Tony Moreno, owner of Taxco, with his brother and chef Eduardo, teaching students about cooking and life.

OWNER OF TAXCO RESTAURANT MAKES COOKING CLUB STUDENTS AT SAN PEDRO HIGH LAUGH, CLAP AND LEARN STEPS TOWARD RUNNING A SUCCESSFUL EATERY NOT TO MENTION  ADDING HIS OWN INGREDIENTS ABOUT LIFE

By Diana L. Chapman

They laughed heartily. They clapped several times during his spiel. They learned many tips about cooking and even more sprinkles about life from Tony Moreno, the proud owner of Taxco Restaurant in Rancho Palos Verdes for 25 years.

Carrying trays of food – cooking gear –and toting along his brother, the restaurant’s chef Eduardo, Moreno told San Pedro High students at an after school cooking club that running a successful restaurant means saving money, working hard and putting a lot of “heart” and “passion” into crafting a successful business.

“Do you guys like spicy or mild? Gringo or Mexican?” teased Moreno, 54, as his he and his brother demonstrated how to boil corn oil, chop lettuce in record speed time and prep for a festive Mexican meal. “Cooking is about using your imagination. You can make your own recipe and be proud of it.

“We do home style cooking. We have to think like Mama when we cook and the way mama used to cook.”

Some students related easily to Moreno’s story and clapped to hear that he came to the United States from a small town called La Yerbabuena in Mexico at age 17 with only $7 in his pocket – and still succeeded. That was in 1973.

 “I didn’t know any English. I didn’t know anything, but I had a dream,” Moreno explained while browning onions, adding in cupfuls of ripe, chopped tomatoes and  sprinkling in clumps of tasty-looking cheddar cheese.

Moreno, who made cooking look as simple as eating, fluttered about while grilling and Eduardo -- his “right hand man” -- sliced avocado to make fresh guacamole. The students were about to receive the  blessing of a gigantic meal – freshly made before their eyes:  tacos, chimichangas, taquitos, beans and guacamole – all of which Moreno donated for the occasion.

When Eduardo, the chef, was sharpening a knife, the students asked how to do it and Moreno popped off with a smile: “Wax on. Wax off,” making all the students giggle about his reference to the movie Karate Kid.

Moreno didn’t sit still once he arrived in San Pedro.

 He enrolled in adult school to learn English, took accounting courses – and even though it took him seven years – he graduated from high school. He took a three month course in culinary arts  and held every position in the restaurant business – busboy, cook, prep worker, delivery man.  Once he saved enough money  -- his wife agreeing to his dream – he opened his own restaurant after eleven years. It was called Taxco Café, but later renamed Pinas Café. He later sold it to his sister, Josefina, and his brother-in-law, Martin Magana, so they could start in their own business.

Shortly after, he opened the next Taxco Café on Western Avenue. Through the years, all five of his children, Elisa, Marissa, Eric, Tony Jr. and Luis, have helped in his restaurant. But he’d rather them all go to college, because working in a restaurant is “very hard,” he said.

“It’s like fireworks,” Moreno told students. “You have to be ready to sweat and work unusual hours. You have to able to sacrifice and be open with your hands to receive. What really helped us out was having faith. I took a chance.”

Visiting schools, Moreno said, is one of his ways to give back to the community which has supported him and his restaurant for 27 years.

Cooking Club teacher James Weston, who has run the after school club as a volunteer, was happy that Moreno shared his wealth of information.

“It was incredible,” Weston said. “It was incredible to have more than an amateur chef like me teaching class but rather an amazing person whose lessons transcend just cooking.”

The students gave Moreno a five star rating.

“He was really inspiring, funny and I learned you have to have heart,” for what you do, said Analeslie Martinez, a 15-year-old tenth grader.

“It was bomb,” said Ozzy Deras, also a 15-year-old tenth grader. “He told us how to know when food was ready and how to make some good guacamole.”

Moreno’s cooking tips:

--“Be organized.”

--“Gather all the materials together that you need.”

--“Have a good attitude. If you are in a bad mood, your food will taste bad.”

Moreno’s life tips:

--“Be humble.”

--“Do things with care and love,” including cooking

--“The minute you limit yourself, the other guy is there.”

--“In order to succeed, you have to do the dirty work.”

--“Do what you love.”

--“You must have an education. Tomorrow is too late”

“He’s a philosopher,” said student, Alexis Espados, 17, who wants to go culinary arts school and become a chef. “I really like him. He reminds me of my Dad. My Dad came the same way as he did. (Moreno) taught me you have to strive for what you like to do.”

 

 A TELLING STORY ABOUT A CHILD FROM INDIAN COUNTRY: DR. ARNIE 

VAINIO AGREED TO SHARE THIS WITH THE UNDERDOGBLOG READERS

Dear Readers: When I read this story in Indian Country News on my way

 home from Eureka, I was so moved I wanted more people to read it.

 So I e-mailed Dr. Arne Vainio andhe gave me his blessing.  The first part is

 poetry, to give the readers an idea ofwhat happened in Arne's life.

 Then later he tells how he tried to rescue a child. Don't miss this telling story.

 Diana

I think I could have saved him. 
By Arne Vainio, M.D. 
 
