North Redondo Students Get OK to Attend Mira Costa High

OUT OF TOWN: Trustees in the beach cities’ newly formed unified school districts have approved an agreement that allows about 500 north Redondo Beach high school students to continue attending classes in Manhattan Beach.

The five-year agreement, which is open to annual review, was approved unanimously last month by Manhattan Beach Unified School District trustees. It also won approval this week from the Redondo Beach Unified School District trustees--but not before drawing criticism from two trustees and several teachers.

“We’re here to educate all the kids in Redondo Beach,” said Redondo Beach trustee Tom Downs, who along with trustee L. Jeannette Boston, voted against the transfer agreement Monday. “If you are going to have the quality programs like we have at Redondo Union, you have to have the students.”

The agreement fulfills a campaign promise made by supporters of Proposition V. The measure, approved by voters in November, dissolved the South Bay Union High School District and granted control of Mira Costa High in Manhattan Beach and Redondo Union High in Redondo Beach to the newly formed unified school districts.

Under the plan, Redondo Beach high school students who live south of Marine Boulevard, north of Artesia Boulevard, east of Aviation Boulevard and west of Inglewood Avenue are eligible to attend Mira Costa High. So are students who live in a small section of the city south of Artesia, east of Harper Avenue and north of Aviation.

Students from north Redondo Beach have been attending Mira Costa High since the closing in 1982 of Aviation High School. For these students, Mira Costa is closer than Redondo Union, Redondo Beach’s only remaining high school.

INAUGURAL ADVICE: Four students at First Lutheran School in Torrance sent messages to President-elect Bill Clinton last week suggesting issues for him to address in his inaugural speech Wednesday.

Through a program sponsored by Okidata, a new Jersey facsimile and printer company, fourth-grader Dale Salcedo, fifth-grader Robby Stoffel and sixth-graders Jenieka Kanjanasatitya and Randy Modglin, urged Clinton to address crime, racism, teacher’s salaries and the environment.

The company collected 3,000 suggestions from fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders in 49 schools nationwide. Of these, 184 were compiled in a notebook, which was delivered to the Governor’s Mansion in Little Rock last week, said Barbara Shear, spokeswoman for the company. First Lutheran was the only California school chosen to take part.

Dale Salcedo, 9, suggested that Clinton impose stricter safety requirements for oil refineries because “you could have acid rain if there’s too much pollution.

“I bet you don’t want to be out there when it rains acid. I bet a lot of things would get destroyed,” Dale wrote.

Twelve-year-old Randy Modglin suggested that Clinton address “new public schools and how the teachers should get paid.

“I should know, my grandma’s a teacher and she gets almost nothing,” he wrote.

FRONT ROW SEAT: Lindsey Higginbothan, a junior at Chadwick School near Rolling Hills Estates was selected to attend the Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference sponsored by the Congressional Youth Leadership Council in Washington, D.C.

Mark Wiedenmann, upper school director, selected Higginbothan for the program based on her high grades, leadership and citizenship. She will be among 500 high school students from across the country who will witness the swearing-in ceremony of the 42nd President and the inaugural parade down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Higginbothan’s weeklong stay will include visits to the offices of Rep. Jane Harman (D-Marina del Rey) and California’s two senators, Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, a performance at the Kennedy Center and a foreign policy briefing at the State Department.

She and the group of students will also visit the Presidential Transition Team, the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee and the presidential Inaugural Committee. They will wind up their week with a black-tie dinner and an inaugural youth ball.

TEACHING TALENT: Bill Fauver, history teacher at Mira Costa High School, was named Gifted and Talented Teacher of the Year for the greater Los Angeles region by the California Assn. for the Gifted.

Fauver was cited for providing the best and most challenging education to his Advanced Placement U.S. history students, for the many hours he spends helping them outside the classroom and for his sponsorship of the Scholar Quiz, a schoolwide academic competition.

He is also coach of the Academic Decathlon team, which ranked sixth in Los Angeles County this year.

Items for the weekly Class Notes column can be mailed to The Times South Bay office, 23133 Hawthorne Blvd., Suite 200, Torrance 90505, or faxed to (310) 373-5753 to the attention of staff reporter Lorna Fernandes.