Computer Doc Bob Hutchins Can Fix Almost Any Computer or Make Your Internet Child Friendly; He Entered Our Lives When Troubles Began Appearing on Our PC;

We’ve Used His Expertise Ever Since to Fix Our Techi Difficulties

Dear Readers:

There aren’t too many Dr. Bobs who will come to your home, work on your computer, clean it up and take care of the madness that technology inflicts on the rest of us who are still so primitive we have yet to master calculators.

I have asked Dr. Bob, who carries a little black bag everywhere he goes, to share an occasional column with my readers to see if he can keep us from getting into the thick of a computer soup mess by using some diligent daily rules.

Also, he can fix glitches from the smallest to the largest – and those that are too huge, he will take the computer home to work on. He charges $55 an hour and tries to contain the expenses for his customers, which makes him worth every penny. Diana

Here are “three little tips” from Dr. Bob to keep your computer from turning into a mess:

· --Turn your computer off every night because it’s wasteful. Then you are rebooting it every day, which can clear up potential problems and give it a fresh start.

· --If your computer is stuck or frozen – or even refusing to boot or shut down – unplug the power connector for roughly one minute, then plug it in again. This typically helps to keep it from remaining locked up.

· --If you have a Broadband connection through a cable or DSL modem and you have a router, you may lose internet connectivity because the two devices have lost synchronization. The way to fix this is as follows: Shut down the computer, disconnect the power from the modem and router, wait about 20 seconds, then re-connect the power plug to the modem first.

Wait until all the lights stop flashing and go solid. Then plug the router in. Last, turn the computer back on. If you do it in this sequence, they will work properly together again.

To reach Dr. Bob, call310-547-0663 or email him at: Robert.hutchins@cox.net

The Los Angeles Mayor’s Endorsement of Allowing Charter Schools and Non-Profits to Take Over New Schools Frightens Me;

It’s Something We Should All Be Asking Questions About Carefully

Dear Readers: I wrote this story and it was posted on City Watch last week. Soon after, I received a phone call from David Kooper, chief of staff for Los Angeles School Board Richard Vladovic, asking for another story to clarify why his boss supports this resolution. I agreed since that was not included in the story.

But to put it all in perspective for you, here’s the original piece. In the next couple of days, I will post the second story. Here’s to our kids coming out on the top – which is where they belong. Diana

By Diana L. Chapman

My toes are curling and my head is spinning with the mayor of Los Angeles’ recent endorsement to pretty much sell off our new schools and let non-profits, charters or teacher partnerships run them – rather than Los Angeles Unified School District.

In a long editorial endorsement in the Los Angeles Times this week, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wrote that the district board should support LAUSD Board member Yolie Flores Aguilar’s motion to let others compete to take over all new schools do so on Aug. 25.

This forces the district to compete to operate its own spanking new campuses.

This definitely depicts an educational revolution – but the question is: Will it be a good one and when will we have gone too far? Revolution can be good – but it can be deadly when you keep picking off pieces from the vine in a haphazard way.

Remember the French revolution?

This seems just another move to cover up what the true revolt should be – a breakup of the entire district.

I can’t somehow help but feel this motion gives the store away. The so-called revolt is already well under way within the district, with 154 charters currently operating city schools (which still use public funding and are not private campuses although sometimes they act as thought they are private).

Each of these schools have their own philosophy, do not have to follow district guidelines and have far less regulations to face then our district’ campuses that have a duty to help all children , no matter what their issues, developmentally mentally disabled or otherwise. For instance, if a child is expelled from a charter, the public school still has to take that student in.

Or if any charter can show it doesn’t have the resources to aid special education students, or students with other issues, it can turn those students away. That scares me.

What this motion does is open the doors to have the district compete against other organizations to run each of its new schools scheduled to open 2010. This really diverts us from the reality of what really needs to happen: a break up of the district.

What I’d rather be looking at – which is a much greater form of liberation and protects all children at a much greater level -- is to carve up the district into smaller regions and give each region more autonomy, a decentralization so to speak.

Now, that’s a true revolution and one I trust will ensure a public education for all.

In his endorsement, the mayor makes me worry even more – because I don’t believe an ounce that he cares for our kids like he claims. What he does care for is his political future. In his life, that has always come first it seems.

Despite his excuse that he’s not running for governor because he didn’t want to leave Los Angeles bleeding leaves me with much doubt. I believe it really stems more from the polls that reflected few of us really want him to become governor.

