gimmicks that "borrow from taxpayers" and push a chronic deficit into next year. Schwarzenegger called them "tax increases" with a "smoke screen" when he made his initial veto threat Tuesday.

Schwarzenegger and legislators don't seem to be backing down at this point. So is backing the Governor's impending budget veto a good idea as school programs continue to run without state dollars for nearly three months?