LAUSD "C" GRADE POLICY NEEDS REVISION DURING THE SCHOOL DISTRICT'S REVOLT

By Diana L. Chapman

The other night, an acquaintance moaned about the struggles of running an after school program at a Los Angeles Unified High School.

The problem wasn’t with the San Pedro High students he prepped for an upcoming academic decathlon on a volunteer basis. In fact, the kids blew Tom Butler away with their speech abilities; they climbed far beyond his expectations.

Shortly before the decathlon, Butler was stunned when two of his students were yanked from the team due to a little known policy that basically halts students in middle school and up --who average below a C -- from participating in field trips, after school programs and any other extracurricular activity.

This policy reminds me of the Berlin Wall; the time for it to come down – was yesterday.

As the school board marches forward with a revolutionary change in the district – beckoning charter schools to bid on 24 brand new campuses because they might educate better than some in-house officials – I am branding this policy with a big red X to remind the board this too should fall under the new revolution.

Instead of acting as an incentive, for many students this is just another nasty reality nail pummeled into their educational coffin for these reasons:

--The school district has 718,000 students, nearly two-thirds of whom qualify for partial or fully subsidized lunches, a way that marks out the poverty level of many LAUSD students. On top of this, hundreds of our students come from broken homes, live in criminal-ridden neighborhoods, have gangsters, drug addicts or alcoholics for parents, and more issues than most of us will have in a lifetime. Telling kids like that they can’t attend an after school program – the very thing that might change their lives around – makes no sense whatsoever.

In case school officials have missed it, this policy obviously isn’t working since we have a near 50 percent dropout rate and an average SAT scores of 450 in both English and Math.

Here are the reasons I opposed the policy the way its written now:

· --Teachers frequently say that field trips can make remarkable changes in students, who still have yet to find their niche or their interests. It gives teachers another tool to reach kids who are going nowhere quickly and often goes something like this: Johnny’s science brain – which has slept at the wheel for the past eight years – suddenly came out of its slumber on an expedition at sea to study fish and other sea life. This happens routinely on outings – and that’s why teachers will often like to take those sleepy heads on projects outside of school.

· --In my years of volunteering at schools, the one word I’ve heard repeated over and over again from many students is that they are “worthless.” It doesn’t make them feel any better about themselves to be banned from field trips, after school programs or other activities – and believe me – this doesn’t go unnoticed by their peers – who understand perfectly why a student is not allowed to attend. Yikes! Just add another nail hammered in, because now the student is embarrassed, humiliated and starts to see no reason to go to school.

· --After school programs can be just like field trips. They help a child explore areas in school that they might not take otherwise – such as dancing, sports, art and music – when its offered. One non-profit apparently helps students study for the written portion of the driving test after school. For the same reason as field trips, we should not ban this completely to students with poor grades.

I have come to see this black-and-white rule – which needs to transform right now – as much more painful, harmful and humiliating than the incentive it was meant to be. It reminds me once again that huge pieces remain missing from the giant tapestry that educates a kid; words such as inspiration, nuturing and creativity have fallen by the wayside and been replaced with the mighty all test scores.

Test scores are the monitor for intelligence, but wasn’t it Albert Einstein who flunked math! ?

Instead of honing in on students strengths, we – the adults -- are not letting them forget their weaknesses – and in fact – air them out on the clothesline by punishing them further. For students whose confidence already is fragile, school just provides them with one more dead end.

If our job means helping kids find themselves, then let’s figure out where their talent is and direct them using carrots from after school programs as incentives.

Take for instance, this kid:

Ramon, (whose name has been changed) was a middle school student who had tremendous athletic abilities, was a leader among his peers and was on the border of becoming either the athlete he could have become or a gang member. His grades were poor and many of his family members were in gangs. Due to the C policy, Ramon was not allowed to participate in the very thing that may have saved him – sports.