Had he been so interested in our children, he would have perhaps started with his own, not taking his family through a brutal saga of his romantic affairs – which had to hurt his own kids – and led to divorce. Had he been so interested in our children, he might of looked seriously at a model brought to his office that used after school programs as a carrot to keep students interested at middle school and off the streets – and out of gangs.

Had he been so interested in our children, than he would understand that the charter plan would not necessarily provide or protect what he states: that “every child in Los Angeles ought to have access to high-quality public school in his or her neighborhood,” and parents more access to schools than the public schools.

My son’s charter, which I took him out of, acted like parents were vampires and they had their crosses out. They wanted parents – yes – to raise money, but didn’t really know how to deal with them after that. They didn’t want parents in the hallways, they stated in their school information.

That’s an instant red flag for me at any school. Why don’t you want parents?

In my son’s public schools in Los Angeles, I was able to volunteer and be on his campuses in a variety of capacities. Parents – as we all know even though we deny it– need to return and help at schools, whether we like it or not. There are just too many great issues at hand across the board.

My son has received an excellent education from LAUSD, even at one of the middle school’s most residents feared. Yes, he was in the gifted program, but since all the schools are moving toward small campuses within each large, public school, the district will be able to provide more mini-schools than ever.

I am all for breaking up the district and maybe having a lot less administration downtown, but a board with a heartbeat that can help each region and make sure all students – rich, poor, disabled or otherwise – get an education.

Breaking up the district, however, probably scares Los Angeles city officials, including our mayor.

Because isn’t it exactly what the city of Los Angeles needs to do? It’s become too large, too authoritative and cumbersome to truly care for its residents simplest needs.

If we break up the district, then the true revolution will begin and it might not just stop at the door step of city’s schools….

It might happen to the city. And maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

Saying Her Leadership Style Evolves Around the Kids, the New Principal of San Pedro High School Spends Her First Day Meeting Students, Learning Names and Opening Her First Piece of Mail- a Post From Los Angeles Councilwoman Janice Hahn Expressing Council Support;

In a Short Stop-over at the Local School, Jeanette Stevens Will Bid Adieu to Her Former Staff and Students at John Leicthy Middle School Next Week and Will Return To Stay at San Pedro in Mid-August;

Her Main Goals Includes Helping Students Define Their Skills, Their Identities and – Their Futures – and Yes, They Should be Taught How to Stand Up For Their Rights at the Correct Time and Place

By Diana L. Chapman

Coming from creating a progressive and entirely new middle school campus in downtown Los Angeles – a school she and her team built from the ground up, Jeanette Stevens stopped on her first short day at San Pedro High School, greeting summer school students and shaking hands with a handful of staff.


The spunky, 41-year-old San Pedro resident – having already read the school’s dismal accreditation report – reassured the community that “we are going to be O.K.” and that she will work closely with lead teachers to improve academics, channel students interest at the school and make sure they leave prepared for their futures.

“We are going to make it work and it’s an exciting time to do that,” Stevens explained, whose father and grandmother both attended San Pedro High. “I’ve read the accreditation reports and the test scores, but I know there are good, dedicated people here. Our students will walk out of here in four years with the tools that they need and we will be well prepared to make that happen.


“We are going to work on building a team and our goal will be focused on our students.” With a team effort, Stevens -- who appears to have a refreshing approach when it comes to education and who has headed two of Los Angeles inner-city middle schools – tried out new tactics and reform to get both students and parents involved with their campus, which was divided into four small learning communities.

Students were considered like family and embraced into the culture, so they felt comfortable in a mass of 3,000 students.

During a two hour interview, Stevens talked incessantly about students and their needs and is the third principal courageous enough to take up the reigns of San Pedro High in less than three years.

Hard economic times for the district and the worst year in her profession was last year, Stevens said, when 75 percent of her Leichty teaching staff faced dismissal due to budget cuts. Students, angered by the potential loss of their teaches, were allowed to protest in a variety of ways from tying pink ribbons to the school fences and “chalk-talk” where students were allowed to write their feelings on the campus grounds, she said. Teachers were also encouraged to hold classroom discussions.


However, when a band of students stood up during their eighth grade graduation ceremony in June and turned their back on the guest speaker – an interruption of LAUSD School Board President Monica Garcia – Stevens said the moment was “confusing” and brought Garcia’s speech to an abrupt halt.


At first, Stevens explained, she and Garcia both thought a student was sick or that some other emergency had happened. After the event, the students who were part of the protest, were asked to explain their actions before receiving their certificates in the following days. Some agreed to write apologies to Garcia, she said.