My father’s suicide. 
Suddenly life was different, worse. 
My mother grieving, adults yelling at us, 
“You kids play outside!” 
You at sixteen infinitely stronger and faster than me at five. 
Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, 
You caught me easily. 
How many times?  I choose not to remember. 
Strong hands on my neck promising pain if I told. 
So I didn’t. 
I kept the secret and told no one, 
Not even myself. 
Another child makes me remember 
 things buried long ago. 
It would have been fine by me if they stayed buried. 
I scan the funeral notices every Sunday, 
I know the lifestyle you chose. 
I know you’ll go before I do. 
You show me your obituary first, 
And our secret will be mine. 
 
Christmas always makes me think of him.  We first met him several years ago at a 
picnic in a park.  He wasn’t related to us, he just happened to be a kid who was 
7 when Jacob was 6.  His thick southern accent told us he was from Alabama or 
that part of the country.  His mom was happy the boys were running together and 
even though it was only about noon, her boyfriend was stumbling drunk. I watched 
him carefully stay out of the boyfriend’s way and I knew he was consciously 
trying not to draw attention to himself. 
 
We went to get him most weekends after that and I always looked forward to the 
end of the work week so I could pick him up.  He was always outside and his 
smile lit up his face every time he saw my car.  On that first Sunday I told him 
it was time to go back home.  He looked surprised and said in his southern 
drawl, “I ain’t going back, I’m living here now.”  It took a while to convince 
him that he did need to go home, but I promised I would pick him up on weekends 
if I could and he accepted that. 
 
Poverty was evident in everything about him.  He showed us his Christmas present 
from the year before.  It was a snow globe that you shake and the snow falls on 
the sleigh and the house in the scene.  It was coated with greasy yellow 
nicotine stains and he told us it came from a pawn shop.  He had a small set of 
cars, but otherwise no toys.  
 
Ivy bought him a toothbrush and he didn’t know how to use it.  She showed him 
how it worked and when he opened his mouth all of his teeth had deep black 
cavities.  We took him to a Chinese buffet and he took some of everything there.  
He was eating broccoli and things he didn’t recognize like he’d never eaten 
before.  He initially didn’t believe he could go back for seconds and actually 
went back for thirds.  I didn’t think his scrawny little body could hold that 
much food and I couldn’t stop smiling as he made his choices with wide eyed 
delight. 
 
It took me several weekends to build a shed in the yard and all he wanted to do 
was help me build it.  He could have been riding bikes and pedal cars in the 
yard with Jacob or swinging on the swing, but instead he diligently helped me 
and I could tell he was pretending this was a father and son project.  I read to 
him and Jacob each bedtime and he listened intently to every story. 
 
He was one of those kids who life just picked on.  He was teased and bullied in 
school because of his thrift store clothes and his southern accent.  He told me 
the teacher always sided with the other kids when there was trouble, even if she 
was watching. 
 
I called on Thanksgiving to see if I could pick him up.  His mom told me they 
had already eaten a frozen turkey roll she had heated up, but I could come and 
get him.  When I got there her boyfriend was passed out on the couch and snoring 
hard.  There was a half empty bottle of cheap brandy on the floor next to his 
coffee cup and he clearly hadn’t moved in quite awhile.  His cigarette was 
between his yellowed fingers and the ash was long and burned out.  The lights 
were off and the radio and TV were off so he wouldn’t wake up.  He and his mom 
moved quietly in the house as she was getting his few belongings ready.  We had 
a huge Thanksgiving dinner at my sister’s house and he ate several times.  We 
dozed next to each other on the couch as only best friends can. 
It was early December and we had started thinking about Christmas.  I wanted to 
have Christmas the week of December 8th, just for him and we already had his 
presents ready, but we instead decided to celebrate Christmas at the usual time. 
 
Things happened fast after that.  We heard he showed up at school with a boot 
shaped bruise on his back and that social services had been contacted.  By the 
next day, we heard they were gone.  We went to the apartment they lived in and 
the door was open.  There was a half empty cup of coffee on the table and the 
ashtray was full of cigarette butts.  The cupboards had been partially emptied 
and whatever didn’t fit in the car was left behind.  And he was gone.  We didn’t 
know how to contact them and heard they probably went back down south. 
 
A couple of years later his mom called Ivy.  They had moved back to Minnesota 
and she was no longer with her boyfriend.  She told Ivy that in the time they 
were gone, he had been repeatedly sexually abused by a 16 year old boy.  Ivy did 
the right thing and told her she needed to contact social services and offered 
to look up the phone number for her.  I wanted to go and get him, but she 
wouldn’t tell us where they were and Ivy didn’t know if his abuse would manifest 
itself in our house with Jacob.  I found all the brochures I could on sexual 
abuse and brought them home.  Ivy talked to his mom again and was told they were 
going to move again, were going to go some place where nobody knew them and 
start over. 
 
I called his mom and she told me they were packing to leave.   “I shouldn’t have 
opened my big mouth.  I don’t want social services involved and I don’t want his 
teachers to know.”  
 
I am required to report suspected abuse, but this had happened a year ago in 
another state and they were out of that situation.  This was too close to me and 
I didn’t want them to run, I didn’t want to lose him again.  I didn’t even know 
where they were or their last name.  I was pleading now, I was desperate, I was 
wrongly blaming Ivy.  
 
“Don’t go.  Please, don’t take him.  Ivy won’t say anything.  He can come and 
live with us, he can be my son.  We’ll raise him and we’ll put him through 
college.  Please… please…don’t take him.” 
 
“No, I’ve given this a lot of thought.  We have to leave.  We have relatives out 
east.  I’m changing my phone number. Don’t try to find us, we’re going to start 
over and we’re going to be fine.” 
 
