Recently in Los Angeles County Office of Education Category

Four of our high schools went to Sacramento for the weekend's statewide competition in the 30th annual California Academic Decathlon. Here's how they did:

• West High, 14th overall


• Torrance High, 16th overall


• South High, 26th overall


• Redondo Union High, 31st overall

Moorpark High from Ventura County won first place. LAUSD's El Camino Real from Woodland Hills came in second.

West, South and Redondo students scooped up some individual medals. Students can medal in each of seven subject-based tests plus speech, interview and essay competition. Nine-member teams are divided into three subsets by GPA and each subset has medals.

West High medals (from coach Ann Cortina)
--Patrick Xiao, gold in math
--Albert Lee, bronze in math
--Daniel Beckmann, gold in social science

South High medals (from coach Deborah Maculey)
--Jamie Chang, gold in art, bronze in music
--Luxas Hahn, gold in economics, silver in social science
--Esther Kim, silver in economics, bronze in social science
--Danny Dai, bronze in social science
--Neelofer Shaikh, bronze in social science

Redondo Union High medals (from coach Julie Ferron)
--Ryan Mendias, gold in essay
--Veronica Romeo, gold in interview, silver in speech
--Michael Wood, silver in math, silver in interview
--Stephanie Crowley, silver in language/lit, silver in art
--Lori Rodriguez, bronze in math, bronze in Super Quiz

(Please note that these are subject to correction once the state's Academic Decathlon organization posts final results on Tuesday.)

*OK, results are up (PDF) listing all the individual awards. Two big local achievements that we didn't know about Monday: Daniel Naphas of Torrance High came in third out of all participants and Patrick Xiao of West High came in 10th. Congrats, guys!

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.

Five local Los Angeles Unified teachers are among the 10 who will be recognized by the district on Monday as finalists for the county's Teacher of the Year award.

Ten district teachers are among 66 overall who are vying for countywide honor. They'll be recognized at a ceremony in Universal City Monday, where the Los Angeles County Office of Education will announce the "Sweet 16" -- outstanding teachers considered the "best of the best" in the county. Those 16 then qualify for California Teacher of the Year.

We'll let you know who advances on Monday.

The local LAUSD nominees are:

Christine Blackwell of Torrance, who has taught second grade at 232nd Place Elementary School in Carson for 12 years.

Zitlalpilli Luna has taught eighth grade science at Curtis Middle School in Carson for four years.

Shari Siegler of Playa Del Rey, who's been teaching for 31 years. She has taught English/Reading Adult Independent Studies for ninth-12th graders at Westchester/Emerson Community Adult School for 22 years.

Tracey Washington has taught social/emotional development, gross motor, and literacy to preschoolers at Gardena Early Education Center for 11 years.

Efrain Nava of Carson has taught band and instrumental music at Dana Middle School in San Pedro for nine years.