TWO BIG EDUCATION STORIES FOR SP: A NEW MARINE MAGNET AND SP HIGH BECOMING A TARGET TO IMPROVE OR THE SCHOOL COULD WIND UP IN THE HANDS OF OTHER OPERATORS

A DOLPHIN KIND OF DAY AT POINT FERMIN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL; NEWLY FORMED MARINE MAGNET ATTRACTS A LOT OF BIG FISH IN THE SEA WH O LOVE “THE DOLPHINS”

“A school of dolphins is what we are. We can swim very far. In leaps and bounds we make our way, closer to our goal each day.” -- School Motto

By Diana L. Chapman

Point Fermin Elementary School was dolphin-leaping happy Friday when officials unveiled its new status as the first elementary campus to obtain marine magnet standing in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The school will now be called the Point Fermin Marine Science Magnet and may set the pace for forming magnets that link directly to local middle and high schools.

The celebration attracted a lot of big fish, including Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Los Angeles schools superintendent, Ramon Cortines, School Board member Richard Vladovic and Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal.

With students singing dolphin songs and the mayor saying; “I love dolphins!” students and parents alike beamed with pleasure at the new status – even though it’s been three-years in the making under the direction of Principal Bonnie Taft.

The mayor reveled in the sea marine theme saying it was logical to open the magnet in San Pedro since so “many here live by the sea.”

Regional School Superintendent, Linda Del Cueto, told the students: “I am so proud of you and every single person here today. If I could go back in time to elementary school, I’d want to be right here by the sea.”

Villaraigosa wasn’t the only one celebrating. Board Member Vladovic expressed extreme pleasure with this decision, because now three schools in San Pedro can connect as a marine magnet. San Pedro High School already has such a program in place and Dana Middle School officials, he said, are working on a plan to bring in such a magnet.

This aids the district, he explained, to unify and streamline schools, no matter the age level.

“I love what I call a focus and this brings a true focus to San Pedro,” he marveled. “Then if Dana develops this, it will stream line students all the way through. I like a thematic approach.”

State Assemblywoman, Bonnie Lowenthal, a former Long Beach Unified School Board member, applauded the move – saying when the Long Beach district produced similar schools, the results were outstanding.

“I anticipate there’s going to be a lot more energy,” she explained. “This is quite a parallel (to Long Beach) and it probably will become one of the best facilities in the area.”

No one, however, could be more delighted than the kids with the mayor tossing accolades at them, and Cortines perched on his knee so he could speak directly to the students who were sitting on the ground.

Students performed dolphin dances and sang ocean-related songs. Two students interviewed explained they loved the school and that their interest in learning increased dramatically once the school started under taking more marine related programs. The programs were fresh and exciting, they said, and kept them involved in the learning process.

“I like the ocean,” revealed Oz Ybarra, a 9-uear-old 4^th grader. “We walk to many places and go to the aquarium and the Marine Mammal Care Center, a lot of places other schools don’t get to go to. There’s a whole bunch of new stuff…and we like to learn about saving the ocean.”

Student Payton Dooley, 9, said: “It’s pretty cool and we are getting computers!”

Even marine related museums officials were on hand to celebrate. The Cabrillo Marine Aquarium director, Mike Schaadt, attended the meeting along with Marifrances Trivelli, director of the Los Angeles Maritime Museum.

Thrilled with the change-over, Schaadt said it gives him a new crew of students to prepare for marine science that will put them far ahead of the game in saving oceans.

“There are so many ocean related issues that people must address to keep the ocean a healthy place for animals, plants and people who live in and around it,” he said. “Marvelous programs like the Point Fermin Elementary Marine Science Magnet will interweave ocean issues throughout the curriculum of these young students. These students will have a great head start in learning to be wise stewards of the ocean.”

Only one person seemed to have mixed feelings. Parent Teacher Organization President, Amy Williams, who helped steer the school toward becoming a magnet, said her emotions are mixed because the school has yet to receive additional funding it was promised.

