Getty Teachers Set Up Shop at High School

Transporting 210 students to the Getty Center for a daily arts program would have posed a distinct challenge to Grover Cleveland High School’s staff, had the issue come up. Fortunately, the museum floated a simpler proposition: Bring the Getty to the Reseda students.

Starting Tuesday, a select group of ninth- through 12th-graders will join the school’s Getty Academy, an arts-based pilot program in which the study of architecture and graphic design will be interlaced with core subjects such as science, English and government.

The newly developed program at Cleveland, which is serving as a demonstration site for other interested schools, will encompass two or three academic classes daily.

“We’re very excited about this program,” said Assistant Principal Allan Weiner. “The teachers will get to tie in Renaissance art, for example, with the history of that epoch. Science and math concepts can be woven in, too.”

“This is a hands-on program in which our students get to learn about the arts from professionals,” added Principal Eileen Banta, who helped organize the visiting Getty educators and the Cleveland teachers in charge of the project.

Funded by a $25,000 Getty grant, the program will enable students to visit local museums and work one-on-one with Getty educators throughout the year. Cleveland is also seeking supplemental funding from the school district.

For those students more interested in downloading than in Da Vinci, Cleveland’s state-funded Digital High School technology program is also underway, with plans in place for a state-of-the-art computer lab, Internet access in every classroom and staff development in computer literacy.

Students with a bent toward the modern arts will be able to take animation, film editing and photography classes this year through the school’s multimedia academy.

Also, drama and forensics teacher Sarah Rosenberg is preparing to take her award-winning debate students to the National Forensic League’s competition this year.

“These students are pioneers of the future,” Banta said. “Our challenge is to give them a foundation for the next century, to make them capable in all the areas, from communication to high technology.”

KUDOS

Stellar Science: Darshana Shah believes teachers should put some sparkle into science, so the Portola Highly Gifted Magnet School teacher no longer surprises her Tarzana students when she mounts game shows and musicals to help explain the molecular structure of cells or the process of photosynthesis.

Agoura Hills’ Enid Stagg--who uses pizza to teach fractions to her Willow Elementary School third-graders--and Shah recently accepted plaques from the American Electronics Assn., which honored the teachers for their leadership in science and math education. The Valley educators are also among 11 California finalists in the 1998 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching.

Blue Ribbon: Chaminade College Preparatory was recently designated a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence by the U.S. Department of Education. The school, with campuses in West Hills and Chatsworth, was selected by a panel of 100 public and private school educators, based on criteria such as curriculum and effective partnerships among the school, families and community. The school’s administrators will attend a Blue Ribbon ceremony in Washington, D.C., in late fall.

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