Summer Music Program Proves Enriching for Lomita Students

ART OF SOUND: Sitting cross-legged and armed with wooden sticks and “shakers,” the 30 first-graders at Lomita Elementary’s magnet school were poised to start their impromptu concert. As the strains of Hawaiian music floated out of the tape player, they waited for their cue--the words “ULE ULE”--then shook their shakers and whacked their sticks together.

The students were taking part in a summer music program sponsored by the Los Angeles Educational Partnership, a nonprofit group formed to promote innovative teaching methods in the Los Angeles Unified School District. With help from a $1,000 grant from the partnership, they had taken a field trip and created their own instruments to learn about the origins of sound.

Lomita Elementary is among 13 South Bay schools in Los Angeles Unified to receive one of the partnership grants. In their summer music program, the Lomita students have been meeting five mornings a week since July 6. Two weeks ago, about 60 of the students visited the Hollywood Bowl and were entertained by a group of Brazilian musicians who played percussion instruments, introducing the children to African rhythms.

After a primer on how sound vibrates and travels, the students made their own percussion instruments. Among them were shakers--soft drink cans filled with raw lima beans or rice, and decorated with contact paper--and kazoos made of toilet paper tubes and decorated with crayon.

“I thought attending the Hollywood Bowl would be an enriching experience for the kids,” said Mary Jo Foster, one of the teachers who helped write the school’s grant proposal. Without the grant, she said, the students would not have been able to visit the bowl. Another group of 60 first- and second-graders will visit the bowl next week.

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PV ELECTIONS: Six candidates have announced they will run for the three open seats on the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District’s governing board. Only one is an incumbent--Brenton Goodrich, who is running for a second, four-year term.

The other candidates are: Cyndi Demboski of Rolling Hills Estates, a former Rancho Vista PTA president, Rancho Palos Verdes resident Mintra Sharma, a former teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District and three Palos Verdes Estates residents--Ellen Perkins, an estate tax attorney, former PTA President Roxanne Morse and Peter C. Gardiner, an associate professor of systems management at USC.

Goodrich could not be reached for comment. But all five of the challengers said they are running because they believe the district needs decisive leadership to improve schooling. Sharma, who has two elementary school-age children, said “sheer anger” motivated her to run for a board seat. “Our schools are failing in academics,” she said. “There are so many disgruntled parents who are putting their children in private schools. I don’t pay taxes here to put my kids in private school.”

The school board election will be held Nov. 2. The candidate filing period for the race closes Wednesday.

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INGLEWOOD VIGILS: Parents and students from The Assn. of Latinos for the Advancement of Students have been holding candlelight vigils in Inglewood to protest what they assert are poor instruction and conditions at Crozier Jr. High.

The roughly 20-member, Inglewood group held its first vigil last week in front of the district offices and was scheduled to gather Wednesday night in front of Crozier. Association President Tiburcio Maldonado said the group plans to make the vigils a weekly event, and will continue them until “we get answers from the school district.”

Among the association’s chief complaints about Crozier are: overcrowding, a lack of textbooks and too few bilingual teachers and counselors. More than 50% of the students at the school are Latino.

Maldonado said District Supt. George McKenna sent the group a letter encouraging members to discuss their concerns with Crozier’s principal, Geraldine Martin. He said they plan to meet with Martin, but will continue the vigils in the meantime.

“These problems don’t just apply to the Hispanic students, but to all the students,” said Maldonado. “Sometimes, the kids (at Crozier) have to stand up during the entire class period because there are not enough seats,” he said.

McKenna was not available for comment.

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JAPAN EXCHANGE: Eight students from Kashiwa, Japan, will spend the next three weeks touring Southern California as guests of the Torrance Sister City Assn.

Last month, students from Torrance spent three weeks in Kashiwa. The eight Japanese high school students will stay with Torrance students and their families.

Arriving today, the students will be welcomed at a reception at the home of a Torrance Sister City Assn. member. They are scheduled to visit UCLA, Universal Studios, a Dodger game, the Hollywood Bowl, and will stay overnight in Catalina Island.

Coury said the Japanese students received scholarships to pay for the trip, and were selected based on academic achievement.

Since 1974, more than 400 students and adult leaders from Torrance and Kashiwa have participated in the exchange program.

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 Carol Chastang.