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By Julie Shankle

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I often reflect upon for what I am thankful. While family, friends, good health, and stability in bad economic times top my list, I delved a little deeper this year. I started thinking about my rapidly changing profession and how I and others in my field are coping with said changes.

First off, I am a public school teacher. I have been for 19 years. Since college, I have worked for three school districts in two states as a secondary English and journalism teacher. And in that time I have been privileged and thankful to spend time with many, many wonderful teenagers. Luckily, I still keep in contact with some of them. I'm thankful that so many of them grew up to find success and build strong families and traditions of their own. As an educator, I want my students to be skilled, intelligent, successful contributors to our society. Every teacher I know wants the same thing, but my colleagues' world has changed dramatically during my 19 years in the classroom, especially in the past two years. Our once stable profession has turned into an unstable mine field littered with unemployed holders of masters degrees, trained professionals faced with having to change professions by force, and mentors of today's youth worried about what this means for the children's futures.

Luckily I live in a country that values educating the masses, or at least it did in my youth. I remember learning about Horace Mann's belief in the importance of free, universal public education. In the 1800's, our country began to invest in the notion that every man, not just the wealthy, should have access to a quality education, as education is the great equalizer. In the mid-1900's, we witnessed the rise of the middle class due to the success of our public education system.

Unfortunately, I fear public education is in decline. Unfortunately, political mandates and lack of funding have put a stranglehold on teachers in the classroom. Unfortunately, academic freedom and creativity are dying slow deaths and being replaced with lock-step curricula, drill and kill non-critical thinking assignments, and standardized testing. Unfortunately, Americans are divesting in public education. But...

Thankfully, I love teaching and want to continue doing so, even in a vastly different paradigm. Thankfully, my son has caring, smart, dedicated teachers. Thankfully, Horace Mann's original concept of universal public education still exists. Thankfully, public schools still exist to provide an avenue for millions of school children to build their own American dream. Thankfully, I am still a teacher.

Julie Shankle is an English and journalism instructor at North High school in Torrance. She is the president of the Torrance Teachers Association.

Reporter's note:
A special thanks goes out to Aileen Yoon and Julie Shankle, who were kind enough to contribute to the School Notebook blog this week. Look for more contributions from local students and teachers in the coming weeks.

By Aileen Yoon

We've seen the enormous class sizes, we've seen the dramatic reduction in teachers, and we've seen the number of programs that are being funded gradually less and less. However, what most people don't see going on at our schools are the minuscule things that happen behind the scenes. The things that most people look past because they are a part of every day life. Sure, the budget cuts have affected our classes and programs, but I don't think many people realize that the work that goes into making our school cleaner is also slowly being cut.

After two months of laborious work to try and publish our newspaper with limited funds, I was relieved when we finally were able to put the North Wind into students' and teachers' hands. Like with every issue I have been a part of as a staff member, I was twitching at the sight of the errors we had made, but I also felt like I had a huge burden lifted off of my shoulders. As I was listening to all the comments and criticisms my peers had for the paper, there was one comment that really caught my attention. One of the North High custodians, Chris Johnson, approached me and complemented me on a budget cuts story that I had written for the opinion section of our paper. But then he asked me, "Do you know about all the other cuts that are happening around campus?" Puzzled by what he meant, I curiously sat and listened to his side of the story.

I learned that in the midst of all the teachers and programs being cut, custodial staff and supplies are also on the line of getting the ax. Not only are the custodians in danger of losing their jobs, but necessities such as toilet paper may be supplied less and less. Toilet Paper! At first I was skeptical. How could the district want to cut something like toilet paper? According to Johnson, it costs about $12,000 for toilet paper for the whole year. That is an enormous number that I don't think most people are aware of. In addition, North High's custodial staff is dwindling. This year, we only have two custodians; half the number we had last year. Also, because of all the cuts, Johnson even used his campus Ecology Club's funds to buy wood for desks that needed to be fixed. The solution to this seems simple: take care of our school supplies and resources. However, hundreds of dollars and hours of time are wasted because students just do not know how to respect their school anymore.

