Teachers

Laguna Beach High School teacher Jun Shen didn't anticipate the friendship he formed when he visited a Kenyan tribal village in August. After a safari with his fiance, they visited Oloolaimutia, a village outside their camp inhabited by the Maasai tribe, and were able to tour a school there. The staff told him that children walk barefoot to school - some living as far as nine miles away. There are 685 students with nine teachers, he said. The roads are rural and unpaved, and some teachers have to travel up to 65 miles to get to a computer.

Suzie Harrison The Laguna Beach Unified School District office's parking lot attracted swarms of teachers concerned about their benefits well before the scheduled school board meeting on Tuesday. Teachers from El Morro, Thurston, Top of the World and Laguna Beach High School were buzzing about the impending insurance issue, and they came prepared, passing out scripts and stickers that read "Blue Shield Now." Once the doors finally opened a little past 7 p.m., it was standing-room only.

The closing of this school year will mark a special occasion for Top of the World Elementary School as three teachers with a collective 110 years experience retire. Having outlived lunchbox styles of metal to plastic to vinyl, many things about their jobs have changed, but all three say the best things have stayed the same. Carolyn Delano, Myrna Heitel and Lois Rake will soon add their names to a commemorative plaque in the school's main entrance. Second-grade teacher Rake began teaching at Top of the World in 1967.

Middle School teachers worked diligently Tuesday to prepare for students' return to school Thursday. Teachers from Jordan, Luther Burbank and John Muir middle schools participated in staff development days on Friday, Monday and Tuesday, designed to help better prepare them for the new school year. "It gets me all the more excited for the school year," said Rod Rothacher, an eighth-grade teacher at John Muir. "It helps us get ready." Teachers at John Muir Middle School learned about "thinking maps" on Monday, which are different graphs and charts that help organize material that students learn into visual and easy-to-remember charts.

Laguna Beach High School science teachers Art Smart and Steve Sogo won this year's "Bravo to the Teachers" awards, issued and funded annually by Laguna Beach resident Natalie Zucker. Zucker, a retired clinical psychologist, presented checks for $600 to each teacher at a lunch honoring the winners June 5. This is the third year Zucker has awarded two Laguna Beach High School teachers along with 14 straight years giving the same awards in Pico Rivera. "Teachers are underpaid, underappreciated and so valuable to a community," Zucker said.

No layoffs seen in coming school year Laguna Beach Unified School District teachers and staff can rest easy ? there are no plans to consider layoffs, salary reductions or larger class sizes in the 2009-10 school year, Supt. Robert Fraisse told the Board of Education Feb. 10. While most other school districts in the state are planning for massive cuts in light of California?s huge budget deficit, Laguna Beach is one of the few districts with a balanced budget ? and has a healthy reserve in its coffers, school officials reported.

With unprecedented news coverage of the war in Iraq on nearly every channel and antiwar protests and pro-war rallies on numerous street corners, schools are faced with a difficult situation. When and how should teachers and administrators talk to students about the war? In Laguna Beach, the district has taken a stance of "responsibility and objectivity" according to Asst. Supt. Steven Keller. He said district administrators have confidence in their teachers to engage in appropriate discussion of current events without allowing public opinion to invade.

Mike Swanson Board backs new books for students The school board unanimously voted to adopt new reading and language arts textbooks Tuesday for grades K through 11 that address needs from English as a second language to Gifted And Talented Education and replace materials that Asst. Supt. Steven Keller called obsolete. Funded with $219,777.65 earmarked solely for instructional materials, Keller said the majority of the new books are consumable, or can be written in, and the district will receive replacements each year at no cost for seven years.

September 2 Labor Day holiday 3 Professional development day for teachers 4 First day for teachers 5 First day for students November 8 End of first quarter 11 Veterans' Day holiday 28 Thanksgiving holiday 29 End of trimester (grades K-5) December 2-6 K-5 Parent conferences 6 Teacher contract day / non-student day grades K-5 23 -Jan. 3 Winter recess 24 Christmas Eve holiday 25 Christmas Day holiday January 1 New Year's holiday 6 School resumes 20 MLK Jr. holiday 30 End of the first semester 31 Teacher contract day / non-student day (grades 6-12)

Mike Swanson Five Laguna Beach Unified School District teachers agreed Wednesday to an early retirement package proposed by the school board March 25, one fewer than Asst. Supt. Steven Keller's April estimate to make the plan economically feasible. Keller said the plan, administered by Keenan and Associates, will only take effect if the district doesn't lose money. Four classroom teachers and a speech and language specialist accepted the package. "It is less than the number we had hoped for," Keller said, "but we'll spend the next couple of weeks crunching the numbers.