She hung up the phone and he was gone again. 
 
Gone. 
 
I think I could have saved him.  And I think he could have saved me. 
 
Arne Vainio, M.D. is a family practice physician on the Fond du Lac reservation 
in Cloquet, Minnesota.  He can be reached at a-vainio@hotmail.com. 
 

 INCOMING LOS ANGELES UNIFIFED SUPERINTENDENT: I WANT TO TALK DIRECTLY TO YOU

By Diana L. Chapman

Having volunteered in LAUSD schools for more than a decade, I have a few things I want to say to our incoming Superintendent John Deasy, who is expected to succeed outgoing Ramon Cortines in April.

I have some valid suggestions – to improve our schools and the lives of our students – because sometimes when you are an outsider—rather than an insider—you can see clearly ways to fix the flaws and gaps.

Nearly every day that I attend schools, I spot salvageable students, students who with a bit of a leg up, could turn their lives around. They are often ignored as though they are nothing more than a piece of equipment on an assembly line.

I’ve witnessed straight A students who feel worthless, “like a flea on the wall,” one told me. I’ve  learned of students whose home lives are in sharp turmoil, but not one teacher has had time to encourage  or tell them what their gifts are.

As adults, we are failures whether we are a parent, an aunt, an uncle, a community volunteer, a business leader, a school administrator, a politician or even a teacher. Our job is to help kids find their talent – their niche in this life. We are their leaders and their role-models.  And since schools are  student’s second home – sometimes their only home – it makes sense to show them in that environment – the ways that they standout, what might just make their mind tick, and what careers might interest them.

And – let me emphasize this -- if they aren’t good at test scores, there are so many other ways to shine.

 Through the years, one of my biggest irritations and shames stems from watching  gifts that have been offered individual schools  flow away  like sand in a hard rain. Instead, it seems administrators have no idea how to plug in interested volunteers, such as businesses. The information is handed then over to teachers, who are much too busy to take on another plate load of work.

And yet so many things can be done. The possibilities are endless and many resources exist. They’ve just never been linked to schools and no one bothers to take the time to connect them. I loved this story from a retired culinary teacher (who had a waiting list sometimes as high as 500 at a local high school.) Calling him Hector, the 17-year-old senior walked into her class, having failed just about everything.  It seemed his options were over until he lit up the stove, and it flamed his heart and he ended up a chef.

This is exactly what I mean. One incident changed this kid’s life. Because the culinary slot remains unfilled, we started a cooking club – which is now packed one day a week. If I had my way, this club would be at least three days a week.

Therefore, here are my suggestions to the new sup who now serves officially as LAUSD’s deputy superintendent and came from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation where he served as the deputy director of education.

I just hope he listens:

--Ask parents to participate in their child’s education no matter if it’s high school, middle school or elementary – and ask for community volunteers who want to help. Quit making both these groups feel EXCLUDED. Every school should have a plan to embrace parents and community volunteers. So often those very people so willing to help are discouraged. Parents and other volunteers can be an extra set of eyes and also the only watchdog to ensure schools are running a clean operation . Campuses, including charter schools, say they want parents, but so often the door is truly closed. Even if one parent steps up, that is so much better than zero. One evening recently, when we went to our son’s school for open house, we were late because my husband didn’t get off work in time. When we walked up to one door, the teacher asked: “Are you with fourth period?” We said no, and he refused to let us in. In fact, he shut the door on us. This really felt like a punch in the face. That’s what I mean by not welcoming parents. Let’s begin to pull open those doors – not just pretend we are!

--Overhaul school lockdowns: Pleassssssssse! It’s embarrassing. The latest fiasco in January where the LAUSD police officer allegedly faked he was shot in Woodland Hills, locked down nine schools for hours, adding up to some 9,000 students staying hours longer on campus, many of whom went without food, water and toilets! They used a pail in their classroom if they had to go.  A committee, which MUST include more than a token parent, needs to form to do so.  I don’t have all the answers, but I know at least two: Find a ‘known-spot”  where a school can notify parents to meet and talk with school administrators or police during an emergency. Keep food and water in every classroom at all times. Don’t just say you do. We also must do away with an injured student being stuck in a classroom for no reason. This happened at Gardena High recently when a 17-year-old boy brought a gun to school. When it accidentally shot a 15-year-old boy in the neck and a 15-year-old girl in the head, the injured boy was forced to sit in a room for 40 minutes. That could have cost him severe physical injuries, or worse, his life. This, as one newspaper headline said, is “madness.”

--Teach schools how to use the offers they receive and plug them in! One Northrop engineer wanted to come to teach Math Counts at a middle school. A church group decided it wanted to work with middle school students who were troubled readers. The Italian embassy offered grants to pay for an Italian lessons after school. LAUSD could have used these gifts (but mostly failed too). It takes someone willing to do the additional work to make this happen. To me, this is not just a waste. It’s practically criminal to let these gifts slip by when our students are failing to graduate by nearly 50 percent. Education can come in so many ways – and just one of these programs could have turned a kid’s life around. Use these folks in. We need them.