It was then that I realized how much our schools were being impacted by the budget cuts. The need for money is so crucial in schools - not only just in the Torrance Unified School District, but in districts all over California. It's one thing to have luxuries and excess programs cut from the schools, but when it starts infringing on basic, personal necessities, it shows that there truly is a problem.

Unfortunately, not many students realize how much our schools are affected by all of these cuts. If only they would realize the impact the budget cuts have on even the simplest of necessities, some of these issues can be dealt with. As a student journalist, it is my job to get this information out to my peers and make them aware of the fact that if our economy does not turn around, our future is at stake. It is our future that can make a difference and change our society for the better. We as students just need to take the steps to learn to work around the budget. But more and more, with all the deficits and apathy among my peers, that future now seems so far away.

Aileen Yoon is a senior at North High School in Torrance and the editor-in-chief of the school's student-run newspaper, the North Wind.

Pictures: (Top) David Perelmuter holds the letter he received from the White House. Pictured with David are his parents, school principal Christie Forshey and his grandmother. (Bottom) Students participate in a Korean bowing ceremony lead by parent Lori Eurich.  Photos courtesy of Mark Miller. 

Call it a lesson in patience.

After penning a note to President Barack Obama shortly after his inauguration, 7-year-old David Perelmuter received what he had been waiting eight months for: the president's response.

Although he won't be able to vote until 2020, the first grader at Riviera Elementary school in Torrance wrote a congratulatory letter to Obama while in kindergarten last Spring. In it, David wrote of his dream to be president one day. He also detailed an ambitious agenda should he get elected, writing of his desire to end wars and stop graffiti vandalism.

David's mother, Lauren, found the response with the Washington D.C. postmark in the family's mailbox on Friday, complete with the president's signature on White House stationary. Perelmuter gave the letter to her son after picking him up from school.

"When I showed him the letter he was jumping up and down," said Perelmuter, who added David had run out to the mailbox everyday for eight months to see if the letter had arrived. "It was so thrilling."

In Obama's response, David is thanked for taking the time to write and is encouraged to use his intellect and creativity to better his community. He read the letter at an assembly in front of the entire school Monday morning.

The letter arrived in time to coincide with the school's "International Week," when students learn about different languages and cultures by participating in activities and sampling international fare. The week cumulates on Friday, when students hold a international food festival.

After David read the letter, students performed a Korean bowing ceremony and a Hawaiian hula for their peers, teachers and about 30 parents.

"We talked about how kids are the leaders of the future, and how important it is to be active," said Christie Forshey, principal at Riviera elementary. "The students are very excited."

Talk about excitement: David was so estatic about the letter he hasn't let it out of his sight, Perelmuter said. Didn't matter that Obama probably didn't sit down to write the letter himself, she added. She thinks the simple act provided a lesson her son may never forget and credited Riveria's teachers and staff members for promoting civic participation among students.

"He carried the letter around with him for 24 hours," Perelmuter said. "He knows how special it is."

The family will frame the letter and put it next to a letter David's grandfather received while working in the Treasury Department from President John Kennedy.

If David does eventually decide to become president, he'll have some time to develop a political agenda: He won't be eligible to run until 2037.

Reporter's note:

Riviera Elementary school should not be confused with Riviera Hall Lutheran School, a private K-8 also located in Torrance, and the scene of visits by former President Bill Clinton in 2001 and 2008. (His nephew attended school there)

Lauded as an event 40 years in the making, city and school officials from Torrance shared the stage to discuss the state of their respective agencies and outline potential areas of collaboration in an attempt to cut costs.

"This is a first step in a long process, but I think we owe it to the citizens to be innovative," said Don Lee, a member of the Torrance Unified Board of Education and a former city councilman. "There's a lot of possibilities, and I'm excited about the possibility of providing a better product to our citizens."