And he definitely had something worth saving. Other students liked him immensely. He was hilarious and if you were a friend, he’d save you from just about anything. One day, he spotted some students bullying a special education student around and was so outraged, he had to be forced to sit down to stop him from intervening.

The point is this: we should have used incentives for Ramon, such as allowing him to practice after school with the team – but not allowing him to play without bringing his grades up. After awhile, it got to the point for Ramon there was just nothing left for him at school. Last I heard, he dropped out and joined a hard-core gang.

I can’t help but think he won’t make it past 18.

There are many Ramons and I’ve met them over the years. But even worse, are the middle of the road students who seem to believe they have no value – the boy who saw his best friend shot by gang members in front of him, the teen whose stepfather told him he was “worthless,” so he believed it, the girl that considered school her savior because her homelife came with parents on meth.

These are the same students – I watched turn their lives around over night with a bit of help from programs such as the Boys and Girls Club College Bound program.

These are the same students who don’t need to be punished any further. They already have been numerous times.

So I’m asking LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines and the school board to allow administrators, teachers and coaches -- as a team to keep this on the up and up especially when it comes to sports – to use the very activities they’ve banned – as incentives to keep kids in school, keep their minds ticking and encourage them to bring their grades -- “a hybrid,” or a compromise as one school official noted.

Yep, it’s a bit more work, but it will be worth it.

I know every kid has a talent. Teachers know this too. So don’t take their tools away that just might be the key to unlock a kid’s heart.

As far as the decathlon, Butler said they lost the first event (winning later), but he was more dismayed the district missed the point. The students probably learned more studying for the decathlon than in the classroom.

I can’t sum it up better than my friend, a former culinary teacher at San Pedro High who wrote about a student she calls Hector who was big, bored, uninterested in football and gangs, had poor grades and was just trying to get by. He lived in the projects and no one in his family had a high school degree.

Within a few weeks of her cooking class – in his senior year – Hector at last came to life.

When the stovetop turned on “Hector was hooked…He could not get enough, ” she said.

“He filled out an application, wrote an essay, got letters of recommendation and was accepted into a cooking competition!” Sandy Wood wrote. “He stayed after school almost every day for weeks to practice. He won a scholarship to a culinary school in New England! …He called me after a week or so and said, “There are no Mexicans here!” I told him,: “There are now!

“I have seen many Hectors, and Lisas, and Matthews, and Jennifers. I have seen the fire move from the stovetop into their hearts.”

So we don’t lose these students, let’s keep the fires going and the stovetops burning – instead of stamping them out. Let’s revise that C policy now.

REMARKABLE TEACHING MOMENTS FROM FORMER SAN PEDRO HIGH SCHOOL CULINARY TEACHER SANDY WOOD WHO SHOWS US ALL HOW LATE A SPARK CAN INSPIRE A STUDENT

Dear Readers:

When former San Pedro High teacher, Sandy Wood, read this story during an event where she won an award, I begged her to send it to me. Sandy retired last year, leaving behind unfortunately an empty kitchen at the school where thousands of kids poured through her room. She often had hundreds of students on the waiting list to get into her classes.


While she changed the name of this student, I believed it was too important for more of us to hear and didn't want to let it slide by. It took me awhile to get her to submit it.

Here it is:

By Sandy Wood

Hector was pretty much a typical San Pedro kid. He grew up not in, but near “The Projects.” He was the oldest of several children. He was the first in his family to have the chance of graduating from high school. And his grades were not good.


Hector was big. The football team would have probably liked to have him on the team, but his grades would not have allowed that and besides, he was not interested. He looked like he could have headed toward the gangs, but he wasn’t interested in that either. In fact, he wasn’t interested in much.
When he came into my class as a senior, he was just looking at getting by, getting through. But then we started to cook.

And Hector was hooked. He now had a reason to come to school and a reason to do well. He could not get enough. He filled out an application, wrote an essay, got letters of recommendation and was accepted into a cooking competition!

