Students Aren’t Thrilled by New Fare, but Hey, You Gotta Eat

FAST FOOD: So now that Centinela Valley Union High School District students have had time to digest the new closed campus policy--which prompted officials to invite fast-food vendors on the two campuses--what are the kids saying?

“You gotta eat, right?” said Long Tran, 16, as he chomped on a Subway sandwich bought from a cart at Hawthorne High School.

Tran still misses the freedom of going off campus for his meal, but, like other students, he has grown used to the policy, which since September has allowed only students with permission from their parents to leave campus during lunchtime.

To placate the students, the district invited Taco Bell, Burger King, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and Subway to operate at the district’s two schools, Hawthorne and Leuzinger high schools.

At first, students complained about long lines and cold, greasy food.

So the restaurants provided more service carts and administrators got more restaurants, including El Pollo Loco at both schools and take-out Chinese food from a restaurant near Hawthorne High.

Some students still complain, though.

“It’s still bad,” said Hawthorne High student Jennifer Fosse, 18. “The lines don’t move, and the food, especially the Burger King and McDonald’s food, is really cold.”

But Tran and others take the change in stride.

“They got more carts, so the lines are moving a little faster,” he said.

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ACADEMIC DECATHLON: On Saturday, South Bay high school students will match wits with students throughout Los Angeles County in three separate academic decathlons.

This year, 12 South Bay high schools will compete against 52 teams in the countywide competition at South El Monte High School. Last year West Torrance High School won the county competition. Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach placed in the top 10. Hawthorne High School and South Torrance High School were last year’s most improved schools, each scoring at least 3,000 points more than in the previous year’s match.

Five South Bay high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District will meet 50 teams in a districtwide competition at Westchester High School and Loyola Marymount University.

Narbonne High School and San Pedro High School, say district decathlon officials, are among the teams to watch. San Pedro was last year’s most improved team. Banning, Gardena and Carson high schools are also competing.

Mary Star of the Sea High in San Pedro will compete with 14 parochial high schools at a decathlon at Valley Christian School in Cerritos.

In all three competitions the teams, which are made up of three honor students, three B students and three C students, will begin with written tests in six academic subjects. The teams will then meet in a “Super Quiz,” in which students will field questions on historical documents such as the Magna Carta and Camp David Accord.

The decathlon champions from the three contests will be announced Nov. 30.

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FUND-RAISERS: Some parents in the Hermosa Beach School District were worried that budget cuts would threaten their children’s education.

So last year a few teachers, parents and community activists formed the Hermosa Beach Education Foundation. The purpose, said president Laurie Byren, is to raise enough money to establish an education endowment to benefit students and teachers.

“Most education foundations spend all their money,” Byren said. “We realized we couldn’t, being a small district. So we are trying to raise money that could be put away for a permanent endowment.”

The 30-member group has raised more than $52,000. Fully 80% of the money will be set aside to generate investment income for the long term.

The remainder of the money will be awarded as grants to teachers who create innovative classroom projects. Earlier this year, the foundation awarded $3,000 to teachers in the district for math instructional materials.

The foundation is also approaching corporations interested in forming educational partnerships with the schools.

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 writer Carol Chastang.