--Afterschool programs are necessary until 6 p.m. at every campus. The world has changed and we are still trying to make it work like the 1950s. But such programs have to be run by good leaders. My discovery on my own journey is that Beyond the Bell – which runs after school programs or farms it out to non-profits, does a bad job of doing so. Pulling together many clubs after school at Dana Middle School in San Pedro, led me to discover an ugly world – of not doing necessarily what’s right for students, but more what’s necessarily right for politics. It was more than sad to watch the program that many parents helped me pull together – which included a cooking, basketball, Spanish, Art, police explorer type program – come apart at the seams because of politics. Worse, the school administrator who was supposed to support it (and was paid additionally to do so) did everything in his power to make it not work. We don’t have time for this kind of animosity anymore. We don’t have time anymore for school officials who build fiefdoms select who uses what facilities. Too many children’s lives are at stake. Even non-profits, who compete for every penny, should not be left in leadership roles. We did our program –at a school below the poverty line that never had such programs in its past – on a shoestring budget and with a lot of heart. It’s too bad that the powers-that-be pretty much killed it. I still can’t fathom the reasons.

--Last, I liked this suggestion one friend of mine had. Recruit parents to support Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to take back funds from hundreds of worthless Community Redevelopment Agencies that – as far as I can see – have done nothing for most communities –except lend a hand to already rich developers. Our community of San Pedro has a CRA, and for the past twenty some years, I’m still trying to spot what it’s done to help. My town looks the same as it did years ago, still nasty down its main thoroughfares – when it could be such a beautiful gem. I will sign any petition supporting the governor to return these funds to education so I don’t have to watch anymore the glue that holds a school together – clerks, janitors, aides, librarians and teachers  – get dumped during these harsh economic times.

John Deasy: My heart has been and always will be with the kids. I’m waiting to see if you’ll do the right thing – and rule by what the students really need – rather than what the politicians desire.

Otherwise, I believe ten years from now, LAUSD will not be better. It will be only that much worse.

THOUSANDS OF LOS ANGELES UNIFIED STUDENTS WILL HAVE AT LEAST ONE MORE ENDLESS DAYS OF SUMMER; SCHOOL BOARD REVERSES AN EARLIER DECISION AT LEAST FOR A TIME

By Diana L. Chapman

A full three months of sun and fun will continue for thousands of Los Angeles Unified students after the school board reversed its decision to begin school Aug. 15 – at least for now.

The reversal, partly led by School Board Member Richard Vladovic, was triggered due to potential additional costs to the district. Additionally, Vladovic, who is up for re-election in March, argued that it made no sense to begin an “early calendar start” until all the district’s schools are off the year round track.  He serves primarily the Harbor Area and parts of south Los Angeles.

Even more disturbing, Vladovic contended, was the lack of parent input the board sought before approving the change on a 6-1 vote– a similar misstep the Los Angeles Archdiocese might have made after announcing it would extend its school year by an additional twenty days. After backlash from parents who wanted to continue summers, archdiocese officials this week called it a “recommendation” to its 210 elementary schools.

Los Angeles school officials called the board’s reversal “a postponement,” saying the change will probably come the following year.

Vladovic was the single board member who voted against the action in January arguing  the district’s timing was off  – in particular because many schools are still on a year round track. The perilous state economy, he contended, also could make the change-over too costly – at a time the district is already swimming in budget cuts.

LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines announced the change in a letter to the “LAUSD community” Tuesday using those same sentiments.

“Beginning the year 2012, the District will no longer have schools on year-round schedules,” Cortines wrote in a letter to the LAUSD community. “It is expected that the Early Start Calendar will apply to every school in the district. We are currently discussing the 2011-12 academic school calendar and will make it available as soon as it is finalized.”

Cortines also blamed the postponement on the state’s economy: “The economic uncertainty in California,” he wrote, “continues to pose serious challenges to our District. Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed tax election in June could result in deferred State and district budget decisions…”

At his kick off campaign, Vladovic said to a reporter that he was  disturbed the board failed to gather much parent input. Only about 150 parents replied to a survey on LAUSD’s website, he said, and nearly 70 had protested the change. Many parents didn’t know the survey existed, he added.

“I am thrilled and relieved by the decision of the Superintendent to delay implementation of the early start calendar for another year,” Vladovic said. “As the lone dissenting vote when the item originally came to the board, I have advocated vigorously against this year’s implementation of early start calendar because of the lack of parental and community involvement as well as the lack of dialogue with our employees."

Ironically, one of Vladovic’s contenders, candidate Jesus Escandon, who was initially supported by the UTLA, the teacher’s union, backed out of the race. The UTLA had supported Escandon, but it was later learned he had two convictions, one for public drunkenness and another for drunk driving. His name will still appear on the ballot. Another candidate, Roye Love of Carson still intends to run, but lost to Vladovic in the prior election.

The “early start calendar” stemmed from  school officials urging that it would likely improve student academics and test scores in the second largest district in the nation.  The district, which has nearly 700,000 students, has a near drop out rate of 50 percent and abysmal test scores.

Starting school nearly three weeks earlier than the traditional dates of returning after Labor Day – would end the first semester before students broke for spring vacation. In addition, it would give additional time for students to prepare for student testing, done typically  in May.

If the new calendar is adopted, school would then end June 1 rather than about twenty days later.

Had the board gone ahead with its plans, several parents said their children would not be attending school due to prepaid vacations, family reunions and weddings.

 LOS ANGELES SCHOOL OFFICIALS SCRAMBLE TO DETERMINE HOW TO HANDLE  STUDENTS WHO DON’T RETURN TO SCHOOL ON THE NEW  AUG. 15 START DATE DUE TO PRE-PAID VACATIONS, FAMILY REUNIONS AND OTHER MATTERS

And why so many parents are receiving letters their child is truant

By Diana L. Chapman

Even though most Los Angeles schools will be back in action in the summer heat mid-August with its new official start date, one family  paid for a family reunion not knowing the school district would change the playing field.