“We have yet to see any money for it and we’re still waiting. But, I will say, I’ve learned more going on these field trips then in my entire 15 years of education.”

SAN PEDRO AND GARDENA HIGH SCHOOLS FRIDAY BOTH TARGETED AS ONE OF THIRTEEN TROUBLED LAUSD CAMPUSES THAT WILL HAVE TO UNDERGO TRANSFORMATION TO KEEP FROM BECOMING A CHARTER OR TURNED OVER TO A NON-PROFIT

By Diana L. Chapman

Los Angeles unified school officials identified twelve ill-performing campuses Friday – including Gardena and San Pedro High Schools – and 24 brand new campuses that can possibly be turned over to non-profit organizations or charters.

If Los Angeles school officials fail to present a plan that can compete with other interested organizations, it’s possible LAUSD staff could lose the campuses to other operators.

The move comes after the Los Angeles school board voted to approve “public school choice” that places its schools –either new or underperforming – in a competitive process with other interested organizations.

Linda Del Cueto, district superintendent for the region where Gardena and San Pedro fall,  saw this as an excellent challenge to her staff: “Plan writing for Public School choice will be a complex, intense process. Local District 8 is up for this 

challenge!” she emailed.

In essence, the actoin means all thirty-six schools can go out to bid to operators beside LAUSD. LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines will determine which plan best suits the campus and will take his suggestions to the school board.

The information, released late Friday afternoon, determined which schools continued to fail and had not met several standards. This included:

· a zero or negative increase in student Academic Index Performance (API),

· a less than 21 percent proficiency in students in English or math

· failure to improve status over three year period.

In addition, San Pedro and Gardena campuses were both included because they have a higher than 10 percent dropout rate, according to documents Cortines released Friday.

School Board Member Richard Vladovic, whose area includes both Gardena and San Pedro high schools, said he was disappointed that two campuses in his region made the “focus list.”

He added, however, that he has great faith in the new LAUSD San Pedro High principal, Jeanette Stevens, and that the “well-defined” community of San Pedro will be able to save its school as a regular, publicly operated Los Angeles campus.

“I don’t believe San Pedro will go charter,” Vladovic explained, contending that the community and faculty will have to pull itself together to keep such an action from happening.

“I’m hoping it will bring everyone together and I believe the community will step up.”

As far as Gardena High School, the struggle might be greater to continue as an LAUSD school, due to the fact that the student population comes from all over the region.

Four other high school campuses were on the list, including Gardena, Maywood, Lincoln and Jefferson. Carver, Burbank and San Fernando Middle Schools were tallied as poor performers, along with three elementary campuses: Hyde Park, Griffith Joyner and Hillcrest.

Parties interested in operating the campuses, either new or poor performing schools, must submit a finalized application by January 8^th.

Schools within this list – new or underperforming – must include parents and students as part of their focus groups to come up with a plan.

“I do not support the concept of handing over schools to outside providers or hostile takeovers – our students need collaborative partnerships in order to be successful,” Cortines wrote the school board. “If an organization has an innovative strategy and a proven track record, it should bring the plan to the table for all of us to learn from it and then I can decide which organization has the capacity to implement it most effectively.

“We have many successes and challenges in our district, and there are plenty of opportunities for us to work together. The artificial walls between union and

management, district and charter, etc. need to be torn down.”

San Pedro High’s principal could not be reached for comment.

David Kooper, chief-of-staff for Richard Vladovic, who lives in San Pedro, explained San Pedro now will be forced to come up with a plan at the troubled-plagued campus, which has faced overcrowding, inconsistent leadership and more recently, a poor accreditation rating.

“It just means that they need to submit a plan they believe will be

successful and that plan or any others will be recommended by the Superintendent for the board to vote on it,” Kooper explained.“It is difficult to say what this means until I know who else, if anybody ,is competing against San Pedro High School and whether or not the Superintendent believes that the school is committed and able to reform the issues that is plaguing it.”