He stayed after school almost every day for weeks to practice. He won a scholarship to a culinary school in New England! But leaving San Pedro was not something his family had ever considered. We talked and talked. After working for a year to earn living expenses, Hector got on a plane for the first time and headed to the other side of the country. He called me after a week or so and said, “There are no Mexicans here!” I told him, “There are now!”

Hector graduated from culinary school. He did well.

I have seen many Hectors, and Lisas, and Matthews, and Jennifers. I have seen the fire move from the stovetop into their hearts. That’s why I teach.

MEMORIAL SET FOR NOAH THOMAS AKERS WHO DID THE TOP SAIL JOURNEY THROUGH DANA MIDDLE SCHOOL WHERE HE ATTENDED
Photos submitted by Julie Vecera, a Top Sail Volunteer

Funeral services will be held Tuesday for Noah Thomas Akers, who died Feb. 1. He was 13.

The services will be held at 3 p.m. Tuesday (Feb. 9) in the Green Hills Mortuary Chapel. Burial will follow at the same location-- Green Hills Memorial Park, 27501 S. Western Avenue, Rancho Palos Verdes.

Noah is survived by his parents, sister, grandparents and a large extended family.

Green Hills Memorial can be reached at (310) 831-0311.

SOME SAN PEDRO AND OTHER HARBOR AREA LAUSD KIDS LIKELY TO RECEIVE OPTION TO STAY IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN SIXTH GRADE OR MOVE ON TO MIDDLE SCHOOL: WHY IT’S IMPORTANT FOR STUDENTS TO GROW AND MATURE BEFORE HEADING OFF TO THE BIG CAMPUS LIFE: LAUSD LAUNCHES A PILOT PROGRAM THAT SHOULD RECEIVE APPLAUSE!

By Diana L. Chapman

Classes were in session at Dana Middle School in San Pedro. The main hallway sat long, empty and quiet – except for one thing. There, standing outside a classroom door, was a little guy, named David, all of 11-years-old and just beginning at the middle school.

Popping out of a classroom and surprised to spot David hanging out in the hallway, I asked: “What are you doing here?”

“Waiting for my next class to start,” David stated shyly, shifting his backpack uncomfortably between his feet.

“But class isn’t for another twenty minutes. Where were you before this?” I prodded. He was scared.

“P.E. I was sitting on the bench,” he explained, “so I left so I wouldn’t be late for my next class.” That was the beginning of David’s career at middle school. He was shy, behind in reading, an absolutely wonderful kid, but not quite prepared for the big-world campus of some 1,800 plus students.

For all the David’s in the world – for which there are thousands– I can actually applaud LAUSD for launching a pilot program beginning this fall that will allow hundreds of children the choice to remain in the sixth grade at ten local elementary schools; Another 19 in South Los Angeles will -- on a mandatory basis -- adopt the same program in the fall due to severe overcrowding issues at its feeder schools.

For years now, typically sixth graders are shunted off to large, intimidating campuses that are often overcrowded, difficult to fit into socially, harder academically and come with a pile of negatives they might not have dealt with in the first tier of their education, such as drugs, alcohol and bullying.

Los Angeles School Board Member Richard Vladovic, an educator for 40 years, had long wanted to change this “from the moment he arrived on the board,” and it became his second priority, said David Kooper, his chief of staff. Vladovic’s first mission was to get students off a year round calendar system that was not nearly as effective in educating as the traditional fall to spring school calendar.

“By 2012, the schools he represents will be off of the multi-track calendar,” Kooper said. “Now is the time to make the push for K-6.”

If the proposal for the ten local schools meets with parental approval – which I suspect it easily will – the program begins in the fall. It must also pass muster with school site councils. Schools were selected partly if they had enough space to accommodate the additional students.

“I want the parents to have a major voice in the education their children receive,” Vladovic said in a statement. “This decision will be made at the school level. I insisted on a parent component with this pilot. Parents need to be engaged and play a major role in their child’s education. This entire process needs to be parent driven and parent supported. I have always believed in an equal partnership with parents.”

