Recently in SAN PEDRO Category

Los Angeles Unified School District is hosting a meeting tonight on concerns about dust from construction at the new high school on the former Upper Reservation of Fort MacArthur, also known as South Region High School No. 15.

Residents apparently found flyers posted at their homes yesterday.

Come To a Meeting with LAUSD on the construcation going on behind our Homes and the Dirt/Noise It is Causing

Tomorrow, Thursday August 20th at the Angels Gate Continuation School at 3200 S. Alma 5 pm. Representatives from the school district will be there to hear our concerns, representatives from AQMD, Councilwoman Hahn, and the Daily Breeze have also been invited.

I actually was not notified of this event, but maybe the district told someone else at the Breeze and it didn't get to me.

Anyway, I've verified that LAUSD has in fact organized this "sort of last-minute" meeting. Facilities division spokeswoman Shannon Haber said this morning that the meeting was in response to community complaints about construction and that the district wanted to "nip it in the bud."

* I just talked to a couple of the residents on 30th Street that are being affected by this - Ken and Cora Raymond. Apparently they've had some issues with dust accumulation in the last couple of weeks.

They talked to school district officials, folks from Councilwoman Janice Hahn's office and AQMD. The air quality inspector from AQMD said the construction site was fully in compliance. Nonetheless, Cora suffers from asthma and has had to leave home during construction work.

"We shouldn't have to live like this. I shouldn't have to leave my house because i can't breathe," she said.

David Kooper, chief of staff to LAUSD board member Richard Vladovic, said tonight's informal meeting had been set up to address the concerns of the Raymonds and another couple who had complained about dust.

At the suggestion of Kooper, that couple, along with Ken Raymond, distributed the flyers to neighbors to let them know about the meeting. (So there was no fault on the district's part in not letting the Breeze know ... and Cora had left a message for a colleague about the meeting.)

Anyway, this isn't some big construction update meeting that nobody knew about. However, if you have concerns about dust, it's probably a place to vent frustrations and try to get answers.

*UPDATE: County health officials have confirmed that they are NOT investigating any flu cases in San Pedro. (Story)

Los Angeles Unified is saying that there are no clusters of swine flu-like symptoms in San Pedro area schools, in contrast to a statement issued earlier today by county health officials.

"I would like to clear up any misinformation about the report of a cluster in San Pedro," Dr. Kimberly Uyeda, the school district's head of student medical services, said today in a recently issued press release.

"Several sick children were sent to a school nurse at an elementary school however, all were cleared to stay in school. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health also determined that no investigation was necessary."

Early this morning, a county press release stated: "The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is also investigating three possible flu clusters in three schools located in the Santa Clarita Valley and San Pedro. Laboratory results on these clusters are expected by the end of the week."

At a press conference this morning, county Chief Medical Office Jonathan Fielding would not say which school was potentially affected.

We at the Breeze know parents and students are very concerned and we're working now to get officials to clarify these conflicting statements.

Meanwhile, all LAUSD campuses are open and the district is not recommending parents take their children out of school.

Karen Saunders, who heads operations at Local District 8 schools (Harbor Area, Gardena, Lomita, Carson), said, "We do not have swine flu in our district."

She added: "People are panicking."

The morning statement from the Department of Public Health has caused a flurry of calls from media and parents to local schools and the school district, education officials said.

Non-LAUSD schools in San Pedro -- Mary Star of the Sea, Port of Los Angeles High School (technically an LAUSD charter), Holy Trinity Catholic School, Rolling Hills Prep -- said they had no reported symptoms and no students have been sent home.

South Shores Magnet School for the Visual and Performing Arts in San Pedro today will see the play "Cinderella" at the Santa Monica Playhouse.

The campus will pay for the field trip through an $800 grant from the Target Corporation.

Students at Barton Hill Elementary School in San Pedro were joined by members of the U.S. Coast Guard in painting a mural on campus today.

The campus was adopted three years ago by the San Pedro-based Coast Guard units through the military's Partnership in Education -- a tutoring, mentoring and outreach program that was founded in 2001.

Local officers prepped the Coast Guard-themed mural yesterday and finished up today, the service branch announced in a press release.

Mitch Ozawa recently accepted a position on the Board of Trustees for Rolling Hills Preparatory School and the Renaissance School in San Pedro. Ozawa works as the senior vice president and senior client manager for Bank of America/Banc America Securities.
He and his wife, Ann, are active in the Parents Association and have a daughter who attends the Renaissance School.

