Group Picks Kidd as Its Top Teacher

Step into Linda Kidd’s Ranchito Avenue Elementary School classroom in Panorama City and it’s easy to see why the educator was recently named the Kennedy-Monroe cluster’s 1999 outstanding teacher.

One wall of the fourth- and fifth-grade classroom is covered with copies of the “Sacramento Times,” a student-designed newspaper dedicated to stories about the 1849 California Gold Rush. Science reports explaining how to grow crystal rocks, along with the crystals themselves, adorn the walls next to the newspapers.

Brightly colored banners urging adventurers to seek their fortunes out West are strung across a wire in the back of the class, where letters written by “pioneers” hang on a wall next to construction-paper wagon trains.

“Mrs. Kidd holds the belief that all children can and will learn,” Assistant Principal Sunny Vasquez said. “She has kids at all levels of ability, and she has instilled in each of them a great love of learning.”

Said 10-year-old Ivette Jimenez: “Mrs. Kidd teaches us lots of important things, like history and math and science. She makes it fun, and she’s nice.”

The 22-year teaching veteran, who shies away from the limelight, was among five teachers nominated for the outstanding-teacher award. The Kennedy-Monroe cluster comprises about 1,000 teachers at 25 elementary, middle and high schools in Van Nuys, Panorama City and Granada Hills.

Kidd, 44, of Granada Hills was honored at a school assembly, where she received teaching supplies and a $100 gift certificate to Lakeshore Learning Store, a co-sponsor of the teacher-recognition program.

“I want to provide the best educational experience for my students that I can,” Kidd said. “I look forward to arriving at school every day. Watching them learn and grow makes it all worthwhile.”

KUDOS

Presidential Scholar: Jessica Moss, a senior at Oakwood School in North Hollywood, has been selected 1999 Presidential Scholar in the Arts, one of the nation’s highest honors for high school students. The Northridge resident, one of 20 students nationwide chosen for her artistic accomplishments, will join 120 academic Presidential Scholars and 19 arts winners in Washington, D.C., on June 23-27. The students will meet with educators, authors, musicians and scientists. Each will receive a medallion at a White House-sponsored award ceremony.

Appointment: The Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ Department of Catholic Schools has named Martha Serrano principal of Paraclete High School in Quartz Hill, starting July 1. She is currently vice principal and dean of studies at the school.

END NOTES

Monlux Math/Science Technology Magnet presents the musical, “The Rainbow Connection,” May 26-28 at 6051 Bellaire Ave., North Hollywood. Advance-ticket sales only. Call (818) 763-5071 . . . Calabasas High School presents its “Grand Finale” concert, featuring senior soloists Wednesday and Thursday at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $5 . . . The Valley College Astronomy Club sponsors “Meteors and Meteorites,” a lecture by Jet Propulsion Laboratory astronomer Stephen Edberg, Sunday at 7:30 p.m. The public is welcome to the free event to be held in the Valley College Planetarium. Call (818) 947-2335 . . . Vintage Math/Science Technology Magnet in North Hills holds its annual carnival Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 15848 Stare St.