TWO NEW PRINCIPALS STARTED THEIR JOBS THIS WEEK AT DANA AND DODSON MIDDLE SCHOOLS;

Both Principals Vow to Raise Test Scores and Build From Where Their Predecessors Left Off

Jesus Nunez takes the helm at Dana

By Diana L. Chapman 


Two new principals for local middle schools – whose hires were approved by Los Angeles Unified Superintendent John Deasy this week  – started their posts Thursday day filled with enthusiasm and hard-core intentions to bring up their campuses test scores.

Jesus Nunez, 39, of Whittier took over his role as the head of Dana Middle School. He’s worked for Los Angeles schools for 16 years, lastly as an assistant principal at White Middle School. He replaces Terry Ball, who was promoted.

John Vladovic – son of Los Angeles School Board Member Richard Vladovic – stepped in to oversee Dodson, a school he attended as a youth. He last served as an assistant principal at Wilmington Middle School. He steps into the shoes of Travis Collier, who also was promoted.

John Vladovic will now run Dodson Middle School

Both men applied to head Dodson and Dana, said Michael Romero, superintendent of LAUSD’s District 8 who manages the schools in the entire Harbor Area as well as Carson, Gardena, Lomita and parts of southern Los Angeles.

They were among 25 candidates who contended for the positions, Romero said.

“They both had their hat in the ring,” he explained, adding he could have placed each at either school but picked Vladovic for Dodson because he had “a personal connection to the school” having attended there.

“They are both outstanding, strong instructional leaders,” said Romero who received final approval from Deasy Tuesday. “They are bold, innovative, bright. They both want to make a name for their schools and have a lot of energy. We had some strong candidates, but they were my final choices.”

Asked if John Vladovic received the job because his father’s on the school board, Romero said: “Absolutely not. Dr. (Richard) Vladovic never talked to be about that and he never would.  John Vladovic has completely earned this.”

At Dana, Nunez, in a phone interview, couldn’t express his delight more after arriving at Dana he said to find a warm, caring and talented staff. While he attended Dodson too as a child too, something about Dana appealed to him immediately.

“I’m excited,” said Nunez, who has two boys, Noah, 6, and Benjamin, 8. “I just found out yesterday (Wednesday).  “The staff was really receptive. We have a lot of work to do. I really like Dana. I interviewed for Dodson, but I’m happy to be at Dana.”

The Dana principal says he hopes to expand on his predecessors footsteps. Prior to Nunez’s arrival – the school which has been haunted for years with a bad reputation and low test scores  – began its turn around after Ball arrived six years ago.

Ball included parents – once unwanted at the campus --in the equation to better the school, allowing them to volunteer and work directly with students. After that, test scores began to rise, as more and more families began to return to their home school.

Planning to build from that, Nunez said, he too will encourage parent volunteerism to blossom and plans to work on making sure his teachers “don’t teach in isolation.”

Teachers, he said, will collaborate, share their best practices and will have to “look in a mirror” and come to reflect whether their earlier strategies remain workable. If not, he hopes to bring together fresh and invigorating ways to strengthen their teaching talents.

Asked what his philosophy is on how students should be treated, Nunez said: “I always say to teachers: ‘Treat them as you would want your own kids treated.  Be firm, assertive and loving. ‘ (Middle school) students have so much developmental changes going on with their bodies and their thoughts. You need to have sympathy for the them and on get to know your students needs.”

Dodson’s newest principal, John Vladovic, 34, said he was surprised when he learned this week he landed the campus – a school he attended and still lives near.

“I was in the original drama class that Dodson first had and I feel personally connected to the school. My sister and I went there together.” he said. “I got the call this week.  At first I was taken aback and shocked. Now I am really excited. I am completely honored and humbled.

“Dodson has done some great things and I plan to continue in the direction it’s moving.”

Vladovic, who held a series of teaching posts that took him across more than a half dozen communities in Los Angeles Unified, said the experience of being shunted around the district due to his low seniority only added to his knowledge about ways to handle education.

With the district now  ten years, Vladovic has held slots as a teacher at middle and high schools, a test coordinator and a data coach before he became an assistant principal , a job he held at two middle schools..

Because of his deep educational roots with his family – and his interest in making Dodson a better school – Vladovic said not only will he focus on test scores, but also on ensuring that the students are taught academic and social skills to prepare for their futures.

He also intends for the school’s parents to feel more welcomed at the middle school. Over the years, many parents have complained that they are not wanted there.  His plans, he said, is to make Dodson a welcoming environment for students, parents and the community.

Asked how his father felt about him receiving the post,  Vladovic said he believes his dad is proud and happy.