A Mandarin language instructor will stay on this summer and next school year, Laguna Beach Unified School District board members decided at its Tuesday night meeting. The board approved a contract for Jean Wu to teach Mandarin to Thurston Middle School students this summer and after school next year, and to Laguna Beach High School freshmen after school next year. The district will pay Wu, an independent contractor, $14,040 for the summer and next school year and the money will come out of the district's general fund, according to a district staff report.

Re. " Parent urges district policy for sensitive topics" (May 3): Because no policy prevents them from doing so, currently district teachers introduce inappropriate discussions during class time on topics of no academic value, relevance, or meaning — without any professional training and without parent consent or knowledge. In light of the fact that district teachers have initiated discussions connected to recent horror stories in the news, the board must intervene. After my middle school children (and at least 50 others)

Teachers and students at Laguna Beach's four public schools will see a change in the upcoming school calendar - a move that has upset some parents. Laguna Beach Unified School District board members approved the change, in which school will start before Labor Day and a week-long break will be given for Thanksgiving, as a one-year pilot, at their board meeting Jan. 22. District officials mailed a letter written by Supt. Sherine Smith to parents following the meeting. Students at Top of the World, El Morro, Thurston and Laguna Beach High will start school on Aug. 29 and end June 19, 2014, according to the letter.

In the weeks following the tragic school shooting in Connecticut and the arrest of a man who allegedly fired 50 rounds into the air at Fashion Island the next day, newspapers, blogs and just about everyone else is talking school and gun safety. Some folks have called on schools to arm employees who are willing to volunteer for the responsibility. Today we'd like to add our voice to this important discussion by saying that we do not support arming teachers or other traditional school employees, such as principals, coaches, custodians, secretaries and so forth.

The Women Artist Event on Sunday at the Laguna Beach Woman's Club was a tribute to Liz Malloy, a local artist and club member who died in August. She was 66. Malloy co-chaired the club events for the past five years, helping others develop their talents as she had done while working as a teacher and in the telecommunications industry. She also helped provide a venue for the event, which gives women a chance to show off their artistic talents and sell their handmade wares. Under her leadership, the event reached new heights and the proceeds of the silent auction of items donated by participating artists helped fund a scholarship for local students at Laguna College of Art & Design.

Laguna Beach High School teacher Jun Shen didn't anticipate the friendship he formed when he visited a Kenyan tribal village in August. After a safari with his fiance, they visited Oloolaimutia, a village outside their camp inhabited by the Maasai tribe, and were able to tour a school there. The staff told him that children walk barefoot to school - some living as far as nine miles away. There are 685 students with nine teachers, he said. The roads are rural and unpaved, and some teachers have to travel up to 65 miles to get to a computer.

A Lake Forest man was arrested Saturday after reportedly brandishing a machete at an Anneliese School teacher. Juan Vigil Portillo, 31, was arrested on suspicion of exhibiting a deadly weapon, possession of a controlled substance and DUI, according to Lt. Jason Kravetz. Police began receiving calls around 2 p.m. that a man had pulled into the parking lot of the school, 20062 Laguna Canyon Road, when the kindergarten graduation ceremony was ending. Callers reported that he was drinking beer inside of his Toyota Tundra and acting strange, Kravetz said.

Three teachers are locking up their classroom doors for the last time. When combining Bill Darnall, Pam MacKay and Margaret Arnold's time with the Laguna Beach Unified School District, it would add up to nearly a century — 95 years, to be exact. Darnall, a ceramics teacher at Laguna Beach High School, has been with the school for 30 years. The 60-year-old said it was a "dream come true" to teach his favorite medium to children over the years. An exhibitor at the Sawdust Art Festival for 31 years, Darnall is no stranger to the community.

Top of the World Elementary School teacher Linda Barker has integrated innovative instructional techniques, such as the iPod touch, into her second-grade classroom, according to a news release. "As we look to the future of students' use of technology, I believe we are seeing a natural progression in the use of hand-held technology," Principal Ron La Motte said in a statement. "Students are already adept at using smart phone technology and they have a natural connection to small, hand-held devices.

Laguna Beach Unified School District is pushing forward a social media platform that connects teachers with students outside of the classroom. Victor Guthrie, district director of Educational Technology and Information Services, said the program - Edmodo - is essentially Facebook for the education world. "It reaches [students] the way they reach out to their peers," he said of the program. "Everyone is connecting on some sort of digital media and, historically, education is slow to adopt it. " LBUSD wants to change that.