Their kids will not return the first week of school their first semester during the summer after the school board voted to start school Aug. 15.  

The question now is this: will their children be considered truants?

Another father complained, along with the swell of others changes mucking up the Los Angeles Unified School District due to budget cuts, the early start convinced him to start searching for alternatives to public high school for his straight-A daughter.

And in the case of my family, we  don’t have to worry about starting school early. We haven’t paid or planned our vacation yet. But we were worrying about a terse truancy letter involving our 17-year-old son when we arrived home from our holidays in January.

This flock of ongoing changes made some parents, including me, feel, well, somewhat ambushed.

Now, the district is scrambling to determine how best to handle incoming students who miss several weeks at the start of school due to already planned and paid for vacations.

In January, the Los Angeles school board voted  6-1 to have all its schools start mid-August, rather than the traditional fall date of Sept. 5 or after. Neither parents or teachers were given much warning and the change will happen this coming school year.

 While school officials believe this will improve test scores and grades, School Board Member Richard Vladovic who is up for re-election in March and who oversees the Harbor Area,  voted against the measure.

 He contended, while he would likely approve it in the future, that it was poorly timed, parents had little chance to give their input and that LAUSD should wait  until the remainder of its schools currently on year-round track return to a traditional schedule next year.

His objections were quickly voted down.

Tentatively, school administrators currently say students returning late to school will be taken on a case-by-case basis, explained  Mike Romero, superintendent of District 8, which includes all the Harbor Area and central portions of Los Angeles.

“I told our principals that the schools should be flexible and understanding,” Romero explained, “for a non-refundable vacation or a wedding or a reunion, I articulated that to our principals. I want to propose that our thinking be humane.”

 Los Angeles Schools Superintendent Ramon Cortines suggested exactly that philosophy, Romero said.

But getting all the schools on the same map could be tricky.

David Kooper, Vladovic’s chief of staff, indicated that absent students starting Aug. 15 can no longer be dropped from class after the first three days of school – as has been done traditionally in the past. Campuses will now have to determine whether each of those students was excused for their holidays.

Excused students, Kooper said, should receive ample amount of time to make up their work and parents can warn schools ahead of time of their plans.

In the meantime, another issue cropped up involving student absences. So many schools had neglected to follow a state education code that demands parents be notified immediately if their child reached three unexcused absences.

To fulfill that, the district began sending out a swath of automated letters from its downtown headquarters, shocking some parents who had never received such notices before.

This is what led to my son and many other families receiving truancy letters with little warning, school officials explained. The letter  threatened actions such as a student having their driver’s license yanked or delayed.

 “That letter is alarming, I know,” agrees Romero, the head of District 8. “But it’s been part of the education code for a long time and now it’s centralized. But it’s about the importance of attendance.”

Our son’s absences were actually excused, so I was able to rectify the problem writing letters. But it was a shock nonetheless, and while I agree the district needs to go after truants, it’s always a pleasure to have a warning. We received none.

Having written a column earlier about this plethora of changes, I urged that the second largest school district in the nation, with nearly 700,000 students, be broken up. I believe it’s too large to get a handle on itself and is a sinking ship.

Kooper, Vladovic’s deputy, disagreed:

 “We have real reform happening at our schools now,” he said. “We have great teachers, administrators, custodians, and other school site employees at our schools,” Kooper said. “The district would like nothing more than to provide our schools what we have in the past, but the budgetary shortfall coming from Sacramento is simply too much to bear.

 “Over 80 % percent of the LAUSD budget is used to pay for employees. When we have to cut funding from our schools, we are losing these valuable employees.”

As far as truancy now being handled in a more timely manner,  Kooper added, “Truancy is a real problem in our district. If students are not in school they are not learning. The goal of reducing truancy has always been an issue. But with newer technology, there are many more ways to notify parents and outside agencies that children are truant.”

In addition, truant students cost the district money. Schools are paid ADA – or an average daily attendance rate – about $30 per student a day.

While administrators say ADA is not the reason they are going after truants, Romero said  that his region’s goal is to jump at least one percent in student attendance. That increase would bring about $3.7 million to the district’s coffers.

All I can say is, I can’t wait to see what change comes next and whether parents will be included in the mix.

 FAILING OUR KIDS ONCE AGAIN: WHAT SHOULD WE DO? GARDENA HIGH SHOOTING INCIDENT TELLS US WE HAVEN’T DONE ENOUGH AND THIS WILL CONTINUE TO HAPPEN AT YET ANOTHER SCHOOL NO MATTER THE LOCATION;

WHAT SCHOOLS AND THE REST OF US NEED TO DO

By Diana L. Chapman

The kid who brought the gun to Gardena High School Tuesday morning and “accidentally” shot two students might have any of these situations surrounding his life:

He might have been bullied and brought the gun for protection.

He might have brought this big, bad revolver to show off.

He might have carried the gun to stave off gangs after school.

Ironically, Los Angeles Police Deputy Chief Pat Gannon said the 17-year-old who toted a gun on campus in his backpack was not “hardcore,”  had no gang affiliations and was filled with remorse that his gun had gone off accidentally shooting two students with one bullet.

