A Close- Up Look At People Who Matter : New Attitude Brightens an Old School

As they watched the roomful of students quietly eating on a rainy day, Victoria Montez and Debbie Martinez-Rambeau could relax a little.

“We don’t feel like we have to be here every second,” said Montez, the principal of Morningside Elementary School and an educator for 25 years.

After all, Montez and Martinez-Rambeau--the assistant principal and an educator for 22 years--have the students on their side now.

“I used to be a troublemaker,” admitted sixth-grader Alvaro Mariscal, who a year ago was more likely to talk back than help out.

Now he says he enjoys emptying the trash, cleaning up the cafeteria and getting his friends to help. “It’s fun,” he said.

However, students were more likely to squirm and talk louder during the lunch period this week because outdoor play has been temporarily suspended as workers put the finishing touches on a new playground, the last phase of a $5-million renovation of the 80-year-old campus.

A 14-classroom addition to the building was finished in March.

In the last two years, Morningside, a year-round school of 1,150 students, has undergone several changes occasioned by construction, but the biggest might be its student ambassador and tutoring programs.

“Once they have pride and self-esteem they can tackle other programs,” Montez said, explaining the new programs in which the students are encouraged to take responsibility for the school.

The 179 ambassadors help maintain the behavior of their fellow students, stepping in to stop fights, resolve conflicts and keep track of points earned and lost by classes.

Classes earn rewards such as free pizza with points for good behavior.

“I feel like I’m really improving something,” said fifth-grader Diana Ortiz, an ambassador who voluntarily tutors younger students.

Before the changes began a year ago--when Martinez-Rambeau transferred to Morningside from a Hollywood school--Ortiz said, “I thought the school was messy and everybody would fight.”

The new programs met some resistance in the beginning.

“At first, to be honest, I wasn’t very happy with it,” said Veronica Sosa, a mother of three children at the school. “It was forcing on the children some very tough rules. . . . But then, we started seeing this difference and how the cafeteria was so clean.”

Food fights stopped, Sosa said. And her daughter, Carmen, a sixth-grader, joined the school’s chorus, which Martinez-Rambeau started in November, at Montez’s suggestion, to further boost students’ self-esteem.

The dramatic changes at Morningside have been a team effort enlisting teachers, administrators, parents and community, said Maria Reza, a cluster leader for 19 San Fernando Valley schools. “I think it’s everyone working together,” she said.

By involving students so closely in the operation of their school the students learn organization, teamwork and responsibility--all things that will be invaluable as they grow up--Montez said. But they also learned a new respect.

For example, after tutoring younger children, students often return to the classroom with insight. “I’ve had them come up to me and say, ‘Geez, I never knew it was this hard,’ ” Montez said.

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