As far as anyone could remember, it was the first time in four decades that members of the Torrance City Council and Torrance Unified Board of Education gathered to hold a joint meeting.

Like many cities and school districts across the state, the two governing bodies have been reeling with funding losses and are looking for ways to trim operating expenses.

At the public meeting, which was held Monday evening at the Torrance Cultural Arts center, officials spoke about possible areas where the two organizations could work together and share expenses, including running co-elections and sharing the use of city-owned and district-owned facilities. Among them are the city's cultural arts center and a potential gymnasium at the new Hull Middle School. The school is under construction and expected to open in 2011.

The two agencies already share some services. The city provides crossing guards to district schools and a school resource officer for each high school. High school swim teams use the Benstead Plunge Swimming Pool for practices and the city has donated video cameras for use in the district's board room. Maintenance services are also shared, including field mowing and tree trimmining.

In an attempt to downplay worries among service employee groups of layoffs, council and board members stated numerously that jobs were not at stake, despite talk of potentially combining services.

"We are in charge of educating the children and the city is in charge of providing essential services," said board member Mark Steffen. "The goal is to save dollars, and not at the expense of employees."

Nearly $27 million in state funding has been cut from Torrance Unified's budget the past two years.

"The school district is in more dire straits than the city," board president Al Muratsuchi said. "We're looking at every dollar we can get to keep the cuts outside the classroom and away from the kids."

The potential savings that could be had by holding joint elections came up several times throughout the evening. Typically, council elections are held in March while board of education elections are held in November.

The Nov. 3 election cost the district $280,000. Councilman Patrick Furey called the sum " agross waste of money."

"It's hideous that we'd go on this way and have a separate election system," he added.

The district hasn't been alone in their financial difficulties. Sales tax revenue in the city is down 20 percent.

Mayor Frank Scotto called that number a "serious hit."

As the meeting came to and end, board member Terry Ragins commented on a lack of dialog she said was once perceived in the community between members of the council and board of education.

"When I came on the board six years ago, there was friction," Ragins said. "It wasn't just perceived, it was there."

But throughout the evening, officials commended each other for reaching out and vowed to continue talks.

"This discussion tonight it the beginning of a discussion that will last a couple of years," Scotto said.

Now, the next step: City staff members will develop an "action list" within 90 days of six to 10 potential areas of collaboration.

A friendly reminder:

Tomorrow is the first day of classes for Torrance Unified schools.

Here's to a safe and successful school year.

In an e-mail, I asked Matt Horvath, the new 34-year-old principal at North High School in Torrance, what kind of challenges he anticipates facing during his first year on the job.

"As with most schools and school districts, I feel that one of the most
difficult challenges administrators face is continuing to raise the
student achievement of a school community while facing budget
uncertainty and often times cutbacks," he said in the e-mail. "In these times we must continue to put students at the center of our decisions while not getting bogged down with things that are not in our control."

"I look forward to leading the North High School Community," he added.

It should be noted that aside from his administrative roles, Horvath was also a teacher at Banning High School.

This is our first post from new education reporter Doug Morino. He'll have his own blog account in coming days.

Matthew Horvath was named principal of North High School on Monday evening by the Torrance Unified School District Board of Education. He'll be coming over from Richardson Middle School, where he served as principal for a little more than two years. (Horvath replaces outgoing Grant Litfin.)

Prior to his stint at Richardson, Horvath served as the dean of discipline and athletic director at Banning High School in Wilmington. He received his B.A. at Wayne State University in Detroit,
Michigan in 1998, his M.A. at Wayne State University in 2001, and his education doctorate from the University of Southern California in 2007.

At Monday's meeting, Horvath stepped to the microphone and thanked the board for their support.

"I'm super excited to be a part of the North community," he said.

Board members also named Michelle Stupnik as principal at Richardson. Sputnik has a longer history in the district than Horvath; she's been either working as a teacher or administrator at Torrance schools for about 11 years.