Gannon, having talked with the media all day long since the shooting around 10:30 a.m., said police consider the incident accidental because witnesses' views collaborate the suspect's statements. He apparently dropped his backpack down, which appeared to slam the hammer hard enough for the gun to go off, Gannon said. The bullet then ripped through the neck of a 15-year-old boy and slammed into the head of a 17-year-old girl, the deputy chief explained.

The suspect “has been very cooperative and his mother has been cooperative,” Gannon said. “There’s a lot of remorse. He’s just telling us what he did and how he did it and why he did it. He said he didn’t feel threatened at school.”

Although there were television reports the student was homeless, Gannon said officers were easily able to reach his mother at her Compton residence. The student had one fight in the past, possibly at another school, and was on probation for that, Gannon explained. He was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon.

What Gannon says is hard to understand is why the suspect brought the gun onto campus in the first place.

But whatever the 17-year-old’s reasons , it shows once again how we’ve failed our kids all the way around. Now we have one 15-year-old girl with a gunshot wound to the temple in critical condition and a 15-year-old boy with a neck wound in serious condition at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

Gardena High, with a 36 percent dropout rate and past clashes over racial tensions, immediately took a beating on talk shows. The Los Angeles Unified school board declared the sprawling school with some 3,100 plus students as a “public school choice,” about a 1 ½ years ago.

That meant outside agencies could have vied to take it over, but not a single organization offered to run the campus, one of the physically largest in the school district.

Today, on talk shows, the school was taking a beating. KFI talk show host, John Kobylt, said “we ought to bulldoze that school” and that parents should be smart enough to move out of the area.

I feel differently.

We can all sit around and clamor about how terrible Gardena High is and how it’s all the school officials fault – and maybe part of that’s true.

But in my book, we are all at fault. This same situation could have happened on any campus at any time as we first learned on April 20, 1999 when two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who were often bullied, sprayed bullets all over the Colorado campus in a middle-class enclave. They killed 12 students, one teacher, and injured 21 others.

Repeatedly, we have been warned that bullying is a common denominator at every school  no matter the economic background. It penetrates private schools, rich schools, poor campuses – and even colleges. And yet, we’ve still done nothing really to deter or resolve it.

What can we do? Here are some suggestions for schools and the community at large:

--Train – and I mean train – volunteer parents and community members to add additional supervision on campuses. Allow some volunteer parents to act as student advocates where they can come and report their troubles so they can be steered  to the right resources either at the school or off-the –campus. Later a news station reported the 17-year-old was homeless. This might have factored into his problems.

--Understand that parents must – and I mean MUST  – return to schools whenever possible in as many capacities as possible, helping with fundraisers, volunteering for tutoring, aiding in yard supervision, doing clerical work – no matter whether their child is in kindergarten or high school.  The more adults around, the safer a campus will be.

--Large urban school campuses should work directly with gang intervention workers and have them come to school to talk with students. They know more than we do, and can get students to tell them more than we can. They are only typically called in when there’s an emergency – instead of being on board to prevent them.

 Recently, Gannon commended several gang intervention workers and their organizations publicly for dramatically reducing crime in Los Angeles. If all a parent does is raise funds to bring intervention workers to school, then they’ve added to the solution.

--For once, parents and administrators need to come together to map out plans about how such emergencies should be handled. To tell parents not to come to school to pick up their children in such a crises is ludicrous. The minute I hear something like this happens at my son’s school, I can assure you I’ll be jumping in my car and speeding to get there.  So will most parents. Instead, parents and school administrators should come up with a plan where parents can wait at an area near the campus while school officials and police can keep them informed and children will be released when possible.

Life and death situations happen at schools. They are small cities. Students get sick. Students bully or get bullied, tease or get teased and hurt each other mentally – if not physically. Crimes happen.

The only way to solve this is for parents, administrators, school police, students, Los Angeles police, and community volunteers, to come together to avoid these catastrophes.

Most of all, we need to quit burying our heads in the sand, pretending it won’t happen again. History shows us one thing clearly  -- it will.

Jessica Martin, far right, trains two students how to write.Teacher Sionni Bongiovanni takes notes while learning.

 TO ENHANCE HER STUDENTS WRITING, SAN PEDRO POINT FERMIN MARINE SCIENCE MAGNET PRINCIPAL BRINGS IN THE WRITING EXPERTS TO SUPPLEMENT CLASSES AND  GIVE TEACHERS THE EDGE

By Diana L. Chapman

“I believe every child can write,” Principal Bonnie Taft, Point Fermin Marine Science Magnet Elementary School

 So do I.

 That’s why I was thrilled to  watch the kind woman sitting cross-legged on the floor, a pen perched over her ear, telling the first graders: “Today, you’re going to write a story,” immediately grabbing the wiggling students’ attention.

 The marine magnet first graders began oohing-and-awing with anticipation.

 “Writers, writers, writers,” said Jessica Martin, “everybody pick a writing partner and turn to them and share your story idea. “If you say: “I don’t know what to write about,” then one way is to think about it is the places you’ve been. I love to go to the park. I love to go to the beach. I love to walk in the sand and make a sand castle.”

  After watching her do quick sketches illustrating her own story, students scurried back to their desk to draw their own tales on three page booklets. What emerged were tales of victorious soccer plays, shopping trips to Target with parents and a shark and fish escaping from the BP oil spill searching for a castle where they could find safety. First, the students sketched out their ideas and afterward  wrote the story beneath the drawings.