The students were angry with Garcia for voting for the cuts. However, Garcia was a “friend” of the school’s and was responsible for bringing many gifts to the campus, such as Astroturf for campus’ year round soccer club, Stevens said.


“When it’s your turn to shine,” Stevens said about the event, “turn the light on. It was really unexpected. It was a time to celebrate and the kids missed their chance to shine. If they weren’t happy and they told me, I could have gotten a different guest speaker.


“I felt really bad that the students felt that way and that somewhere along the line, we hadn’t done our job.”


Despite the controversy, Linda Del Cueto who heads the region in which San Pedro High resides, hand-picked Stevens for the job. She was impressed with Steven’s progressive ideas and sharp abilities to roll out successful collaborations repeatedly.


For the past several years, San Pedro High has had difficulties keeping its leadership in tact, suffered from extensive overcrowding issues and a received a poor accreditation report that some educators consider similar to getting a D grade.


Steven’s extensive math background, her ability to start a new school from the ground up and lead another inner-city middle school, Del Cueto said, made her a prime target for the job.
She was also encouraged that Stevens lived in San Pedro and understood many of the issues the community and the high school face, including an annex campus being built at Fort MacArthur’s Upper Reservation at Angel’s Gate.


It was an unusual move to reassign a principal from another district region, but Del Cueto believed the campus needed someone more invested in the community and was pleased that Stevens two young girls attended Park Western Avenue Elementary School.


“Superintendent Ramon Cortines agreed with me she’d be a perfect fit for San Pedro High,” Del Cueto explained. “I knew of her work at two schools and some of her experiences you couldn’t find anywhere. She’s a true collaborator. She brings out the best in people and she motivates.”
Stevens replaces Bob DiPietro, who retired after two years due to family issues, but not before admitting that he was frustrated with the campus entrenchment making it difficult to make changes.


However, Stevens goal to clean up San Pedro High, she said, are personal as well professional as she wants both her daughters, Teel, a 6-year-old first grader, and Taylor, 8, a third grader, to attend the high school.


The new principal said her philosophy circles around her students, their needs and what they desire to be provided for their futures, including college.

As the leader of a brand new middle school, in the Pico Rivera District, where poverty was often a way of life, her team, two-thirds full of brand new teachers, believed their job was to help students find their identity and a place where they fit into the large campus of 3,000 students.


To do so, they broke the school into four mini-campuses and named all of them after sharks. Students kept the same teams of teachers to work with through 6th and 7th grade children to help them form bonds with the school’s adults. By 8th grade, they added new teachers to give the students an idea of the workings of high school, she said.


The students responded favorably to their houses – nicknamed Silver Tip, Mako, Spear Tooth and Blue, and helped pull together the identity of each house – which was more culturally driven then academic so the students could fit into the structure of such a large middle school. Each campus, Stevens said, was expected to operate “like a family.”


Also a big proponent of having an extremely active after school program, Stevens ran assorted clubs from a year round soccer club to photography at Leichty to keep kids at school and in safe environment .


About 250 students attended after school and the program was growing.


Stevens attended Mary Star High School and moved to San Pedro when she married about 20 years ago. She began her career as a math teacher at Gomper’s Middle School in 1990 and continued up the ladder, first as an assistant principal, before landing the principal role at Berendo Middle School.


She was then sought after to start the brand new school, Leichty, and she brought along six of her teachers who were interested in making big reforms and starting from scratch. Asked if it wouldn’t be hard to work with entrenched teachers – since most of her teachers at Leichty were new instructors – Stevens said her experiences at Berendo gave her ample opportunity to understand how LAUSD and public schools operate.

Now on her eighth year as a top school administrator, Stevens was Berendo's principal for five years and assistant principal for three.


At Leichty, her teaching team was able to work up a vision – which included making the students understand they are part of a family – and the new teachers that came aboard knew the school was based on “what the kids need.”


“I’ve definitely have experience in terms of leading and I feel I’m connected to the (San Pedro) community,” Stevens explained, as teachers rapped on the main office door eager to meet her. “We need our parents to come back and support us. And we have to acknowledge that there’s growth here. Teachers come here and work hard daily.


“ It’s time we’ve shined."

