Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
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All over the United States, local and national leaders debate the possibility of opening school in the fall. In many areas, officials and teachers are reluctant to invite children to congregate and act as their usual petri dishes, distributing a variety of viruses to each other and their families. This year, the virus in contention is SARS-CoV-2, a germ that has already killed 138,000 in the U.S. to date. Though the risk from COVID-19 to the children themselves is low, it is much higher for...
Today staff at the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District recommended learning occur solely from a distance when school reopens in August. The SMMUSD School Board will decide at their July 16 meeting if they want to take staff's recommendation, but it is unlikely they will disagree. Schools in Santa Monica closed in mid-March due to the growing epidemic of COVID-19 in the county. They did not reopen for in-person instruction but moved to an online-only format. In a survey conducted of...
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has announced its plans for Fall semester 2020. In light of ICE's plan to deport foreign college students who are only enrolled online, MIT will invite all foreign students. Also Seniors are allowed to live at MIT and take classes conventionally. US Immigration has announced that it would deport students who outstayed their Visa's, if they are only taking classes in the US online. The theory is that they could just as easily take online classes in their...
America's oldest college, Harvard University has announced that it will teach all of next year's courses online. In addition, it will not decrease it's annual undergraduate tuition of $49,653 per year. 40% of students, mostly Freshmen, will live at Harvard and attend traditional lectures next year, living in single dormitory rooms and social distancing. These 3 decisions will no doubt influence the move of other prestigious college and universities. Covid-19 has forced online teaching of...
SMMUSD spokes woman Gail Pinsker sent an e mail on Tuesday afternoon, warning local families that they may receive phone calls from scanners urging them to purchase gift cards for local schools. Apparently, the scammers say they are working for School District Superintendent Ben Drati, and asking the recipient to purchase a gift card for the district. Some of our PTA groups, staff are collecting for needy families, so please continue to vet the requester, and support as you can and see fit. Or,...
If you're planning to be a Freshman next year at SMC, you'll have to do it online. Santa Monica College has cancelled its fall semester due to Covid-19. "Can you believe this? It's not easy for many kids to learn online," said one local mom. "This probably means the middle school next door (John Adams Middle School) will also be closed. The moms are all going crazy now. It's not easy for parents to become teachers. I didn't use to think that this coronavirus lockdown had gone too far, but now I...
The Corsair, Santa Monica College's student-run news outlet, has won an award for "online general excellence" from the Journalism Association of Community Colleges (JACC) and four student photojournalists won individual awards. These wins for the statewide competition were announced Friday, April 17. In addition, two student photojournalists have also won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association's California Journalism Awards, announced March 31. "Corsair student journalists a...
Editor's Note: What follows is a press release from Santa Monica College. It has not been edited or check for facts. SMC, East Los Angeles College (ELAC), and Orange Coast College were among 23 California Community Colleges across the state to donate ventilators, respirators, and personal protective equipment (PPE) to hospitals fighting COVID-19, the 2019 novel coronavirus. The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) picked up 19 ventilators, six respirators, and several...
Santa Monica College (SMC) has announced that two more students have tested positive for Coronavirus. The college had previously announced that one student had come down with Covid-19, so this brings the total to three SMC students with the illness. The press release from College President Kathryn E. Jeffery is below. We have received confirmed medical reports today that two more Santa Monica College (SMC) students have tested positive for COVID-19, the 2019 novel coronavirus. One of the student...
3/19/20: Santa Monica College reported Thursday evening that one of its students has tested positive for Covid-19. All who had contact with him or her, are now advised to self quarantine. SMC draws about 20% of its 25,000 students, from China. The press release from SMC President Kathryn E. Jeffery's office is below. It identifies neither the student, nor his gender, nor where he or she came from. Dear SMC Colleagues & Students, Late this afternoon, we learned that a Santa Monica College...
Just hours after Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District announced they were closing all schools Friday and Monday due to Coronavirus exposure, Beverly Hills Unified School District announced they were taking a pre-emptive strike. Starting Friday the 13th at 1PM, BHUSD will shut down until April 5th. The closure includes all schools and the district office. This will allow all school sites to be cleaned and sanitized. Students that are provided lunch by the district will still be able to...
Santa Monica College has now joined the long list of schools shutting down to contain the spread of Covid-19, or Coronavirus. Early this evening, SMC announced that all classes are going to be cancelled starting on Friday. And next Wednesday, classes will switch to online. All extra curriculars, travel, and clubs have also been cancelled. All volunteer activities by students have been curtailed until further notice. SMC joins USC, UCLA, LMU, Pepperdine, and almost all local private schools in...
UPDATE 8 PM: An email from the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District admits possible Coronavirus exposures at 3 Santa Monica schools. This update just in from the District, signed by Ben Drati, Superintendent: District leadership spent several hours today in our Emergency Operations Center, which closed for the evening at 6:30 pm. We continue to be in communication remotely, as needed. We will reconvene tomorrow. During our session today, we discussed the concerns of possible exposure...