Having for years believed we taught writing the wrong way in schools, I was as stoked as the kids to have a writing expert like Jessica Martin come in a series of workshops on campus where children will learn to provide content first and then come to understand grammar and spelling skills along the way. But Martin’s job is more about supplying teachers with new strategies than to teach students.

And it’s often done teaching teachers right in the classroom – alongside their kids.

Immanuel Huertas, 7,  right and Jhai Yarbough, 7, left share ideas about their stories. 

 Martin, and her partner, Renee Houser, who both trained with the Columbia Writing Project, are now visiting schools -- charter, public or private -- through their program --- www.growingteachers.com . The whole point is to supply teachers with new and inspirational ways to teach the precious skill, strategies that will supplement the current instructor’s curriculum.

“I saw the program demonstrated at another school,” Principal Taft said, “and I jumped on it. I saw it as a very workable strategy that would complement teachers in the classroom, give them a foundation and the work begins in kindergarten. They (Martin and Houser) don’t preach to the teachers. They work alongside them.”

Martin, who instructs kindergarten through second, and her partner, Roundhouse, who teaches third through fifth, have showed young writers a process that seems to work while revealing to teachers how the craft can become exciting and lifelike in a child’s mind.

“I’m so excited about this,” said second grade teacher Sionni Bongiovanni after Martin finished working with her students. “I have a thousand more strategies.”

As visitors clopped out the door, Bongiovanni turned to her class with a bold gusto in her words: “Wow, was that cool or what?” with the students screaming yes.

Ten teachers out of 13 at Point Fermin readily agreed to undertake the program, said Taft who believes it will enhance students work – and bring out writers in all of them.

Principal Bonnie Taft watches as Jessica Martin teaches a kindergarten class.

I can’t help – as a long time writer – agree that this new approach will aid would-be writers to come out of their shells, some of whom might be hiding due to their fears of  making a spelling or grammar mistake. Many students, as they grow older, dismiss their writing skills early on, often after they’ve received a paper back clotted with red ink.

Teachers don’t always look at content, but the precision of the grammar and spelling. This strategy flips that process around.

When Taft told me about the writing workshop, I was eager to see the interaction. On my own, I teach children the joy of writing at the local Corner Store – and what pleased me most with Martin’s work was the idea of making the skill fun – something a child can not only get a handle on, but embrace. The women model it by doing their own drawings and story first.

“I try to choose stories they can relate to,” Martin said. “I tell story and add dialogue to make it fun and playful. Stories start out with dialogue and settings. So they sketch first and then plan.”

On one visit, Martin – who always called the students “writers” first asks them to listen  – and then removes her trusty “writing tool” – a pen -- from above her ear. To illustrate, she’ll  quickly sketch it out on three pages using stick figures.

“One day,” she muses …”my family went to the beach” -- the beginning of the story which she draws on page one.

 Then, on the second page, Martin illustrates how she and her family built a sandcastle and put a feather on top – the middle of the story.

 On the third page, she draws  the family looking proudly at their work and  then announces and “do you know what my baby girl did?” – she jumps on it and ruins it (the end of the story)! The students giggle loudly.

Once she demonstrates, the students share their ideas with each other and then begin their own booklet. This system ingrains the idea that each story  must have a beginning, middle and an end.

Immanuel Huertas, 7, and Jhai Yarbough, 7, eagerly and happily begin sketching their tales out along with scores of other students showing off their work proudly.

 In other classrooms Martin visits, students follow suit. Little dramas unfolded on paper – and for those who struggled, Martin was able to show teachers how to pull  those students aside and work with them in a small group. Martin would   get them started on their beginning.  One boy told a story about playing soccer with his brother playing on a red team, but he was stuck on the first page.

Martin sat on the floor and guided him by saying: “What’s next?”

Finally, he tells her his brother kicked the soccer ball and ended with the red team winning. With his writer’s block eliminated, he was able to draw out and tell the remainder of his story.

No one can be more thrilled with the new process then teacher, Nichole Sakellarion, who teaches a fourth-and-fifth grade combination class. Sakellarion, who was coming to the end of the program with her fifth graders, said she bonded better with students and learned  how to write better herself alongside them.

“I didn’t feel slighted or out of place one bit,” Sakellarion said outside a classroom about having the experts come to her classroom. “I was open to the idea and now I’m writing with the students. I have a notebook just like theirs. It’s the idea that we are learning together.

“What I like is that this is content. Before what I would get was perfect grammar, but there was no substance. I just know my kids are getting so much more now.”

It appeared so as the students piled story after story high on teacher’s desks and many showed their work off proudly.

Both Martin and Houser were trained at the Teacher’s College at Columbia University. While the university brought to the classrooms lines of books to give teachers guidelines to teach writing – a large public school asked in 2001 how the strategies could be worked successfully in a busy classroom.

Born out of that question was the program, FirsthandHeinemann.  Lucy Calkins and many of her colleagues (such as Martin and Houser) streamlined the essence of books, developed strategies, and then began to show teachers how to  integrate them in the classroom.

When Martin decided she wanted to move back to California – and Houser later joined her, the two built their own program here.

Locally, the “buzz” started after Park Western Avenue Elementary School, using the initially developed program, found it exceptional. Since then, the local team has visited Bandini, Barton Hill, 15^th Street and White Point elementary schools.

Los Angeles school officials have been so impressed they are considering using it on a much wider scale. To aid teachers, Martin and Houser also give Saturday workshops directly to instructors.