CHARTER SCHOOLS: ARE THEY THE ANSWER AND ARE THERE ANY CONCERNS TO WATCH OUT FOR? YOU BET THERE IS; JUST LIKE ANY PUBLIC SCHOOL OR PRIVATE CAMPUS FOR THAT MATTER

By Diana L. Chapman

I have a sickening and increasing fear of the new educational revolution that has charter schools popping up everywhere in Los Angeles– especially now that our mayor has endorsed this as the gateway to fixing public schools.

It stems from scary stories like this:

• High School senior, Aurora Ponce, a class president, straight A student headed for a UC university, sat in a silent protest regarding enlarging class sizes and the elimination of college prep courses at her charter campus. After she did so, the Accelerate School (several South Los Angeles charters) suspended her for two days and tried to bar her from giving a valedictorian speech.

Scores of protests forced the charter to allow her the opportunity – she deserved.

• Two teachers, during Black History Month, put together a program to remember 14-year-old Emmett Till, hanged in 1955 in Mississippi for whistling at a white woman. The program included placing a wreath down for Emmett at Celerity Nascent charters.

The 7^th grade math teacher, Marisol Alba, and co-teacher, Sean Strauss, were both fired. School officials declared that telling Emmett’s story was too horrific for young students.

I signed the petition to rehire those teachers. This is the type of program I don’t only expect – but demand from good teachers.

These Los Angeles stories, and many others like them around the nation, bother me deeply that we are murdering our public educational system and leaving behind our American values as individuals; the right to protest, the right to speech, the right to learn about tolerance – which we’ve always learned at schools. And more so, the right to learn our history.

During my junior high school years, I learned about Native American Indians living on reservations, the brutality of the Civil Rights Movement and about the Klu Klux Klan. Not once did I believe these stories were too much for me to learn. In fact, it helped shape me and taught me tolerance.

I want our children – our future – to be analytical and to know our history – no matter how dark it is. If we avoid the Emmett Till story, will we ignore slavery too? How about the Lincoln assassination? Should we discuss JFK then? What about the Holocaust?

Even when charter test scores are high, I wonder what we eliminate: perhaps we destroy the concept of students thinking for themselves.

I gagged when I read about the American Indian Public Charter schools up in Oakland.

These students live with strict military-style discipline at the school and achieved some of the highest test scores in the state – 976 – out of a 1000 on the API (Academic Performance Index). Mostly, strict academics are part of the structure such as math.

But my question is: at what costs? While public schools are teaching to the tests as well, teachers are often chagrined by this and continue their attempts to instill values, tolerance --- and our history. Maybe then we won’t repeat some of the same ugly mistakes we’ve already made.

As a parent, I took a short dip in and out of a charter school in San Pedro for my son, Ryan. It definitely was not the school for us for a variety of reasons, but in particular odd discipline policies and the amount of control the principal and executive director had was bothersome.

After that, the only recourse was to go to the board. And students were not encouraged to speak up.

We didn’t make it past the first semester, especially after Ryan was disciplined for an eight hour in-house suspension for wearing the wrong shirt to school. At this point, I decided this campus just didn’t fit us. It did, however, suit other students who blossomed and flourished at the smaller school.

Still, what I fear most coming out of charters is the cookie-cutter approach to teaching, especially at charters that are wedded to the basics, and want to squash what their students say out loud.

It’s almost a dumbing-down of students, intimidating them to not speak out vocally or become the way most of us are as Americans: believing we have the right to speak.

Jose Cole-Gutierrez, heads all 156 charter schools for Los Angeles Unified which currently serve 60,000 students.

In the end, charters have wound up operating similar to public schools – some are excellent, some are average and some have failed.

What they did offer the school district is a need for competition, Cole-Gutierrez explained and parents -- options.

The school district does not, in essence, manage day-to-day operations, Cole-Gutierrez said, but what has come out of the charter movement – which this district has the highest number of than any other in the nation – is offering choice to parents.

The district now offers magnet, pilot and smaller learning communities to its students and the district now has “the competition we need at all schools. We need to compete and give better choices,” he explained.

“We continue to be committed to high quality choices, providing charter schools with the autonomy allowed under the law and the accountability for which they are responsible,” the administrator emailed me.

David Kooper, the chief of staff for LAUSD Board Member Richard Vladovic, agreed and said the district will move toward forming small schools to compete against charters.

The small schools, which may reside on currently large campuses, will house its own counseling office and administration.

“We’ve decided to go with smaller schools and help them establish their own identity,”

This is good news – because like anything, charters are only a part of the solution.