Stupnik worked under Horvarth at Richardson as assistant principal and, like her former boss, she thanked board members for the new opportunity.

"I'm excited to take the good school Horvarth created and make it a great school," Stupnik said.

She was most recently at Madrona Middle School, where she served as assistant principal for the 2008-09 school year. She received her B.A. at California State University, Long Beach in 1995 and her M.A. at the University of LaVerne in 2005.

The appointments of Horvath and Stupnik became effective this morning.

Board members also extended the contract of Superintendent George Mannon for one year. Mannon was named Superintendent in September 2005, and his contract now runs to June 30, 2013. (It previously ended in 2012.)

Mannon came over from the Glendora Unified School District, where he served as superintendent for five years.

Board President Al Muratsuchi commended Mannon for his efforts to pass bond measures Y and Z, which provided $355 million in upgrades to academic and athletic facilities within the district.

"This past year was an extremely difficult one for the Torrance school district ... and time and time again you proved your value," Muratsuchi told Mannon during the meeting.

*UPDATE: The Torrance Unified board has approved a new principal for North High.

North High Principal Grant Litfin works his last day for Torrance Unified today, school district officials said. He's taken the top job at Los Alamitos High in Orange County.

Litfin leaves after just two years as North High's principal. He was previously assistant principal at South High, assistant principal at Lynn and Magruder middle schools, and a teacher at Magruder.

The job posting for the principal slot at North High was posted last week. Applications are due July 13, and district officials say the post will be filled before the 2009-10 school year begins Sept. 10.

Two local sixth-graders took first and second place at Wednesday's Los Angeles County Spelling Bee.

Catherine Velardez of Lawndale's Will Rogers Middle School won the 35-student competition on the words "lithosphere" and "procumbent."

Second place went to Carina Kan from Palos Verdes Intermediate School in Palos Verdes Estates.

Congrats, girls! Both will go to the statewide spelling bee at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park on May 16.

The Wednesday event, held at an Alhambra conference center, was the fourth annual countywide spelling contest. Students from grades 4 through 6 competed.

Other local students who participated: Jesse Torres of Bud Carson Middle School in Hawthorne, Danielle Woodcock of Torrance Unified's Magruder Middle School, and DeAndre Young of Dana Middle in Wiseburn School District.

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!

Happy Monday! Here's some linkage, catching up from the weekend:

Torrance Unified officials found an unhappy surprise this morning: Four district vehicles had had their windshields smashed.

Vu has a story today about Mira Costa High's successful media arts program.

And ... all of the short items that ran on today's School Notebook page (in the paper) can be found here.

We also have some great photos from Point Vicente Elementary School's visit to White Point on Friday. It was part of an educational program run by the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy.

My story ran on Saturday about the possible closure of LAUSD's Sellery Special Education Center in Gardena. In a related story, Connie Llanos at the Daily News writes about the potential shut-down of West Valley Special Education Center in Van Nuys, with some interesting background on special ed centers.

Officials have said the two campuses are the furthest along the path toward "consolidation." We should have an idea of how many other small campuses will be closed by the March 24 board meeting.

The Daily News' George Sanchez has a story about the nearly 9,000 layoff warnings that the LAUSD board will weigh on Tuesday.

Also Saturday, I reported on Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District's move to place a $165 parcel tax on the June 2 ballot. (* FYI: This tax would require a two-thirds approval to pass.)

L.A. Times columnist Steve Lopez on Sunday wrote about administrators are asking parents for $1,000 (each) at his daughter's LAUSD elementary school in LAUSD.

If parents can come up with $327,000, the school will be able to keep three academic coaches who, among other things, take the pressure off teachers in the overcrowded fourth and fifth grades. It would also pay for P.E. coaches, three kindergarten aides, library resources, computer replacement and technology support.