The California Coastal Commission has just voted to approve a controversial 810-student school on former military property in southern San Pedro.

Los Angeles Unified School District in December approved the campus, which was opposed by a number of local residents.

Officials have said the campus will house two magnet programs and act as an "annex" to overcrowded San Pedro High School.

The 8-3 vote was the final approval the district was seeking. I'll have a full story shortly.

Students at Mary Star of the Sea High School recently earned a $1,000 grant from Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa during a youth environmental conference. Mary Star was one of seven schools to receive the money which will be used to plant additional trees on campus, 2500 Taper Ave. in San Pedro. More than 100 Southern California schools applied for the grants.

Mitch Ozawa recently accepted a position on the Board of Trustees for Rolling Hills Preparatory School and the Renaissance School in San Pedro. Ozawa works as the senior vice president and senior client manager for Bank of America/Banc America Securities. He and his wife, Ann, are active in the Parents Association and have a daughter who attends the Renaissance School. Information: 310-791-1101.

A lot is going on in Los Angeles Unified today, what with sources saying Superintendent David Brewer will announce this afternoon that he may step down.

(The district just issued a release that could not be less descriptive: "Los Angeles Unified School District's (LAUSD) Superintendent David L. Brewer, III will make a statement.")

Tomorrow's regular board meeting, which will come after a closed session where Brewer's contract is up for discussion under the label "Employee Discipline/Dismissal/Release," is sure to be a scene. Coincidentally, one of our biggest local district issues is up for a vote on Tuesday as well.

That's the proposed high school campus near Angels Gate Park, which has been opposed by many neighbors in the surrounding area. That item won't be heard until later in the meeting. Several San Pedrans are scheduled to speak, but many say it's a forgone conclusion that the campus will be approved.

If you want to go -- and witness LAUSD history being made! good times! -- the meeting begins at noon. The Pedro schoo is Item 10, and may not be heard until after 4 p.m. Agenda PDF.

In a story that runs in tomorrow's paper, the Los Angeles Times takes on a constellation of issues surrounding Los Angeles Unified's plans to build an "annex" to San Pedro High at the former Upper Reservation of Fort MacArthur.

The California Coastal Commission will not hear Los Angeles Unified's application for a permit to construct a proposed high school in San Pedro until January. The meeting had been scheduled for Nov. 14 (agenda) -- and notices were already sent out this week.

I found this out yesterday when I called the commission to get a copy of the staff report for the coastal development permit for South Region High School No. 15, which would be built on district property at the former Upper Reservation of Fort MacArthur. The school is set to house about 500 magnet kids from San Pedro High School.

Commission staff told me the meeting was being postponed until January.

Edwin Van Ginkel, LAUSD's senior development manager, said commission staff had told him that their biologist would be unable to complete a review of the proposed wind turbines (and their potential effects on migratory birds) in time for the November meeting. Van Ginkel said the district could have presented the application in two parts, but ... "We want them to review the same scope of work that our board is reviewing."

The district will not go before the commission in December because that meeting is in San Francisco, he said.

The January meetings set for Jan. 7-9 in the San Diego area (PDF of tentative 2009 meeting sked).

The Board of Education's review of the project EIR is still set for Dec. 9.

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.

San Pedro High School's college counselor, Nancy Budar, contacted us to crow about the achievements of last year's Advanced Placement students.

The College Board named 33 Pedro students as AP Scholars. Five of those kids were AP Scholars with Distinction for earning an average of 3.5 or more on all AP exams taken, as well as grades of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams. Six students were AP Scholars with Honor, earning an average of 3.25 on all AP Exams taken, and grades of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams.

The names are listed below.

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."

There was an error in the headline that ran with my story in today's paper about Jose Vallejo's longtime automotive emissions class, which has been taught at the San Pedro Skills Center for more than 25 years.

The center is not closing. It will remain open as two classes continue to be taught at the LAUSD property near Angels Gate, as the story notes.

By the end of the year, Jose's class and an upholstery class will be moved to the Harbor Occupational Center in northern San Pedro.

We've fixed the headline online (though it looks like it remains under the original in the "most viewed/most emailed" lists.)

A correction will run in tomorrow's newspaper.

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.

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.