RESEDA : Principal Honored as Friend to All

Things changed around Melvin Avenue Elementary School when new Principal Keith Lord was assigned there last year.

Lord played classical music during the lunch hour, doled out colored pencils to children and mowed the lawn himself.

On Thursday, parents and students gathered to honor the rookie principal with the Northwest Valley Parent-Teacher Assn. Council Administrator of the Year award.

Bridget Smith, president of the Melvin PTA, said that Lord, who has been a principal only since August, has become “everyone’s friend” since joining the school. He was selected for the award for his work with students and his efforts to keep up the school’s appearance after budget cuts forced the district to discontinue gardening services.

Smith said Lord began doing the yard work himself and later recruited parents to help. These days, Lord keeps a set of grubby gardening clothes in his office to change into after work.

Lord also had the school intercom system fixed so children can listen to classical music at recess, Smith said. Throughout the year, Melvin’s 540 students have been exposed to Bach, Mendelssohn and Brahms as they gambol on the blacktop. Lord, himself a fan of country music, said the recordings are not part of students’ regular lessons, but added, “maybe some of them will pick it up.”

Originally from Maine, Lord, 50, has been a teacher and administrator in Los Angeles Unified schools since 1965. He has three grown sons.

He said the award was a surprise, coming after a year of budget crisis and the threat of a teachers’ strike. He received a plaque at a school assembly Thursday morning. Students and teachers sang songs in his honor.

Being a good principal, Lord said, is a matter of “being able to work with people. It’s being able to see value in everyone and work on their strengths.”