Just Make the 3 Rs Exciting, Teacher Says

Richard Weekley, a popular Bowman High School English teacher, says he’s all for the three Rs. Just make them exciting. To that end, the Santa Clarita educator--recently named the William S. Hart Union High School District Teacher of the Year--helps his students publish an annual literary magazine featuring students’ work.

Weekley, who is also a nominee for the California Teacher of the Year, says he wants his students to “fall in love with the magic of language, with the jingle and jazz of syllable and image, the bump and scrape of stanza.”

The internationally published poet is a co-founder of the Santa Clarita Valley Poets.

“[Richard] has an extraordinary ability with young people to bring out their ideas and feelings,” said Louise Wright Robertson, the district’s administrator of special programs. “Poetry is a wonderful vehicle for them to express those feelings.”

KUDOS

A Good Start: Chatsworth High School honor student and valedictorian Christina Colp, 17, has been awarded a $10,000 California Masonic Foundation scholarship in recognition of her academic achievements and strong commitment to community service. The Chatsworth Youth of the Year, who will attend Loyola Marymount University in the fall, graduated with a 4.11 grade-point average and served as a volunteer on the Chatsworth Library’s advisory board. The scholarship was awarded to only 12 California high school seniors.

Working Hard: Grover Cleveland High School Assistant Principal Allan Weiner was recently named Los Angeles’ Outstanding Assistant Principal of the Year by the Assn. of California School Administrators.

The longtime educator has supported a number of the school’s new academic programs, including a Getty Center-sponsored experimental arts curriculum. He was also instrumental in launching the Reseda school’s high-tech computer lab.

“Allan is so deserving of this award,” said Emory Josephs, assistant principal of secondary counseling. “He’s a mover and a shaker and is well-liked by everyone here.”

Write On!: Viewpoint School’s Meghan Selter loves to write. Still, it was a thrill and a surprise when the Agoura Hills student, 14, received word that she had been named, along with 25 other California eight-grade writers, a “Promising Young Writer” in the prestigious National Council of Teachers of English contest. All of the approximately 1,300 national contestants had submitted their best poetry or prose samples and a timed, impromptu essay written at school.

PROGRAM NOTES

Techies: Third- and fourth-grade students at Canoga Park Elementary School not only learn all about computers in teacher Lisa Rodriguez’s Student Tech Leaders program, they also get to pass their knowledge and skills on to fellow students and teachers at the school. The young techies hold twice-weekly classroom sessions, where they teach basic computer skills, including word processing.

“Teachers, especially, need to get comfortable and learn how to work with computers,” Rodriguez said. “They love that the kids are helping them attain that goal.”

Sign On: Students ages 10 to 14 interested in learning American Sign Language are invited to register at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, where classes will be held from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on Saturdays beginning Saturday.

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Class Notes appears every Wednesday. Send news about schools to the Valley Edition, Los Angeles Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth 91311. Or fax it to (818) 772-3338. Or e-mail them to diane.wedner@latimes.com.