“My Dad was really surprised,” Vladovic said. “He even offered me advice. He said to be an active listener and innovative. He also said to make sure my door was open.”

Actor Mark Wahlberg shows up at the San Pedro Boys and Girls Club to talk with the youth and help announce a  $50,000 donation from his and the Taco Bell Foundation.

MARK WAHLBERG AND TACO BELL TEAM UP TO ANNOUNCE THE OVERHAUL OF THE SAN PEDRO BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB’S RECORDING STUDIO  TO MAKE IT A STATE-OF-THE ART FACILITY

Actor Drops in for a Visit and Offers Kids Lessons in Humility and Courage

By Diana L. Chapman

In a whirlwind visit Wednesday to the San Pedro Boys and Girls Club, actor Mark Wahlberg  offered teenagers a healthy dose of encouraging words along with thousands of dollars to rebuild the club’s 5-year-old studio . Along the way, he shared his own troubled beginnings.

A well-nourished partnership between Wahlberg’s Youth Foundation and the Taco Bell Foundation offered $50,000 to upgrade the recording studio—making it a multimedia facility—with plans to do so at others Boys and Girls Club facilities.

“I want one in every single Boys and Girls Club and every single high school,” Wahlberg announced with Taco Bell and Boys and Girls Club officials before assembled news media. “Not everybody is so fortunate. Growing up the way I did, we didn’t stand much of a chance. If we had something like this, there’d be a lot less kids getting into trouble.

“I was given a second chance. Most of my friends never had one.”

 The San Pedro Club – one of only four selected in the nation thus far– became the official launch site for the collaboration, said Mike Lansing, the executive director of the Harbor Area Boys and Girls Clubs. While $50,000 was donated, it raised the studio’s value to nearly $400,000 making it a top-notch facility.

“We were chosen as the launch site,” he said, “due to the fact our existing studio was so much more advanced than the other three and our College Bound program was already proven and aligns to the goal of combining academic success support with the studio/mentoring program.”

Wahlberg came to the ribbon cutting ceremony and openly shared his criminal days as a hard-scrabble street kid from Massachusetts where he was a Boys and Girl Club member. The police knew him well, having arrested him for assault, for which he served time in prison.

Today, it seems Wahlberg -- known for roles in “The Fighter,” “The Perfect Storm,” “Invincible” and earlier as Markee Mark in the rap group The Funky Bunch -- has spent much of his life helping young people find their way out of trouble.

Kids, he said, need the chance to create – a chance he never had when he was young -- to keep them off the streets and explore their creative souls with music, acting, animation.

Watching him in celebrity TV interviews, it’s difficult to imagine he is such a refreshing, grounded and humble man. But within a few short minutes at the Boys and Girls Club, it was clear he had captured the teens’ hearts with his genuine honesty.

“I was so happy to see him,” said 17-year-old Bradley Washington. “I had no idea he was a Boys and Girls Club member. And he never forgot where he came from. I hope to be as great as him.”

Wearing a white Boston Celtics T-shirt graced with a green shamrock and a pair of emerald sneakers (“I dressed for the occasion,” he joked), he shook more than a dozen teens’ hands, looking them directly in the eye and talking quietly as though each was an old buddy.

Many youths said they learned unforgettable lessons.

“The thing that stood out to me is it doesn’t matter where you came from,” said Angelica Arreola, a 16-year-old who attends the Wilmington Boys and Girls Club. “It’s your determination that will make you. He shook hands with the teens. It was like we were somebody. He understands that we’re the future.”

Arturo Korafi, 16, added:  “I learned that anything you want to accomplish in life you can always go after. And that I will give back whatever I have. If I don’t have money, I will volunteer to work with teens.”

Taco Bell Foundation for Teens has worked with Harbor Area Boys and Girls clubs for years, giving college scholarships for essays and hosting contests for club members to come up with a creative meal. The winners get to see their meal on Taco Bell menus for one month, not to mention a $1,000 scholarship. More than $4 million in grants will be distributed nationally to Boys and Girls Clubs and other teen organizations in 2011, according to Taco Bell.

The foundation’s driving goal is to reduce the high school dropout rate and encourage more youths to attend college. The foundation dishes out disturbing statistics such as 1.3 million students drop out of school every year and  are “lost to the graduation pipeline.”

Bob Fulmer, executive director of the Taco Bell foundation, said there’s a lot of work to do, which is why partnering with Wahlberg was the right thing to do.

Fulmer noted that the kids at the Boys and Girls Club of San Pedro have a 98 percent high school graduation rate and 90 percent go to college (with help from its College Bound program). “We love teens,” he added. That’s why the foundation wanted to partner with Wahlberg to strengthen what it can do.

