Idealism May Yet Win the Fight for Hearts of Students

Here’s a bit of holiday cheer for those San Fernando Valley residents who sometimes feel as if their home turf has been taken over by gangbangers.

In at least one pocket of Pacoima the good guys are fighting, on the education front, what looks to be a winning campaign.

It was Rommel Hilario, field deputy to Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon, who suggested checking up on what’s going on at Maclay Middle School, where Principal Cecilia Costas and her staff are fighting for the futures of the 12- to 15-year-old students enrolled there.

“Maybe we can’t keep all the students from dropping out of school or getting into trouble, but we see each as an individual and do our best for everyone,” Costas says.

This thought resonates throughout the school as teachers and administrators tell about their day-in-and-day-out battle to keep the kids focused on school and a positive future.

It’s not an easy job.

Eighth-grade science teacher Mario Santa Cruz returned to the classroom this year after a 15-year-hiatus. He says he was totally unprepared for the changes he found there.

“Kids paid no attention to me and were running around during class, hitting each other,” according to Santa Cruz, who grew up on the mean streets of South-Central Los Angeles and spent four years in the Navy before following up on his dream.

“I was idealistic. I thought I could make a difference to the kids who were under so much peer pressure to join gangs,” Santa Cruz says, adding that the chaos of the classroom really was a shock.

He had given up a high-paying job in engineering to teach at Maclay and could have decided, after those first grueling days, to dump the dream and go back to the safety and comfort of the business world.

Instead, like others at Maclay, he decided to take a stand and fight. He says the bottom line is a principal who doesn’t understand the concept of surrender. “She will do whatever it takes to turn this school around,” Santa Cruz says of Costas.

His thoughts are echoed by the dean of attendance, Harry Talbot, who is a soft-spoken lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserves at Edwards Air Force Base. Talbot, a 6-foot, 2-inch, 230-pounder has never seen a confrontation he felt inclined to back away from.

Talbot and Santa Cruz, both brought onto the staff by Costas in January, were valuable to the principal, she says, because their military training gave them an air of authority.

She says both Talbot and Santa Cruz are teachers who understand the value of instilling self-discipline and healthy attitudes in students. In addition to their classroom and administrative duties, the pair work with the school’s fledgling Cadet Corps.

The corps, currently 1,200 members strong, is a sort of junior ROTC. It is another tool to keep students in school and out of trouble, Costas said.

Talbot uses his good offices at Edwards to help get the Cadet Corps uniforms and other materials. He also arranges a number of field trips for the cadets, such as the recent one to see the Edwards Air Force Base air show, which Talbot and Santa Cruz helped to chaperon on their own time.

According to Santa Cruz, being willing to give a lot of volunteer time is a personal covenant many teachers make at Maclay to help in the effort to turn the school back into an institution where life-enhancing learning takes place.

Talbot says many of the students who opt to join the Cadet Corps are under tremendous harassment by gang members who see their peer pressure being eroded by this other entity.

“It takes a lot of guts for the cadets to put on the uniform once a week and wear it to school,” says Talbot. But the percentage of students willing to make the effort is growing every semester among both boys and girls.

There are many programs at the school under way in the effort to wrest control from gangs, and they seem to be working. According to Talbot, attendance seems to be improving, and first-period tardiness has been cut from an average of 200 per day to about 30.

While both Talbot and Santa Cruz say that much of the innovation at the school and improvement in the classrooms is a direct result of the Costas leadership, the principal insists it is a group effort. “People in our program are willing to give more than 100%,” she says.

Costas came to Maclay from Van Nuys Middle School and says she brought with her a determination to do whatever it takes to keep the students out of the clutches of gangs and other negative influences.

“What I found is that meant I had to have a willing staff and a personal commitment to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, if need be. That was OK with me,” Costas says.

When she is not doing administrative or motivational work with her staff and students, she is out in the community getting parents and merchants involved with what is happening at Maclay.

“I think people want to know that good things are happening at this school and we want them to be a part of it,” Costas says.

She is not above putting the arm on the newly enlightened. “We have needs for supplies and money for special programs, and once the community is aware of those needs, people are willing to help us meet our goals,” she says.

Costas says the positive results, which have to be earned one kid and one situation at a time, are helped by involving parents in what is going on.

One chief benefit she has in that effort is the multilingual abilities of many of her staff.

It is something she has come to take for granted, she says. Then she laughs and gives an example of how true that reliance has been.

“We had a group of adults coming to school from other areas for a meeting. I asked one of our mothers to take over at the reception desk, and she agreed,” says Costas, adding that there was initially some confusion when the guests, who didn’t speak any Spanish, tried to make themselves understood to the parent, who spoke only Spanish. Eventually, everything was sorted out.

Costas says she knows her battle for the hearts and minds of her students will be an ongoing one, but she says she’s in it for the long haul, and her staff seems to concur.

Returning From the Wilderness

For a New, Urban Challenge

During a long career with the National Park Service, Scott Erickson has done time in some of the country’s garden spots, like Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks.

Now the University of Maryland graduate, who was born in Northern California, has agreed to become the deputy superintendent of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, headquartered in Agoura.

Why would anyone leave the scenic wilderness for a few thousand acres of brush in the middle of a metropolis?

“The challenges are for me, as a conservationist, to help preserve the area where people in the city can enjoy getting out in nature. I’m interested in strengthening the partnerships the service has with other conservation organizations, and in setting up ways to teach restorative ecology here,” says Erickson.

Welcome aboard.

Overheard:

“It really ticks me off when my wife makes fun of me when I put on my Santa suit at Christmas. I say it gets tighter every year because of the rotten cleaners. She says it has something to do with my daily intake of Coors Light.”

--Man to gas station attendant in North Hollywood.