“It’s to support teachers to build confidence in their writing ,” Martin added that “Writing is often a sore point for teachers.”

Writing has become a focal point in education as student test scores in the area have plummeted. But if you teach students to enjoy writing, then they will learn the rest, Martin said.

“If you are going to love to write, then we can give you the mechanics. It’s a balanced literary approach.”

Nothing can be more true than that.

 

San Pedro activist John Mavar above is on a mission to name the new San Pedro High School annex,  currently under construction, after city father John Olguin.

John Olguin giving a speech -- Cabrillo Beach Aquarium

NAMING THE NEW AND CONTROVERSIAL SAN PEDRO HIGH SCHOOL ANNEX AFTER MARITIME LOVER AND CITY FATHER  JOHN OLGUIN WHO RECENTLY DIED MAKES SENSE AND MIGHT EVEN BEGIN TO HEAL THE COMMUNITY 

By Diana L. Chapman

Maritime lover John Olguin, a former county lifeguard who raised funds to develop the Cabrillo Beach Aquarium in San Pedro, brought lessons of the ocean into the households of thousands of kids throughout Los Angeles.

Many of those students visited the beach for their first time during field trips to the marine facility thanks to Olguin, who died at age 89 at the beginning of the New Year.

There could have been no better teacher than the always-tanned, silver-haired Olguin, who once told me that he wanted as many children as possible to learn about all the ocean’s creatures, great and small.  While captain of the Cabrillo Beach county lifeguards in 1949, he was named director of the then-small, but quirky museum, later remaining director emeritus.

And history was made. He became a treasured promoter of the aquarium that educated scores of students coming from across Los Angeles about the sea.  Now, another movement is afoot to honor the “humble” man, who taught the Harbor Area community in magical ways.  He organized midnight grunion runs so children could learn about the spawning habits of the tiny fish and launched some of the first whale watch cruises that educated hundreds of boat passengers about the mega-beasts.

Calling Olguin an “icon and city father,”  San Pedro resident John Mavar, who respected Olguin for his remarkable projects and dedication to the community,  said its time to honor him by naming the 810-seat campus currently being built in the Pacific Palisades after the time-honored mariner.

Mavar, 34, a community activist who serves on the North West Neighborhood Council and once worked for former Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn, said he befriended Olguin and supported many of the seafarer’s projects.

The new learning annex – which will host a marine magnet and be filled with marine research laboratories – currently is under construction at Angels Gate on the Upper Reservation of Fort McArthur and marks a perfect way to honor such a giving soul. The magnet, currently at San Pedro High, is expected to connect and continue work with the Cabrillo Aquarium.

“I started this movement about a 1 ½ years ago,” said Mavar, who admitted being met with resistance at the time from some community members who remained hostile about the building of the new school – an annex expected to relieve overcrowded San Pedro High and open in 2012.

“With John’s unfortunate passing, it’s my gut and my instincts that tell me this is right to do for John,” Mavar explained. “He brought people out to one of the biggest (gifts) on Earth. He wanted to teach and show people the accessibility of the ocean and the protection of our wildlife and coastline.

“He’s a community icon from what he’s done from the longevity of raising money for worthy causes to the teaching he’s brought through the aquarium. This is a fitting tribute.”

Los Angeles Unified School Board Member Richard Vladovic has supported the effort, said David Kooper, his chief-of-staff,  adding if the community wants the school to be named after Olguin, the board member will happily endorse the proposal.

Currently, one name being floated around is the John Olguin High School Learning Annex, Mavar said, but he’s open to suggestions on ways to fashion the name.

“John Olguin was a true American hero and a true hero of mine,” Vladovic e-mailed about the proposal. “It would be my honor to preside over the effort to name the new annex the John Olguin San Pedro High School Learning Annex.”

I agree this is a fitting tribute to the ocean lover for two reasons. There’s no way to count the endless gifts Olguin, who is survived by his wife Muriel, gave to San Pedro and the Harbor-area region in general.

Fireworks happened annually largely due to Olguin, who would stand in the Von’s parking lot on 25^th Street with a tin can asking for donations to support the July 4 event. He had no shame about asking for funds when it came to his community and did so for decades. One year, Mavar said, Olguin dressed up like a fire cracker.

Among some of his many projects, Olguin also helped raise money for blue lights to grace the landmark Vincent Thomas Bridge, which connects San Pedro to Terminal Island and Long Beach. The bridge lights had grown dimmer over the years due to the high cost of lighting maintenance. The project was successful and new teal-blue lights now glint and glow across the curved roadway – one of the only  gateways to San Pedro.

Therefore, like Mavar, I find it a fitting tribute to name a school – largely dedicated to the marine environment – to a man who gave so much to all of us.

In particular, the soon-to-open campus, which ripped apart the community between the need for a new high school and the balance of keeping the serenity of beatific park lands at Angel’s Gate, needs to come to grips with the new school and begin to heal.

Olguin was one man – who seemed to dance around politics and bring people together to promote and accomplish tremendous gems in San Pedro and the Harbor Area as a whole. He was the master of his San Pedro ship, a  man who steered a course so that many good things happened here. Most of all, he was peaceful and would want this community to begin to heal.

Resident Jennifer Marquez summed it up best: “John Olguin gave so much to San Pedro and its residents. Who better to name the new school after? He is such an inspiration on some many levels and what a wonderful way to teach our children about the importance of community service by naming it after him.”