An occasional look at South Bay classroom news : Carson Faces Vote on Whether to Operate Its Own Schools

GOODBY LAUSD? The Carson City Council has decided to ask voters how they feel about ditching the Los Angeles Unified and the Compton Unified school districts to form a breakaway district in Carson.

A question on the ballot of the June 8 special City Council election will read: “Should the city of Carson undertake forming its own school district?”

Proponents contend that the Los Angeles and Compton districts have shortchanged Carson schools and that a breakaway district could enable residents to provide a better education for their children.

The majority of Carson schoolchildren attend elementary and junior and senior high schools operated by Los Angeles Unified. One elementary school is operated by Compton.

Both districts have severe economic problems that have diminished the quality of education, but proponents have reserved most of their ire for Los Angeles.

Proponents say the district has not done enough to avert a threatened teachers’ strike and has not adequately responded to Carson parents’ concerns about the quality of education.

Los Angeles Supt. Sid Thompson declined to comment, a spokeswoman said.

“Overall it will be better quality education” with a Carson district, said Gayle Konig, a parent of two Los Angeles Unified pupils who has been outspoken on the issue.

The Carson City Council this week ordered the city administration to begin a feasibility study with advice from the city’s Human Relations Commission and a panel of residents.

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STATE GRANT: Torrance High School was one of 138 California schools and the only public school in the South Bay to receive the California Department of Education’s “Demonstration of Restructuring in Public Education” grant.

The school was awarded $124,700 a year for the next four years, which it will use to restructure the curriculum, buy more computers, expand science laboratories and send teachers to staff development workshops, Principal Joseph Rotcher said.

Restructuring classes began with this year’s freshman class.

This year the 450-student class was divided into three “houses” with three core teachers for their English, math and social studies curriculum, Rotcher said.

“Those teachers will teach the same group of kids,” he said. “All three will have the same conference period so they can meet as a group or separately to talk about the kids or the curriculum.”

By the time this year’s freshmen are juniors and seniors, they will be able to participate in a program allowing them to work with the community and with businesses while they are taking courses on campus, Rotcher said.

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STAR STUDENT: An Pham, an eighth-grader at Will Rogers Intermediate School in Lawndale, has been selected Lawndale’s Youth Citizen of 1993 for her winning essay explaining why the honor was important to her.

The 13-year-old student wrote that “good citizens enjoy helping others and would go out of their way to make Lawndale the best city it can be. I would like to be Lawndale’s 1993 youth citizen because I would like to set an example to younger students of Lawndale . . . this way, I would have a chance to help those who are persuaded by others to do things that are wrong.”

Pham will receive $100 and a framed certificate at a council meeting tonight, and she will have her name engraved on a plaque at City Hall. She will also ride as a guest of honor in the 1993 Lawndale Youth Day Parade in April.

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JOBS PROGRAM: Seniors at Morningside and Inglewood high schools are eligible to receive career training and compete for scholarships and summer employment through a partnership between Home Savings of America and the Inglewood Unified School District.

The Career Awareness Program, which goes into effect this spring, will offer high school seniors 15 weeks of classroom training on such life- and money-management skills as completing an employment application, balancing a checkbook, filling out an income tax return, establishing credit and applying for a loan. The program will also touch on building a business wardrobe and developing professional etiquette.

Home Savings will also employ the top 10% of the students from each class at its headquarters in Irwindale or at a local savings branch. The top program student from each high school will also earn a $4,000 college scholarship.

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AND NOW THIS: Redondo Union High School has been recognized as a state Distinguished School and a National Exemplary School this academic year. Mira Costa High School has been honored as an ECO-school, one of the few of the country, in recognition of the school’s recycling plan and campuswide efforts to raise student and staff awareness of environmental issues and concerns.