Still Living Back In Time in Los Angeles; It's Probably Time to Catch Up With the Real World

By Diana L. Chapman

A friend of a friend called. It seems, he had a vision – a vision to put internet access throughout Los Angeles city parks, like he’d seen in other cities. This allows people to sit and work in serenity.

The idea, of course, sounded like a flash of brilliance to me and the caller just wanted to know where to begin. He started with the bureaucratic process of going up the ladder of the officious Recreation and Parks staff – which I knew would probably send him upstairs and then right back down again.

Which, last I heard, is exactly what they did. But at least he gave it a shot.

There’s a pretty solid joke about Los Angeles that a friend told me once, which has been floating around for awhile. It went something like:

Question: What time is it in New York City?

Response: It’s 1 p.m.

What time is it Los Angeles? 1978.

Yep, I so often feel as a resident, among 4 million plus other citizens crammed in California’s largest city, that we’re frozen, locked into a time frame, stuck back in the years when cell phones, laptops, skate board parks and other modern facilities didn’t exist.

But now we need them – and I can’t think of a better thing to do -- then wire up our city parks so we can communicate beyond the old payphones, that don’t seem to work anywhere anymore anyway. Think of the emergencies that could be taken care of immediately with such access.

While Los Angeles remains one of the largest cities in the world, in the scheme of things, it’s behind the times as far as progress and I admit, I’m the first to get frustrated and it’s not because I like technology – but I understand the importance of keeping up the pace.

When I called the friend-of-a-friend back for a review, he’d been picking his way up the ladder, but was told that liability insurance was too much of a culprit to let internet in city parks happen. That makes me sad, because even though I’m old and not great at technology, I understand one thing: our children are swamped with it daily and are moving forward in the future so quickly that they seem to be coming smarter and smarter every day. We, the adults, are getting left in the dust.

So we owe it to them – our future – to catch up even in areas, which city officials dismiss as silly.

And if it’s not technology we are talking about, how about just that little old word called progress.

For instance, my friend, Ray Patricio, really wanted to bring goats to San Pedro, behind his home in Peck Park Canyon. His theory was simple and should have been a winner: The goats will clean up the weeds and brush, a potential fire hazard, and become an area where San Pedro families could watch goats at work. Kids, he contended, just have no idea how agriculture works, and such a program would add to their knowledge.

He got it for a week or so. It was great! Families flocked from all over. TV crews and newspaper reporters appeared. Councilwoman Janice Hahn supported it. But city recreation and park officials were always against it (I still can’t figure out why) and did everything they could to stop it from the beginning.

In the end, they won. After that, it seemed everywhere I went, I saw goats acting as cleanup crews in several cities, such as Rancho Palos Verdes. The National Forest Service uses them for this very reason and so do college campuses. So why can’t we have goats? I guess, as old-fashioned as it seems, it’s too progressive for Los Angeles.

And while I watched the city of Redondo Beach attempt to help its residents obtain a dog park – and such facilities became common in so many other cities across the board – getting one here in San Pedro was like a battle of the canines. It took years to get the dog facility, and when the residents did it, they eventually got booted out to make way for Little League fields. After years of work, the citizens who created it, moved to a smaller spot downhill.

Skateboard park? What’s that? It was never going to happen in San Pedro, so the kids built themselves one under the freeway.

When I blow through other towns – small, large, mediocre to affluent, it shocks me to see they have a state-of-the-art skateboard facility and dog parks that recreation officials helped to provide.

With Los Angeles being such a giant metropolis, it seems it should be way ahead of its time – and predicting – or at least staying to par with the present – not the past. Our city parking situation, for example, needs to catch up to cities such as Long Beach, who have ATM card machines to work for public parking!

I hear it now. Your mind is ticking and you’re probably thinking “all this takes money.”

Yes it does. But so often, the city’s citizens will raise the funds themselves and help Los Angeles build some of these facilities. Perhaps what Los Angeles should consider is using more of the community groups that are so willing to work so doggedly to get the things we need for our future – and our children’s futures.

