School Notebook

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!).

Posted by Shelly Leachman at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As reported by Shelly Leachman in Saturday's Breeze, here's what each district would face under education funding cuts proposed by Gov. Schwarzenegger:

Centinela Valley Union High
Cuts: $3.5 million from a $68 million budget

El Segundo Unified
Cuts: $1.4 million from a 26.4 million budget

Hawthorne Unified
Cuts: $3.4 million from a $48.5 million budget

Hermosa Beach City Unified
Cuts: $0.4 million from a $9.4 million budget
Proposals: 28 teacher layoffs, increased class size

Lawndale Unified
Cuts: $2 million from a $30 million budget

Lennox Unified
Cuts: $1.9 million from a $61 million budget

Los Angeles Unified
Cuts: $460 million from a $8 billion budget

Manhattan Beach Unified
Cuts: $0.9 million from a $36 million budget
Proposals: 5-7 teacher layoffs, fund transfers, combining course sections at Mira Costa, using reserves

Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified
Cuts: $4 million from a $95 million budget
Proposals: 50 layoffs, increased class sizes, eliminating extended-day kindergarten

Redondo Beach Unified
Cuts: $2.2 million from a $67.5 million budget
Proposals: Increased class sizes, early retirement incentives, combining classified positions, introducing fee-based transportation for athletic teams, reducing substitutes, using one-time monies

Torrance Unified
Cuts: $9.4 million from a $196 million budget
Proposals: 70 full-time teachers, 11 custodians, 5.5 full-time special ed teachers, reduction of security at high schools, elimination of incentives including the School Safety Violence Program and the P.E. Incentive Program, early retirement incentives, reduction of travel/conference allowances

Wiseburn Unified
Cuts: $0.5 million from a $17 million budget

Posted by Toni Sciacqua at 9:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

EL SEGUNDO: Students from 28 schools learn about engineering at Raytheon

Middle-school students from 28 local schools participated in Raytheon's annual Engineers Week event at the company's El Segundo headquarters last week.

The students participated in a Lego League robotics demonstration, traveling space museum and video game challenge.

NASCAR driver Kevin Conway spoke about the importance of math and science education.

More than 250 students from Los Angeles Unified School District campuses, such as Curtiss Middle in Carson, Dana Middle in San Pedro, Peary Middle in Gardena and Fleming Middle in Lomita joined students from Torrance, Redondo Beach, Hawthorne, Hermosa Beach and Lawndale.

Students from Lennox, Inglewood, Manhattan Beach and Palos Verdes also attended.

TORRANCE: Special session will explore school budget-cut options

Staff of the Torrance Unified School District will present budget-cut recommendations to the Board of Education in a special workshop on Tuesday.

The public session is set to address the estimated $8.7 million district deficit for the 2008-09 academic year that's being created by the proposed state budget, which may cut education funding by more than $4 billion.

Public comment will be taken at 7 p.m. in the cafeteria of J.H. Hull Middle School at Levy, 3420 229th St., Torrance.

CARSON: Forum offers parents guidance on importance of education

The Los Angeles Unified School District is hosting a forum in Carson on Wednesday to boost college attendance and parent engagement.

The event, Create a College Bound Culture, will offer parents informative handouts, speakers and an educational marketplace. Any parent with a student in LAUSD is eligible to attend.

The event will run from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Carnegie Middle School, 21810 Bonita St. Parking is available at the DoubleTree Hotel on Carson Street.

Registration is required. Call 213-241-6900.

Posted by Paul Clinton at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

About 100 South Bay teens made their way this morning to a Los Angeles megachurch to honor fallen Los Angeles Police SWAT officer Randal Simmons, a man they knew best as a youth sports coach.

Some wearing football jerseys and cheerleading uniforms, the teens filled two school buses Friday in El Segundo, a community where Simmons volunteered as a coach with the local Youth Football League and Cheer program.

Posted by Paul Clinton at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After placing fourth in the county contest and falling short of the point threshold for a wild-card bid, the long-dominant academic decathlon team of Torrance's West High School will not advance to the state competition this year.

Instead, Alhambra's Mark Keppel High School, runner-up the past two years, was named the winner of the event on Thursday, with second-place finisher Duarte High School tagging along as the wild card. The state showdown takes place March 8-10 in Sacramento.

Read our story for more.

Posted by Paul Clinton at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The El Segundo Unified School District is holding a special community meeting Tuesday night to update residents on the status its fine arts and athletic facilities — and involve them in brainstorming solutions.

El Segundo High School’s auditorium and outdoor athletic facilities together are the focal point of the forum. The age of both are increasingly lamented and decried for “not reflect(ing) the 21st Century goals” of the district.

The open session — running from 7-9 p.m. tomorrow in the high school library — will begin with an overview of district facilities. Attendees will be broken into smaller groups to talk over some assigned, related topics, then reconvened to debrief about those discussions.

Does anyone smell a potential new bond measure down the line? It's not far-fetched, especially in light of the Governator's proposed drastic slashing of education funds, via the new state budget, that are likely to force most districts into major cutting mode.

The El Segundo district in November 2006 attempted and lost its bid for the $19-million bond Measure Q, which would have helped fund an aquatic center, a renovated auditorium and myriad other athletic-facilities fixes.

El Segundo High is located at 640 Main Street, in El Segundo.

Posted by Shelly Leachman at 4:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Paul Clinton profiles the candidates running for El Segundo school board here.

Three newcomers vying for seats on the El Segundo Unified School District board want upgrades to athletic and performing arts venues without another bond measure.

The three, all actively involved with the local PTA, are seeking to replace 10-year board member Michael Briney and 12-year trustee Chris Powell in the Nov. 6 election.

Posted by Toni Sciacqua at 7:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

El Segundo High and Dana Middle in the Wiseburn District are piloting courses that blend online learning and advanced technology with traditional teaching.

"These days, technology is really a child's primary language," said Dana's principal, Matthew Wunder. "Part of the goal in education is engagement, and (technology) is a tool that they know and embrace."

And El Segundo instructor Ray Gen says:

"Our job is to turn the content (of classes) into a media that students enjoy. If you have it in a cool media, it's more fun than the traditional, `Here's some paper, do something with it.'

"Paper is a 5,000-year-old technology," he added. "It used to be cool, but it's not anymore. Schools are laggards, traditionally, in technology, but we should be at the forefront, not the rear guard."

Here's Shelly Leachman's story.

Posted by Toni Sciacqua at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Barely a month after a giant tree fronting the school was felled over safety concerns - and despite pleas to save it - El Segundo's Richmond Street Elementary has planted multiple replacements.

In a Friday event that launched the school's participation in districtwide efforts to go green, the 500-member student body planted nearly two-dozen new trees across their sprawling campus.

Here's the link to Shelly's story.

Posted by Toni Sciacqua at 9:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)