As I heard the pitch, along with the testaments to Ivanhoe and how lucky we are to have a great school that's been a neighborhood institution since 1889 -- yes, I said 1889 -- I was thinking the same thing I thought when I heard the pitch a year ago:

We really are lucky, because the school is so good, and because many of us are able to fork over a little extra, even in a recession. But what about the vast majority of schools that aren't as good and don't have as many parents who can write checks?

Torrance Adult School on Tuesday will host a career day beginning at noon at the Hamilton Adult Center, 2606 West 182nd St. in Torrance.

The event will include more than 20 area businesses offering information, free haircut coupons and spare keys from the Automobile Club of Southern California. Information: 310-533-4459 ext. 8400.

Torrance Unified officials on Tuesday is inviting parents and community members to a budget workshop at South High School, 4801 Pacific Coast Highway in Torrance.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. and will be an opportunity for the community to understand the effects of the California fiscal crisis on the district.

State lawmakers recently agreed on a spending plan that cuts $4.6 million from the district this school year.

Alyssa Howell, a fourth-grader at Fern Avenue Elementary in Torrance, was asked to write about what love means to you.

Here is the 10-year-old's answer:

"Love is...love. There's no way to explain it. If anything, love is the sparkle in someone's eye when they talk to you. When their face lights up when you speak. Love is that boy in your classroom. Love is roses and chocolates. Love is when you feel meek. Love is Valentine's Day. But most of all, love is friendship. The bonding that holds us together with the friends you will know forever. Love is the gentle sound of the crickets on a moonlit night, as you gaze at the stars. Love is a divine dinner prepared by your mother."

Torrance Unified board members on Monday appointed 13 people to the district's bond oversight committee, in charge of reporting to the school board whether bond money is being spent according to plan.

The two year appointments come as plans to overhaul Torrance school facilities continue to move ahead.

Committee members are Gary Kuwahara, Sumie Imada, Todd Hays, Denise Mandel, James Myers, Michael Wermers, George Harpole, Alex See, Carrie Lang, Steve Polcari, Stephen M. D'anjou, Toni Ann Fierro and David Ouwerkerk.

Torrance High School Junior Sarah Kovar has been named as a congressional page and will begin her tenure supporting Democratic House members beginning Jan 25. The 16-year-old was informed of her appointment in November from the office of U.S. Representative Jane Harman (D- Calif.)
Kovar will live in a dormitory near the U.S. Capitol and attend a daily "page school" from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. each day before the legislative session begins.

The Torrance Unified board on Monday formally accepted the Nov. 4 results of measures Y and Z which will be used to update aging campuses and athletic facilities.

The board is also looking for applicants for a citizens committee to oversee how the dollars from the bonds will be spent. Applications are available at the district's website at www.tusd.org and will be accepted through Jan. 26. Committee members will be appointed on Feb. 2. Information: 310-972-6152.

The Torrance Unified School District Board of Trustees will meet today at 7:30 p.m. in open session, 2336 Plaza Del Amo in Torrance. The board will discuss issues including creating a bond oversight committee and beginning the process of where bond money will be distributed. Information: 310-972-6500

I'd like to get some feedback from School Notebook readers about my story today on El Camino College President and Superintendent Thomas Fallo interviewing for a job at a college in northern San Diego County.

Some have criticized the possible move as a way for Fallo to leverage a pay raise although the college board insist that's not the case.

The California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office reports Fallo had a base salary of $268,840 last year. The average salary of a single-college CEO is just over $193,000, according to the Chancellor's Office.

So what I want to know from all of you is: should the board try to keep him or should they let him go?

Shame on me for not getting more schools in for the California Business for Education Excellence awards for schools demonstrating academic achievement and making progress toward closing achievement gaps among students.

One school in the South Bay I failed to mention includes Walteria Elementary School from the Torrance Unified School District.

And a special recognition goes to the schools in Redondo Beach Unified especially since I couldn't fit them in the paper. Alta Vista, Beryl Heights and Jefferson were all named among the group's honor roll schools. This is the fourth year for Jefferson to be named to the Honor Roll, the second for Alta Vista and the first for Beryl Heights.