School Notebook

More in the recent awards category, also from late April:

Students of Mira Costa's broadcast journalism department took home several awards from the annual national student journalism competition put on by the National Scholastic Press Association and the Journalism Education Association.

Mustangs Mark Duralde, Sara Baeuchler, Dustin Muenchow, Austin Siegemund-Broka, Alicia Hastey, Evan Jones, Devon Bair, Nina Chung and Kelby Vera all took home individual awards, while the department's "Mustang Morning News" snared first place in the "best newscast category."

Rock on, young journalists!

Posted by Shelly Leachman at 3:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A belated and hearty congrats to the Beach Cities Robotics Team, a collaboration of Redondo Union and Mira Costa High students, which topped a total 600 such squads in the 2008 FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship held late last month in Hotlanta (that's Atlanta, Georgia, in case you're not up on the lingo).

Nice work y'all!

Posted by Shelly Leachman at 1:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our blogs were disabled for a while yesterday for some fixing, so I'm still ramping back up from the weekend. My apologies.

Our environmental reporter, Kristin Agostoni, had a piece in Monday's paper about a Manhattan Beach-based effort, Planet Pals, to launch eco initiatives such as composting at local schools.

Check it out. The green movement marches on. Yay!

Posted by Shelly Leachman at 1:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Al Adams, the beloved former band leader of Mira Costa High School -- he retired in 2003 to much fanfare in his honor, 15 years after first joining the Manhattan Beach Campus -- has died. He was 66.

I have the story in today's Daily Breeze, replete with details about tonight's informal memorial on Manhattan Beach Pier, starting at 6:55 p.m. and running until 10 p.m. It's been prganized by former students, who ask those interested in attending to bring their memories, stories, even instruments, to pay tribute to the "proverbial music man" as a colleague described him.

From the many students and parents I talked to yesterday, it sounds like Adams was a really wonderful guy. Rest in peace.

Posted by Shelly Leachman at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This is likely to set other school districts' mouths to watering with wishes their own cities would/will do the same thing someday.

Check it out: The Manhattan Beach City Council voted Tuesday to give cash-strapped Manhattan Beach Unified $500,000, stat, to help the school system recover from some of its financial woes, which have only been made worse by the governor's budget proposal to slash education funding.

City reporter Andrea Woodhouse has the story in today's Daily Breeze.

Posted by Shelly Leachman at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Committee to Recall (embattled Manhattan Beach Unified trustee) Bill Eisen has had its petition certified by Los Angeles County and has now embarked on its signature-gathering effort.

To be eligible for the November election, the group has 60 days to collect 4,400 certified signatures. They are actually aiming for some 6,000 signatures, a spokesperson said Monday, to ensure they meet the county-required minimum.

Hoping to raise awareness of the recall campaign and, I'm guessing, to collect some signatures on the spot, the committee this coming Sunday, March 30, from 4-6 p.m., will host an event at Shade Hotel.

From a press release:
"We will be asking people who care about our schools to come out and show their support, collect petitions and learn about the signature-gathering process, and help us get the word out. There will be a silent auction table, and anyone who is willing to donate items for auction is asked to send an email to info@recallbilleisen.com.

Posted by Shelly Leachman at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My apologies for the accidential alliteration; it just spills out sometimes (see, even in my disclaimer I do it!).

Now, on to the item as intended:

At Wednesday night's Manhattan Beach Unified board meeting, Vicki Whipple of Waste Management announced the company, along with partner agency Keep America Beautiful, is gifting the district with a $5,000 grant to further its efforts to go green.

To be dispersed among all 7 schools, where Whipple said she has already performed "waste audits," the money will go to "promote recycling, waste reduction and litter abatement" initiatives.

Posted by Shelly Leachman at 11:54 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)

Manhattan Beach Unified School District trustee Bill Eisen -- currently the focus of a community effort to recall him from the school board he was elected to in 2005 -- was evicted from his home on Tuesday.

Eisen was ordered to leave his home by a U.S. bankruptcy court, concluding a decades-long battle that kicked off when he was first sued by creditors in the 1980s. A bankruptcy trustee intends to sell the trustee's Crest Drive home to pay off those creditors.

With the law requiring trustees be residents of the districts in which they serve, all eyes are on Eisen and where he may land in the wake of his eviction. The fledgling recall effort against him is moving into the signature-gathering phase, with the Committee to Recall Bill Eisen aiming for a November election.