Ever since 1985 – when Vladovic served as a principal at Locke High School -- and watched the newly designed configuration of sixth through ninth grade, he believed it wasn’t healthy for the students.

“As you know, I sponsored the ‘Small School Resolution’ which aims at personalizing schools and providing more individual attention to students, he said. “This is a continuation of that philosophy. This is a partnership with parents, community, and staff and it is aligned with our call for quality school site personnel.”

LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines encouraged the action adding: “"I am very

supportive of local communities coming together and talking about important

instructional issues like grade configuration.  This is a great way to involve parents,

teachers and administrators in important conversations about student achievement.”

The action, Kooper explained, was in no way meant to attack the operations of middle

schools – just the size of the campuses.

All of the elementaries included in the pilot are under Vladovic’s jurisdiction, which stretches from San Pedro and Wilmington through Carson, Lomita the Harbor Gateway and includes parts of Gardena and South Los Angeles.

The ten campuses targeted for the pilot in the Harbor area with their principal’s blessings include: Crestwood , White Point, Bandini, Barton Hill, Taper, Leland, Park Western – all in San Pedro – and 156 Street in Gardena, Annalee in Carson and Van Deene Avenue in the Harbor Gateway.

Along with those schools, the nineteen elementary schools in South Los Angeles will become mandatory in the fall due to severe overcrowding at the middle school complex that feeds into Fremont High School. Those campuses include: 61^st, 66^th, 68^th, 75^th, 92^nd, 93rd,96^th ,99^th, Florence, Graham, Holmes, Lillian, Manchester, Parmelee, Russell, South Park, McKinley, Miller and Miramonte.

Parents will have the choice to send their children on to their middle schools or retain them at their current campus.

Over the years as a volunteer – I watched parents including myself -- fitfully turn over their youngsters starting at age 11 to gigantic, public middle schools.

Parents are right to be concerned – especially if they have no time to become involved. Middle schools are a place that can make or break a kid. The campuses are often overcrowded. Some students are just too young coming out of sheltered environments and are influenced by older peers.

They also switch from one teacher all day to having sometimes as many as five teachers a day in 50 minute slots where it’s hard to bond with friends, much less connect to a teacher. Instructors , on average, might teach 150 kids in a single day leaving them little time to get to know more than a handful of students personally.

In my book, there simply is just not enough adults to go around at most middle schools to help guide children, who now might be coping with social ineptness, academic hardship and an inability to ask teachers for help. Schools at this age level should never have grown so large in the first place. It’s unfair as a child develops to be swamped with so much change at once.

For the most part, middle schools turn off the tap as far as fun and nurturing and kids are pushed through the chute like they are cattle -- with little personalization.

Allowing them one more year of maturity before that happens is not a solution to the struggles of a middle school child. It is, however, a respite that gives them a better chance to survive an onslaught of change.

A GOOD LEADER RETURNS TO THE HARBOR REGION: WHY THIS MEANS GOOD FORTUNE FOR US

By Diana L. Chapman

I remember the exact day I met him, not knowing yet he was a rare breed among Los Angeles city officials. He had just settled into his new job as captain of LAPD’s Harbor Division.

At the time, I wondered if Pat Gannon would be like all his predecessors. As an advocate for San Pedro’s Peck Park Pool – where impoverished kids feared cops more than gang members – I routinely requested prior captains to allow officers to play water polo with the kids.

The request fell on deaf ears. And then Gannon arrived in 2000. I met him at a press conference, introduced myself, and with a big grin and a firm handshake he turned and said:

“You know what I’d really like to do? I’d like my officers to come and play water polo with the kids at the pool.”

He probably didn’t know just how golden those words were to me. And he did it. When he left for another division, many community leaders here were deeply disappointed. Even Los Angeles Councilwoman Janice Hahn tried to curtail his departure. So I was in my glory when it was announced in December that he was promoted and returning to this region as Deputy Chief and Commanding Officer of Operations South Bureau.

