A History Lesson at Monlux Elementary : Soon Sandra Ortiz watched her son take the microphone. If Mark had stage fright, it didn’t show. He, too, had memorized his paper.

One day last week, a boy named Mark came home from school and told his mother the big news of the day.

“ ‘They called me into the principal’s office,’ ” Sandra Ortiz remembered her 7-year-old son telling her. “ ‘My legs were shaking.’ ”

Mark wasn’t in trouble. He was being honored. His paper on Monlux Elementary School’s 50th anniversary was so good that he was selected to represent his classroom--to read his report before an assembly of the 780-member student body and special guests like Officer Bill, Officer Sam and Mr. Rice.

“He’s so young, he didn’t want to,” his mother recalled. “He said, ‘I wish they picked somebody else’s paper.’ ”

Monday was Mark’s big day. If it wasn’t for Grant High math teacher Harold Jacobs, he’d have had no reason to be nervous. One of Monlux’s original students, Jacobs dropped by the North Hollywood campus in February with Vol. I, Issue 1 of the Monlux bulletin, dated March 12, 1945. “To the Parents: To many of you who have worked so diligently for a school west of the wash,” the bulletin declared, “this opening will be the culmination of a dream.”

West of the Wash Elementary would have been a catchy name. Monlux was christened in memory of an educator who had been a deputy superintendent for the San Fernando Valley.

Principal Naomi Suenaka and Diane Seligson, a Monlux faculty member since 1962 and now coordinator of the school’s math, science and technology magnet program, went to work. Students wrote papers and created posters. On the office bulletin board was a display of cards featuring students’ speculation about what their favorite teachers were doing 50 years ago. “I think she got married,” said one. “I think he was having his 55th birthday,” said another.

Gerald Rice, the Monlux student body president in 1953, arrived 10 minutes before the 8 a.m. ceremony, toting a folder full of old report cards and photographs. The Encino resident figured the kids might want some things for their time capsule.

“A tree out here I planted in honor of Luther Burbank’s birthday,” he recalled. Whether it’s a Chinese elm, a species of cherry or something else, nobody seemed to know, but it’s the largest in the courtyard outside the office. Mr. Rice still likes to visit his tree from time to time.

“The drinking fountains seemed a lot higher in those days,” he said, walking out toward the blacktop.

A lot has changed in 50 years. No doubt the chain-link fence that surrounds the campus wasn’t part of the architect’s plan. “No Weapons on Campus,” warns a sign that went up more recently. “Bring a weapon . . . get arrested/expelled.”

Soon the assembly began. The students sat on the blacktop in a neat, U-shaped pattern. After the Pledge of Allegiance, fifth-grader Josh Braver gave his welcoming address from memory, offering a bit of history.

“At first our beloved school had only eight classrooms. It also had a very special room, a child-care room for children of working mothers. Remember, our school was created during World War II. The men were in the Army, the women were working and the children were with us. Now our school has 32 rooms. Just look at what we have accomplished. We now provide a quality education to over 700 students who will become part of America’s next generation of responsible adults. . . .”

Students representing different classrooms read their papers.

Sixth-grader Andy Downs noted that, 50 years ago, “there was a feeling of unity and liberty in our country because everyone knew that World War II was about to end. There was also sadness because of President Roosevelt’s death.” Fourth-grader Jennifer Prado talked about how a carton of milk cost only a nickel. Second-grader Eleanor Ayalo read a poem that began: “Roses are red, violets are blue, 50 years of Monlux School. . . “

Soon Sandra Ortiz watched her son take the microphone. If Mark had stage fright, it didn’t show. He, too, had memorized his paper.

“I think that the school was smaller and there was less houses around the school. Also I think that there were less students and teachers. I also think that where there is cement and grass there was dirt in the past instead. Fifty years ago I think that the school had smaller desks for the students and I don’t think that students had any math books.”

In about 30 minutes it was over. The students went to their classrooms and Suenaka served coffee and cake to guests. The talk was of change, so much change. Seligson remembered how, back in ‘62, she wore white gloves to her job interview. Not only was it fashionable, she explained, but it hid the fact that she was a nail biter.

A staff member interrupted to announce that the Bulgarian-speaking father-in-law of a teacher had arrived to help administer a test to one student. A few minutes later, a parent who speaks Arabic arrived to help test four students.

How many tongues were spoken at Monlux in 1945? The guess here is that it was probably one, possibly two. Today, 385 of the school’s 780 students speak a language other than English at home--22 languages in all. A volunteer who speaks the Chinese dialect Chiu Chow is being sought. “Oh, yeah,” Seligson added. “We need Punjabi too. Do you speak Punjabi?”

Yet, so much is the same. Suenaka remembered that when she entered kindergarten, she spoke only Japanese. She was born in East Los Angeles a few years after the war to a family who had a vegetable farm in Pacoima. Her father, a member of the U.S. Army at the war’s start, served as a translator. Her mother, who spent the war in a relocation camp, was educated in Japan and spoke no English.

Suenaka remembered how her own kindergarten teacher always kept her by her side, trying to help her understand. Little Naomi knew that the teacher loved her.