A Heartfelt Honor for Educators

Pamela Mason smiled with tears in her eyes Thursday at the ceremony inducting her into a new walk of fame in Canoga Park -- not for the usual film or rock stars, but for educators.

The 53-year-old math teacher at Granada Hills’ Patrick Henry Middle School is among the first 10 educators to receive bronze plaques in a “Walk of Hearts” on Sherman Way.

Nominated by colleagues, students and community members, other inductees include the late Clara Rooksby, an early 20th century founder of Owensmouth High School (now Canoga Park High) and the local library; and legendary UCLA coach John Wooden, who lives in Encino. The honor was open to current or former public school educators in the San Fernando Valley.

Additional educators will be saluted annually.

Former students said Mason had changed their lives and even invited them to pool parties in her backyard.

“I reward my algebra and geometry classes every year, because I figure they work the hardest,” said Mason, who has taught for 32 years. “They have homework every night for three years, including weekends. And we have a really nice pool, with a water slide.”

As Mason was praised by area Councilman Dennis Zine and Walk of Hearts founder Joe Andrews, Mason’s mother, Maureen Greenspan, proudly snapped photos: “This will be here long after I’m gone, and this is every bit as important as the Hollywood Walk of Fame,” Greenspan said.

The plaques, which cost $2,500 each, will be installed along Sherman Way between Canoga Avenue and Topanga Canyon Boulevard, starting in September.

Donations are being sought for the project, which is backed by the Canoga Park/West Hills Chamber of Commerce and the Canoga Park Neighborhood Council.

A local businessman, Andrews doodled the original design for the plaques, which feature a heart and an apple for the teacher. He said he launched the project for the best of his teachers and “for my mom,” the late Jill Andrews.

He explained that his mother “was one of those ladies who worked in the cafeteria [at his school] ... and there was a science teacher, Mr. Carr, who made me understand that what she was doing was a great thing, not something to be embarrassed about.”

Sixty-year-old Barbara Jimerson was nominated by her colleagues at Hale Middle School in Woodland Hills, where she teaches English and launched a peer counseling program.

After three decades of teaching, Jimerson said, she is concerned about public education, especially the No Child Left Behind law endorsed by the Bush administration.

“I don’t see it working, no matter what the politicians are saying. And I’m concerned about over-testing,” she said. “There is so much more to a child’s mind and growth than what can be reached by a test.”

Automotive journalist Steve Ford, who calls himself “the Car Guy,” urged the inclusion of the man who taught him auto shop 28 years ago at Granada Hills High School.

Auto mechanics teacher Lee Mills, 69, embodies the idea that “education is not about filling a bucket, but lighting a fire,” said Ford, whose passion for automobiles was born in Mills’ class.

Retired since 1992, Mills recalled a recent tribute from another former student.

Mills was in a supermarket when a man in his 50s spotted him and began telling strangers in the aisles: “If it wasn’t for this man, I never would have graduated, because it was only because of this man that I went to class.’”

Mills said that the plaque on Sherman Way would be much appreciated but that the supermarket declaration “meant as much to me or more, even, than this.”