WESTMINSTER : State Official Gives School Top Grades

From the outside, Westminster High School looks ordinary. But as state schools chief Delaine Eastin saw there Friday, it’s the inside that counts.

The state superintendent of public instruction, who toured the campus, said other high schools should look to Westminster as a model of public education.

For example, in school Friday, freshman Yen Duong, 14, was using motion detectors and computers to learn about velocity. Neil Reinhart, 17, a senior, was repairing a tear in a photograph on his computer screen. And teacher Marianne Clarke was teaching her math class to measure a triangle using a computer.

Westminster got a jump on 21st-Century education by investing much of its funding into computers over the past several years, said Principal Kathy Miller, and at last count its 2,300 students had access to about 500 terminals. This educational arsenal of technology made the school one of 200 National Blue Ribbon Distinguished Schools nationwide in 1993.

“During the week, kids will be exposed to computers two to three times per day,” Miller said.

After her tour, Eastin told students and staff members, “You gave me a great gift today. When you look at Westminster, you find a great principal, great staff, a great community involvement, and great integration into the state of California.”