In turn, Wahlberg, a  father of four who is devoted to his Catholic faith, said he “couldn’t sleep at night” if he didn’t return to the community to help–especially the children who face so many hardships today.

In Massachusetts, he said, people admired the tough guys, the “knuckleheads” with sports cars hipped to beautiful girls. Because of that, he at first ignored his mentors,  such as his priest and Boys and Girls Club employee Mike Joyce, who still works there. Wahlburg still visits Joyce and remains appreciative of his help.

Prior to his turnaround, the actor said he was attracted to crime. He believes his incarceration is a large part of what saved him. As the youngest of nine children, Wahlberg said he had to “scrap and kick” for his share of the pie.

His turn with rap music helped, but when he tried acting he knew he’d found his niche. He believes young people need to explore their creativity to its fullest, adding not everyone is going to be a football player.

While Wahlberg turned to creative outlets for youth, Tony Tripp, the San Pedro club’s music director, said the Boys and Girls Club knew they had to do something to better the facility.

“We really wanted to take it to the next level, but we didn’t know how,” Tripp said, adding that music was how he kept himself directed as a youth.  “We wanted to engage the kids more in film, music and animation.”

Then, he added, Wahlberg and Taco Bell came along, giving them the chance to expand and enhance the studio and its equipment. The club added a digital animation room, a new audio room and a sound booth.

But Wednesday wasn’t all about Wahlberg.

In a stroke of luck for the kids, a former Lakers basketball star, John Salley, who also played with the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls before retiring in 2000, showed up at the club to meet up with Wahlberg, a long-time friend.

Since his retirement, the 6-11 Salley has acted and done several shows on TV, including his own reality show. Wahlberg invited him to come to the new studio so they could record an interview and push Salley’s latest show, “Game On! with John Salley,” on Reelz Channel every Sunday.

“It was an opportunity to get together with him,” Salley explained, who added he grew up on troubled streets in Brooklyn.  “I love Mark and I think everything he does is great.”

Like Wahlberg, he spent time Wednesday signing autographs and having photos taken with club members offering them “positive energy,” he said.

Yvonne Bogdanovich, the local Boys and Girls Club “chief volunteer officer” who has served on the Harbor Area’s executive board for 17 years, summed up Wahlberg’s visit.

“Sincerity,” she said. “He was down to earth. He didn’t talk above the kids. He didn’t talk below them. He talked to them.”

Tennesee Basketball Coach Pat Summitt talking to her players.

The Diagnosis of Early Onset Dementia for Longtime Basketball Coach Pat Summitt Left Me Reeling for Reasons That May Surprise Some;  It Has Nothing to Do With Sports 



By Diana L. Chapman

 The day I heard the announcement about widely-respected basketball coach  Pat Summitt’s battle with early-onset dementia, a rush of emotions from --crushing heartbreak, painful memories, refreshing respect --swept over me.

Although I never heard of Pat Summitt (which in the world of sports is like not knowing Elvis Presley or Princess Di) her statement and obvious determination to remain as the women's basketball coach “as long as the good lord is willing” for the University of Tennessee reminded me of one of my saddest moments.

The minute the news broke,  Summitt, 59, – who has coached for 37 years and won more seasons than any other basketball coach – I was riveted.

She might not realize it, I thought, but she had just placed a kind hand on the shoulders of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people coping with the disease and provided them guidance in ways she'll never know.

“Throughout my career, I have always made it a point that my life and basketball team are an open book,” Summitt said during a video posted on the university’s website.

That’s why she decided to share her story. She opened this chapter when she revealed her visit to the Mayo Clinic after forgetting scheduled appointments, specific basketball plays and grew more confused. Things she should know like the back of her hand were slipping away.

The bold honesty and genuine emotions she shared thrilled and saddened me because of a similar announcement that came nearly 20 years ago from another national icon: Annette Funicello, a Disney mousketeer at age of 12 who became a singer and actress and starred in a slew of famous beach movies with her side-kick Frankie Avalon.

For years, however, she kept a terrible secret: She was experiencing repeated spells of physical collapse, dealt with the depths of exhaustion, coped with dizzy spills and  myriad of other debilitating symptoms.

 When she reunited with Avalon in later years to do more beach movies, she fell frequently on the set. Avalon always helped her up, but entertainment reporters caught the action and told her if she didn’t reveal what was going on, they would do it for her. Funicello would have to come out with her story or they would publish what they believed – that she was a drunk.

