Taft High Names New Principal

Myra Fullerton, a longtime teacher and school administrator, has been named principal of Taft High School in Woodland Hills, a post she will assume on March 8. The Chatsworth resident will end her 18-year tenure at Benjamin Franklin High School in Highland Park to fill the top administrator’s post vacated by Ron Berz, who has retired after 14 years for health reasons.

“Ms. Fullerton has a contagious belief that Taft can be the No. 1 school in the district,” said Lynda Markham, Taft’s dean of students. “She brings an earnestness and caring for students, as well as high energy and visibility.”

Fullerton is no stranger to the challenges facing Valley schools. The educator taught at Granada Hills’ Robert Frost Junior High, Parkman Middle School in Woodland Hills and Grant High School in Van Nuys, before assuming a teaching post at Franklin in 1980. She has served as assistant principal there for six years.

“I’m looking forward to creating a climate and culture that nurtures higher student achievement,” Fullerton said. “I want the school to be a welcoming place, a school in which the students have fun, and also get the work done.”

EVENTS

Black History: Chatsworth High School teacher David Massey will present his documentary “Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win”--a 60-minute film about the improved economic and social status of Ghanaian women--to 500 students and the public Friday at 10 a.m. on campus as part of the school’s Black History Month observance.

KUDOS

Poster Prize: Granada Hills High School senior Grace Kim has received a $1,000 cash award for her winning artwork in the Music Center’s Spotlight Awards Poster Contest. The 18-year-old’s poster design, along with that of another winner, will be reproduced as murals on a wall of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion garage and as limited-edition posters.

The poster contest is part of the larger Spotlight Awards program, whose April 20 gala at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion will showcase performing-arts finalists.

“Mathletes”: Math whizzes from three local middle schools racked up some impressive wins at the 16th annual MATHCOUNTS competition held at Cal State Northridge recently.

Sponsored by the National Society of Professional Engineers, among other professional societies and businesses, the math contest pitted eight teams of seventh- and eighth-graders against each other in a morning of fast-paced individual and team events.

North Hollywood’s Walter Reed Middle School Individual Honors Program students took home their 14th first-place trophy, and one of their team members, 13-year-old Zahra Yazdani, came in first overall in the competition.

Tarzana’s Portola Highly Gifted Magnet Center came in second, with Arroyo Seco Junior High in Valencia bringing home the third-place trophy.

Team members from all three schools will now advance to the southern regional competition, which will be held in Irvine next month.

END NOTES

Los Angeles County Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect invites fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders to submit poster entries to the 14th annual Child Abuse Prevention Month Poster Contest, by March 4. For rules and information, call (626) 455-4587 . . . San Fernando Valley Opportunity Through Education scholarship applications are being accepted from Valley residents who plan to pursue higher education in the 1999-2000 school year. For information, call (818) 787-3040.