Posted by Shelly Leachman at 2:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Manhattan Beach school board members on Wednesday night voted to censure one of their own, asking outspoken, polarizing first-termer Bill Eisen to step down.

The move punctuates a recent period of growing strife between Eisen and fellow trustees, whom he has publicly insulted and repeatedly accused — in meetings, in letters to local publications and elsewhere in the community — of collusion, conspiracy and violations of public-meeting law, the Brown Act.

A nearly four-page resolution detailing the myriad complaints about Eisen and highlighting his recent controversial actions stated that he is being censured for “conduct inimical to the interest of the [district], its community, staff and students.”

“His outbursts, disruptions of meetings and the false statements he continues to make at meetings, and his letters to editor are major distractions” to the board, President Amy Howorth said of Eisen after the meeting.
“The rest of us have the students’ interests at heart, we keep students our primary focus,” she added. “Mr. Eisen doesn’t seem to share that focus.”

Stating emphatically during public discussion that he has “no intention of resigning,” Eisen reiterated that point in a Thursday interview, calling the censure “just a charade to silence me.”

For the full story, read Friday's Daily Breeze.

Posted by Shelly Leachman at 3:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Want a few nuggets of education-related news? Here you go.

Posted by Paul Clinton at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Manhattan Beach Middle School is the first public school in California to install an electronic system that compares the driver's licenses of campus visitors with a sex offender database instantly. The system costs $1,500 st start up and a $400 annual fee.

According to Shelly Leachman's story in Sunday's paper:

The still-new system has been so well-received at MBMS that every other school in the district will soon have its own, with installation likely by the start of second semester, according to Janet Schwabe, deputy superintendent of Manhattan Beach Unified.

Posted by Toni Sciacqua at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Students involved in the South Bay high school football rivalry have been getting carried away, by vandalizing the campuses. Here's a snippet from a staff report.

Buckets of green paint were unloaded on the Redondo Union High School football field and cafeteria, officials discovered this morning.

The words "Mira Costa" and initials "MC" were sprayed on the field and building in retaliation for vandalism at their field last week, said Redondo Principal Mary Little.

Posted by Paul Clinton at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Breeze editorial page editor makes his choice for the Manhattan Beach school board.

In this race, we would hope that no matter who wins, all the candidates will remain active in the district. Our view is that Howorth merits re-election. She says the district must continue to demonstrate fiscal stability to voters before any future school bond measure could be placed on the ballot. Howorth also holds open the possibility of a parcel tax, which other top-performing districts in California depend upon.

For the second seat, we feel that Fournell would be a good fit given his service on the 7-11 panel and the need for the district to better use its properties to increase operating revenues.

Go here to read more.

Posted by Toni Sciacqua at 8:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Shelly Leachman profiles the MBUSD candidates in today's story.

Posted by Toni Sciacqua at 9:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A new state law helped police arrest a registered sex offender who was allegedly hanging around elementary schools in Manhattan Beach and Westchester.

While sex offender Richard Gibbons was under police surveillance for about six hours this week, he drove to about a dozen elementary schools, including two in the South Bay.

He usually parked his car outside the campuses and stayed inside, authorities said. But on Tuesday, when he allegedly parked his car in the school lot at Cowan Elementary School in Westchester, Gibbons violated a new state law.

The Sex Offender Control and Containment Act, enacted last year, makes it a misdemeanor for anyone required to register as a sex offender to go onto school grounds without reason and written permission. The law also bans sex offenders from parks and other places where children congregate.

Here's the rest of the story by our court reporter Denise Nix.

Posted by Toni Sciacqua at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A budget workshop this morning at the Manhattan Beach Unified School District offices kicked off with an "icebreaker" among district trustees and other official types that revealed some intriguing information about various attendees.

Finance chief Steve Romines asked each participant to write down one "absolute truth" about themselves and "one blatant lie." He then read the statements aloud and everyone tried to guess who said which things.

The diverse truths were both hilarious and impressive. Among the highlights:

*Superintendent Bev Rohrer, at a labor protest in San Bernardino with her union parents, was "the youngest Teamster to ever throw fruit at management." She was only three years old at the time.
*Trustee Amy Howorth once worked in the pit at a stock car race (her dad owned a stock car).
*Romines once surfed a 21-foot-wave at Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz, near legendary surf break Maverick's.

The exercise drew many laughs and scattered claps - and afforded a relaxed entree into a drier discussion of numbers.

Posted by Shelly Leachman at 2:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)