In 1992, she admitted publicly that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. This revelation came just two months after I learned the mysterious and sneaky-disease was attacking me. Every day, I felt more and more like I was walking through a wall of water while trying to keep pace with my friends and colleagues.

 I was exhausted down to  my core; For years I  blamed myself for being lazy – until I learned that fatigue was one of the most debilitating symptoms of MS.

 At the time, I was a reporter at the Daily Breeze, a local newspaper in Torrance, when many nebulous symptoms’ began showing up. Some I had since I was child.  But  never had so many swooped in at once. It was scary.

 My hands and legs began to tingle for weeks at a time. I became confused, tripped and fell, drove my editors crazy when I put in wrong dates and times on photo assignments and in stories. By 2 p.m. every working day, I became so exhausted I wanted to collapse into bed.

I was only 32 years old, but like Summit, I couldn’t remember simple things and lost my train of thought consistently. Once a friend told me that she and her boyfriend of eight years had broken up. The next day she called and I couldn’t remember it.

Another morning, I came out of my house and saw spatters of brilliant red blood everywhere, up and down my driveway. It took me more than an hour to decipher what I was really seeing –  brown drops of car oil.

Before I was diagnosed, my doctor told me I needed a psychiatrist.

No one took my condition seriously until one 90 degree day. I was at a local City Hall talking to the city manager’s secretary when my eye begin twitching and fluttering repeatedly. All of a sudden I felt a piercing snap. It was painful, but quickly went away. By 6 p.m. when I was driving home I couldn’t see out of my right eye. Instead, there was a white, blurry fog.

Multiple sclerosis wreaks havoc with the central nervous system. It messes up emotions and can serve up anything from paralysis in the limbs, total blindness, slurred speech, loss of balance, dizzy spells, memory loss or all the above.

My parents, from the old school, begged me to hide it. They were worried how others would react, how my employers would behave, whether I would lose friends. But from a young age, I had always been an open book and hiding this made me feel like I had to hide from myself.

Now I was in two battles: How to cope with such an illness I couldn’t begin to fathom and whether I should hide it

My answer came when Funicello made her announcement. It was as though a door flew open.

 The actress unknowingly guided me to how I was going to handle a sad and tragic illness that robs people of normal life often starting in their 30s.  It robs them of time with the family, a social life, of living life to the fullest. And all that is tough to do when  you have to go to be in the middle of the afternoon.  Working first on my repeated forgetfulness, I consulted with an occupational therapist.

“Write everything in a date book,” she told me.But then I would forget to look at the date book.

 

Living like I was attached to an erratic pendulum, I finally understood from Funicello that it was better to share my story than hide it, because people would see what was happening  and make all sorts of things up. An animal trainer I met once had multiple sclerosis. He didn’t tell anyone. His frequent falls and his  paralyzed face forced  others to draw their own conclusions.

His co-workers decided he was a cocaine addict.

Another time I was talking to a couple who had a close relative working on the docks who was diagnosed with M.S. He should quit, they said, because he was so lazy. I screeched my chair back and made this proclamation: “He is not lazy. He has MS!”

After Annette, the door opened and I stepped out slowly.  I found good friends tried to understand the best they could. The friends I did lose weren’t true friends anyway.  The hardest thing for anyone to understand is that I became exhausted even making  calls and I forgot to return many of them. In the meantime,  my immune system fired into "failure mode."

  I had repeated bouts of sinus infections, bronchitis and pneumonia. A sample of severe memory loss and connection was when I parked at the beach and failed to put money in the meter. That was the first day. The next day I went to the same parking lot and forgot again. The third time in a row that I did it, I knew the city was racking up some great fees from my inability to remind myself to put, for god sakes, money in the meter!

 Watching Annette made it much easier for me to understand hiding the illness was not the answer – at least for me. It guided me through a desperate and treacherous time in my life. I was afraid, because no one can will tell you what will happen next and it’s hard to train yourself at age 32 that perhaps you can no longer run around at night, have such a big social life and need to go to bed at 9, or sooner, just to make it through the next day.

Since those early days, I’ve thanked  Funicello frequently for saving me. She made me understand many others were going through the same ordeals, including movie stars, and showed me that hiding it is not the answer for everyone.

Annette gave me a path; Summitt is likely to do so too among the folks who fight early onset dementia.

As I sit hear writing this, I can’t help but admire Summitt’s personal courage to face this head on. Perhaps she understands that she’s unlocking many doors to help others with her frankness. I salute her and Annette, and of course Actor Michael J. Fox, who has Parkinson’s disease, for coming out publicly and bringing brilliant lights on their diseases.

 For all of them, I pray they can continue in this work “as long as the good lord is willing.”