Instead of turning them away, instead of forcing them to climb a treacherous ladder, it would be nice to see city officials work side by side with interested residents – instead of cutting them off at the pass. Together, we could possibly fly to new galaxies here -- and beyond.

If a Big-Wig Can’t Get the City of Los Angeles to Do Anything, Then Who Can? Why Would Residents Invest Their Lives Trying to do Any Projects With the City of Los Angeles? Sink Holes Become a Menace and Benches and Trails a Bureaucratic Nightmare

Diana L. Chapman

Several years back, I was talking to a remarkably high-ranking city official in the overly-beefed up, top administration of Los Angeles Recreation and Parks, and was disheartened by his story.

His service club, he explained, had raised about $45,000 to revamp an ailing city park trail and had initially been eager to get it off the ground. But after a tremendous amount of haggling, phone calls, loop holes—and a million and one reasons the city didn’t want the overhaul – the project collapsed – and never did get launched. Mind you, this guy was a top gun and was unable to make this gift to the residents happen.

Sadly, citizens and their families probably would have loved to tread upon a refurbished trail.

Not long after, in my own community of San Pedro, I learned that a project to clean up and refurbish our ancient Peck Park pool came with $1 million agreement to revamp the seasonal pool and turn it to a year-round facility.

The only trouble: the city failed to budget the pool with a year round staff, so immediate problems ensued once it opened. No one had put the longer days and hours in the budget!

Now, there are sinkholes. Big, ugly, scary sinkholes eating up city fire trucks and breaking pipelines, flooding neighborhoods. We had one several years ago in San Pedro that was so ugly, it swallowed a friend of a friend’s car, along with the driver and her son. By some miracle, the two were not injured. And for some reason, city officials and other jurisdictions couldn’t determine who caused the sinkhole.

So I ask, how can we avoid these issues? It seems to me – and I’m horrible with money and not too much of a planner myself – but aren’t we all paying the big bucks for someone up there in those towers who does this exact thing? Isn’t it the city staff’s job to inform the city of failing pipe lines, get projects in place to repair aging water systems before it’s too late, clean up pools that are desperately in need of overhaul and other problematic troubles with aging systems across the board?

It seems there should be prioritization of all these issues before things start to descend into calamity, which lately we’ve seen a lot of. And now we have this: BongHwan Kim, the general manager of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, writing an article that City Watch was wrong about the status of Neighborhood Council roll over funds.

“I instructed my staff to place a temporary hold on roll-over balances,” Kim wrote. “This was necessary so that we could confirm accurate remaining balances from prior years. This is the problem: I inherited a financial management system which lacked adequate checks and balances. One key weakness of the system is that annual reconciliations were never done – from its inception.”

So the city apparently handed out thousands of dollars to the councils without clarifying instructions – as how to watch over that money – since its inception, which apparently may lead now to some $100,000 worth of embezzlement charges of some neighborhood council members.

Since we all know embezzlement seems part of human equation for those tempted by the funds, typically “checks and balances” are in place before funds are doled out.

Somehow, “common sense” doesn’t seem to be part of the Los Angeles City Dictionary. There’s too much politics involved to let the rational, pragmatic or visionary attempts gain a foothold in the city’s system. Then there are the unions. And the officials we are paying ghastly amounts of money for the art of saying no to the public’s ideas.

In addition, we pay City Council members about $179,000-a-year, which is truly appalling because I still can’t figure out how they really help us. Let’s see: Was it Councilwoman Janice Hahn’s latest approval to support an incoming 7-11 store on 19^th Street and Pacific Avenue in San Pedro – the one the residents vehemently protested as not only not necessary, but would generate trouble for the neighborhoods in the wee hours of the night? Janice still went for the business – even though our Neighborhood Councils supported the residents’ concerns.

Perhaps we should pay our Neighborhood council members as we get much better representation – at least in our neck of the hood – out of our honest Neighborhood Councils.