Despite Coping With Noonan Syndrome, This Boy Can Whip Up A Satisfactory Tale in Fifteen Minutes That’s Organized and Structured As Long As He’s Given Room to Create Safely – Like Most of Us

Meet Casey Mezin, an Exceptional 12-year-old, Who Shaped a Story Called Yellow Bird from a Sticker; Don’t Miss This Amazing Piece Where he Prods Adults to Take Notice of the Beautiful Blooms in Their Lives

By Diana L. Chapman

I can’t resist when I meet a kid like Casey Mezin, who tackles more difficulties than most of us will in our lifetimes.

The 12-year-old San Pedro boy has a genetic disorder, Noonan syndrome, which prevents him from developing normally. For his age, his heart is enlarged (and much bigger and thoughtful than most people I know), his frame is thinner and much tinier for most children his age – especially for a boy.

He has big, buggy eyes (that I consider beautiful), a curly mop of hair and yes, difficulties putting together his thoughts – which sometimes make it seems like he stutters.

Those who don’t know him, probably don’t stop and think about it much. Or they might not understand that in his life time, he will likely face having a heart transplant and that his condition won’t ever allow him to grow physically the way most children flourish.

Sometimes, it makes other kids not want to play with him, but that’s because they don’t know what they are missing.

He seems t full of weird wisdom, such as when his mother, Kim Kromas, and his sister, Keli, 9, were have spats.

“He says sometimes: ‘Mom, Keli is very young and she doesn’t mean what she says,” explained his mother, Kim Kromas, a San Pedro chiropractor. “ I want you to visualize something else when you’re mad, something beautiful.”

Now when the two have a fight, Casey will wander by his mom’s room and with his fingers fluttering up and down, he’ll say: “Mom, remember: the flower garden. ..the flower garden. Think of the flower garden.”

That makes his mom laugh.

It seems like we all need Casey’s in our lives to as a daily reminder that life is beautiful and spending time being angry isn’t worth it.

My relationship with Casey, and his sister, Keli, 9, started after Kim asked me if I’d work with her children on their writing at the Corner Store on 37th Street, a great neighborhood hangout.

I suggested that we get a handful more children, which Kim did, because kids work better at helping each other in a safe and nurturing environment.

Keli, of course, a natural writer, quickly reduced her run on lines and shortened up her work in neat packages with a bow on them.

I really wasn’t sure how Casey would do. But somewhere along the line, Casey had some darn good teachers, because I was dumbfounded by his ability to write with such an organized structure and rhythm.

When I gave the students all stickers one afternoon and asked them to write about it, Casey wound up with a yellow bird. And this is the tale he spun:

Yellow Bird

By Casey Mezin

My character’s name is Yellow Bird.

I name it that because she is yellow and it is a bird. She carries her crayon to keep herself healthy and rubs it all over her body. She does it every week. But if she loses her crayon, she will get sick in a week.

If weeks pass, then she wouldn’t be able to fly. And when months pass, she better find her crayon…and fast!

She is kind and loyal to people. When she sings to people, they completely forget why they were sad, scared, hurt or angry.

At Yellow Bird's first day of school, she was excited because she knew that she would make new friends. She had at least 13 kids in her class.

Some of their names were: Key Train, Beef Neck, Chris Cross, Bacon Head, Sausage Teeth, Egg Eyes, Face Change and Night Hair.

Yellow Bird couldn't believe how many kids there were. Their teacher's name was Ms. Dawn. What they did the first day was learn their ABC's, build clay, make dolls, learn addition and subtraction, sing songs. They did a lot of stuff.

The teacher asked Yellow Bird to sing for them and even Beef Neck loved her voice. What a first day of school. Once, Yellow Bird and her class had a week of camp. She couldn’t wait to go.

She packed all her clothes: PJ's, food, and all sorts of other things. It took two hours to get to the camp. First, they learned how to fly faster, and better in case cats tried to eat you.

Next, they learned how to turn, and hover. Yellow Bird wasn't the best or the worst at hovering. Everyone has trouble hovering on their first try. Then, they learned how to glide in for worms when they are trying to escape. Finally, they tried to practice their signaling in case they ever got lost or trapped.

One of the kids got scared and started to cry, but Yellow Bird sang to him to make feel better, so he stopped crying. His name was Egg Eyes and after he stopped crying, he told everybody why he was scared.

He was homesick, but Yellow Bird’s singing made him happy again.

And so, Yellow Bird and her class went home on the last day of Camp. She slept soundly knowing she made new friends, who loved her voice and gave her thirteen more good reasons not to lose her yellow crayon.