I can’t think of a better commander to be in charge of 1,500 officers and 800,000 residents. Once again our community finds itself under his radar – and this we should all be delighted and grateful for. Why? Because he cares.

No pun intended, I believe Pat, 54, is a straight shooter – and he’s not out to glorify himself or after his own self-interests. He’s out to serve his community and his officers the way he knows best. While he grew up in San Pedro, it doesn’t matter what region he’s heading. He stands for the same things: aiding the little guy, working with kids, cutting crime and gangs, supporting programs that work and helping out wherever possible.

When the Spanish speaking community asked him to provide translators, he did it in a heartbeat. When he was asked to attend a peace rally that honored the survivors of murdered victims, he showed up readily. And each time he was asked to have officers play basketball with kids at the Boys and Girls Club or Dana Middle School, he made it happen.

Action counts and having a high-ranking official respect every-day-people sends

vast ripples across any community. While he served as commander of the 77th division,

he found himself impressed with one man in particular.

Edgar, who lived with his family in a dangerous pocket of South Los Angeles, spoke little

English and fled here during El Salvador’s civil war. Coming with two beliefs, Edgar and

his wife were determined to keep their family safe and make sure both children

attended college – despite the high crime in their neighborhood. Because they were

active in their son's lives, the boys did just that.



While Edgar attended English classes at night, both sons went to Manual Arts High

School.

But Edgar did even more than that.

Scared of  police officers at the time, it took a lot of gumption for him to meet with Pat,

who he asked for help to solve crimes in his neighborhood. Edgar wanted the

Spanish-speaking community involved and Pat supported him. In the end,

Edgar pulled together dozens of families – many Spanish speaking only – to organize

neighborhood watches. These families in the past would have fled from officers,

but now they worked closely with them.

“I have so much respect for the Hernandez family and they are the American dream,” Pat said. “I would help them any way that I can.”

He added that Edgar’s eldest received a scholarship and attended MIT, graduating last year, while the younger son attends Cal State Northridge.

This, to me, is what makes Pat an excellent leader. He plugged Edgar into the department where others might not have listened or taken time to meet with him.

It was the same with the water polo.

The day of Peck Park game several years ago, the cops and the kids found out a few things about each other and discovered they needed – on both sides – to reevaluate their attitudes.

During a fairly splashy and raucous, fun game -- where the police eventually lost to the teens -- a sense of change overcame both sides.

Kids came streaming out of the pool calling the officers “nice,” and “caring,” and to their surprise like “other people.” Officers, too, marveled at the youth’s polite behavior and realized that many of the kids they served in the poor neighborhoods were often good teenagers –not juvenile delinquents.

That’s exactly what Gannon wanted.

Born in San Pedro and attending the public high school there, Pat joined the force after a long line of his family members. His grandfather became an LAPD detective in 1927, his father served as an officer starting in 1947 and his son, Michael, 27, joined the force in 2005, chalking up more than eight decades of service from the Gannon family.

Prior to his most recent promotion, Pat was in charge of LAPD’s homicide division where he and his officers worked diligently to drop the homicide rate to the most recent all time low, from 365 a year to 304.

While many with LAPD believe youth should come to the police station to learn from officers, such as its young Explorers program, Pat’s always believed officers should go to the youth. I can’t think of anything closer to the truth.

Many kids I’ve volunteered to work with over the years remain terrified of officers, seeing them as the “bad guys” when they break down a door to arrest someone or they handcuff and take away a parent, a neighbor or a friend. It seems Pat understands this.

As a youngster, Pat enjoyed repeated episodes of Dragnet which should come as no surprise -- which also helped lead him to his future career as well as his family members embracing one of the most difficult and dangerous professions in existence.

Over the years, he’s lost many comrades, some shot while on duty, and stood by his officers when they’ve suffered personal tragedy.

Officials like this are a rare breed anywhere, but especially in the streets of Los Angeles.I am honored and thrilled that Pat has returned.