After our pool opened, and a group of citizens’ accomplished this, lower level city staffers from all over came up and asked how we did it? They were amazed and praised us because all such proposals in the past had been beaten down.

“Well,” I asked, “if you see the pool you are working at is falling apart, isn’t it your job to have a bigger vision and help the city get it prioritized as a project for a future overhaul.”

They looked at me in shock. “No,” one staff member explained, who was actually a manager. “We’re not allowed to be visionary about things. It has to come from the community.”

Now, that’s a double-edged blade and a half. Because if it comes from the community, you can bet there are mid-managers well versed in the art of saying no, which is what the answer was for our antiquated pool for ten years.

Park advisory boards and Neighborhood councils, for god sakes, have to do battle to do things as silly as adding a park bench – being paid for out of Neighborhood council funds!

This has led me to conclude one thing: the city of Los Angeles, starting with its mid-managers and up, remains its own worst enemy. Imagine all the wonders we might have for ourselves and our children – if revised trails and park benches – didn’t have to go through endless turmoil and rigors – even when the money is right at the city’s fingertips.

Oh, how much sweeter L.A. life could be.

If a Big-Wig Can’t Get the City of Los Angeles to Do Anything, Then Who Can? Why Would Residents Invest Their Lives Trying to do Any Projects With the City of Los Angeles? Sink Holes Become a Menace and Benches and Trails a Bureaucratic Nightmare

Diana L. Chapman

Several years back, I was talking to a remarkably high-ranking city official in the overly-beefed up, top administration of Los Angeles Recreation and Parks, and was disheartened by his story.

His service club, he explained, had raised about $45,000 to revamp an ailing city park trail and had initially been eager to get it off the ground. But after a tremendous amount of haggling, phone calls, loop holes—and a million and one reasons the city didn’t want the overhaul – the project collapsed – and never did get launched. Mind you, this guy was a top gun and was unable to make this gift to the residents happen.

Sadly, citizens and their families probably would have loved to tread upon a refurbished trail.

Not long after, in my own community of San Pedro, I learned that a project to clean up and refurbish our ancient Peck Park pool came with $1 million agreement to revamp the seasonal pool and turn it to a year-round facility.

The only trouble: the city failed to budget the pool with a year round staff, so immediate problems ensued once it opened. No one had put the longer days and hours in the budget!

Now, there are sinkholes. Big, ugly, scary sinkholes eating up city fire trucks and breaking pipelines, flooding neighborhoods. We had one several years ago in San Pedro that was so ugly, it swallowed a friend of a friend’s car, along with the driver and her son. By some miracle, the two were not injured. And for some reason, city officials and other jurisdictions couldn’t determine who caused the sinkhole.

So I ask, how can we avoid these issues? It seems to me – and I’m horrible with money and not too much of a planner myself – but aren’t we all paying the big bucks for someone up there in those towers who does this exact thing? Isn’t it the city staff’s job to inform the city of failing pipe lines, get projects in place to repair aging water systems before it’s too late, clean up pools that are desperately in need of overhaul and other problematic troubles with aging systems across the board?

It seems there should be prioritization of all these issues before things start to descend into calamity, which lately we’ve seen a lot of. And now we have this: BongHwan Kim, the general manager of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, writing an article that City Watch was wrong about the status of Neighborhood Council roll over funds.

“I instructed my staff to place a temporary hold on roll-over balances,” Kim wrote. “This was necessary so that we could confirm accurate remaining balances from prior years. This is the problem: I inherited a financial management system which lacked adequate checks and balances. One key weakness of the system is that annual reconciliations were never done – from its inception.”

So the city apparently handed out thousands of dollars to the councils without clarifying instructions – as how to watch over that money – since its inception, which apparently may lead now to some $100,000 worth of embezzlement charges of some neighborhood council members.

Since we all know embezzlement seems part of human equation for those tempted by the funds, typically “checks and balances” are in place before funds are doled out.