Coronavirus has caused the closure of a Santa Monica school, St. Anne's Catholic Elementary School on Colorado Blvd. The one day closure, a spokesman said, "was out of an abundance of caution, and concern for the safety of our children." The school reopened Tuesday, "on the advice of the Archdiocese." One of the staff--not a teacher--believed she may have come in contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19 and she decided to self-quarantine. St. Anne's School decided to close Monday...
The ghoulish Addams family is visiting the graveyard for an annual gathering of all family members (living, dead, and undecided) to celebrate what it is to be an Addams ("When You're an Addams"). Uncle Fester stops the Ancestors' return to their graves to enlist their help. He explains that Wednesday, under protest, has invited her new (normal) boyfriend, Lucas Beineke, and his parents, Mal and Alice, to dinner. While torturing Pugsley on a rack, Wednesday admits that love is pulling her in a...
On Monday, 261 parents, led by former Rent Control Chairperson Joel Koury and Joseph Pertel, both attorneys, filed an objection to a class action settlement between the Santa Monica-Malibu School District and the parents of students who attended SMMUSD schools between July 2016 and the present. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of students who were required to pay school expenses, including supplies, field trips, and athletic participation fees, in violation of California's constitutional...
On Monday, the much-anticipated results of the Democratic Iowa caucus were not available once the event ended. An app that had been designed to report results automatically from the phones of the precinct chairs either did not download, did not work, or was too complex for the user to figure out. It took two days for the Democrat party's election officials to parse through the precincts' reports to come up with some numbers that they declared definitive. If Iowa's Democratic party had conducted...
A lawsuit against the school district has resulted in the disbursement of funds to certain parents. Parents will be reimbursed if they paid for after school activities, field trips, binders, books and other school supplies required by Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District schools, from 2016 to 2018. The lawsuit arose from California law that public school must be free. SMMUSD was accused of not being free but instead forcing students to pay for supplies, for-pay field trips, and...
1/30: Would that I could aligned the world and its intricacies similar to the delightful "Steeling Topping Out" ceremony, - given by the McCarthy Building Companies Inc. on the grounds of Santa Monica High school on Jan 30, 2020. It consisted of having the last steel beam hoisted in place on the new building's steel framework, after the guests, teachers, engineers, structural officials, construction workers, educational officials, Santa Monica politicians and assorted students had signed it....
Lincoln Middle School Theatre presents Disney's The Lion King Jr. this year on Jan 24-26. Monica Ciociola writes: "I'm a parent volunteer in charge of the marketing. I attended a rehearsal this week and was completely blown away by the show's production, costumes, sets . . . everything!! I think there is a great story to be told here. 1. Inclusive Growth Environment For Kids -- Theatre 31 Artistic director Chad Scheppner runs the program for Lincoln Middle School and his philosophy is to "create...
Santa Monica College and New Roads School students were presented the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Westside Coalition 2020 Education Awards at a ceremony held January 20 at SGI-USA World Peace Ikeda Auditorium in Santa Monica to commemorate Dr. King's birthday. This year's awards recipients are: • Santa Monica College student Lavay Cole received a 2020 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Award for a song that Dr. King's principles of nonviolence inspired him to write. Mr. Cole wants to change h...
A winter wonderland awaits at Westside Ballet of Santa Monica's 47th production of 'The Nutcracker!' It's Christmas Eve when a mysterious gift sparks a wondrous adventure. Journey to a Land of Enchantment filled with swirling snowflakes, waltzing flowers and exciting dances set to Tchaikovsky's glorious score––performed by the Santa Monica College Symphony Orchestra led by Maestro Elizabeth Stoyanovich. With over 100 dancers on stage this season, 42 will be Santa Monica residents and stu...
It should be no surprise that the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District has a Sustainability Coordinator. This is Santa Monica (and Malibu). Of course we would employ someone to focus on sustainability (whatever that means) in the school district. What surprised me was to learn the Sustainability Coordinator had no staff. "I'm the only one," Caroline Coster, SC for the SMMUSD told me. "And I have no budget." Without dedicated funds and, perhaps, lonely, Coster applied for and won a...
Nine schools in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District have won Energy Star Certification for 2018. To be certified, a building must earn an Energy Star score of 75 or higher. This indicates the building performs better than at least 75 percent of similar buildings nationwide, taking into account different operating conditions, regional weather, and other considerations. These standards are set by the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA claims that Energy Star-certified building us...
How many children have begged their parents for ballet classes after seeing Clara dance with the Sugarplums in 'The Nutcracker'? In Santa Monica, some of those children may now be bringing their grandchildren. This year marks Westside Ballet's 47th year in performing the holiday classic, which draws dancers from their affiliated school (Westside Ballet School), adult dancers from the community, the company's resident professional guest artists, and welcomes NY City Ballet soloist, Savannah...