Somehow, “common sense” doesn’t seem to be part of the Los Angeles City Dictionary. There’s too much politics involved to let the rational, pragmatic or visionary attempts gain a foothold in the city’s system. Then there are the unions. And the officials we are paying ghastly amounts of money for the art of saying no to the public’s ideas.

In addition, we pay City Council members about $179,000-a-year, which is truly appalling because I still can’t figure out how they really help us. Let’s see: Was it Councilwoman Janice Hahn’s latest approval to support an incoming 7-11 store on 19^th Street and Pacific Avenue in San Pedro – the one the residents vehemently protested as not only not necessary, but would generate trouble for the neighborhoods in the wee hours of the night? Janice still went for the business – even though our Neighborhood Councils supported the residents’ concerns.

Perhaps we should pay our Neighborhood council members as we get much better representation – at least in our neck of the hood – out of our honest Neighborhood Councils.

After our pool opened, and a group of citizens’ accomplished this, lower level city staffers from all over came up and asked how we did it? They were amazed and praised us because all such proposals in the past had been beaten down.

“Well,” I asked, “if you see the pool you are working at is falling apart, isn’t it your job to have a bigger vision and help the city get it prioritized as a project for a future overhaul.”

They looked at me in shock. “No,” one staff member explained, who was actually a manager. “We’re not allowed to be visionary about things. It has to come from the community.”

Now, that’s a double-edged blade and a half. Because if it comes from the community, you can bet there are mid-managers well versed in the art of saying no, which is what the answer was for our antiquated pool for ten years.

Park advisory boards and Neighborhood councils, for god sakes, have to do battle to do things as silly as adding a park bench – being paid for out of Neighborhood council funds!

This has led me to conclude one thing: the city of Los Angeles, starting with its mid-managers and up, remains its own worst enemy. Imagine all the wonders we might have for ourselves and our children – if revised trails and park benches – didn’t have to go through endless turmoil and rigors – even when the money is right at the city’s fingertips.

Oh, how much sweeter L.A. life could be.

FALL IS HERE! SCHOOL'S BACK IN SESSION; A NEW PRINCIPAL HAS COME TO SAN PEDRO HIGH AND HALLOWEEN'S AROUND THE CORNER; WHAT'S NOT TO ENJOY?

Dear Readers: Please read the review below written by a nine-year-old student of KiDazzle Art Studios. Currently, KiDazzle offers after school programs and art classes.

Nine-year-old Reviews a Summer at KiDazzle Art Studios and What She Thought of It; By Far, Making an Entire City Out of Sticks Was One of the Coolest and Favored Projects

By Keli Mezin

My name is Keli Mezin. I am 9 years old and I go to the Harbor Math and Science Magnet.

One of my most favorite summer activities was going to KiDazzle. Mike and May, the owners, are so nice and helpful. I felt so safe there. It is really fun. When I went I there last summer, I built several wood stick projects. As a matter of fact, an entire city!!

If you like to paint, they have an area where you could paint or draw anything you want. I used crayons or paint. Or, I could go and play games in a separate room. Now that is really fun.

If you are into jewelry then you could make necklaces, bracelets or even glue some beads to some wood to make a picture frame. You could learn how to sew a puppet or even a stuffed animal.

If you stay until 12:00-3:00 you could go on a field trip. This was nice because I could burn off creative energy. We went either to the park or the city farm behind Home Depot. At the farm you could see horses, a big pig, or even goats. They gave us a carrot to feed the goats. I had so much fun feeding them!

You could go fishing for crabs on some days. It was so exciting when you caught a huge crab. The most I’ve caught there was about 59 crabs.

When you go to the park you can go on the swings and climb all over. Sometimes we played Frisbee at the park. I had a big blast playing Frisbee.
If you are interested in KiDazzle for your kids, they would have an excellent time. And, they could meet some new friends like I did.

KiDazzle, 1931 N. Gaffey Street, Suite F. To reach director May Schlie, the number is 310-832-2777. For more information, visit www.kidazzleartstudios.com. The program provides after school programs, summer camp, art classes and fun nights on Friday evenings.