Shalimar to restore all services next week

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- With the teen tutoring program back in session this

week, teenagers -- arriving on buses, bicycles and skateboards -- are

gradually returning to the Shalimar Learning Center, which is expected to

fully reopen Tuesday.

The center, quiet for two weeks, came back to life Monday when its

program for teens restarted. Elementary school students will return

Tuesday.

“Now I have somewhere to go and get help again,” said Rocio Rosales, a

17-year-old senior at Newport Harbor High School, glancing at the

bustling apartment that serves as a teen tutoring center. “And I really

needed it, since I’m taking physics and trigonometry. I’ve had their

support for three years and to have it closed for my senior year would

have been really rough.”

Jorge Ceja, 16, a Newport Harbor High senior, said he stopped doing

his homework and began playing on the streets when the center closed.

“Now that it’s open, I’m here working on a resume for a job at Gateway

Computers and doing my homework,” he said. “I hate to say it, but I

wasn’t even doing my homework when it was closed. I guess you could say

the center is keeping me off the streets.”

The 6-year-old Shalimar Learning Center shut its doors Sept. 15. The

center’s operators said the closure was in response to a demonstration

last month that made the staff feel threatened. Children and parents from

the Shalimar neighborhood protested the firing of Maria Alvarez, a

longtime staff member.

Alvarez was let go because she disagreed with a new schedule which

staggered the times that different children could come to get academic

help, said Randy Barth, volunteer chairman for Think Together, which

oversees Shalimar and other learning centers.

There are no plans to rehire Alvarez, who is moving away from the

neighborhood. But the center plans to work toward more community

involvement and better communication, said Laura Johnson, Shalimar’s

executive director.

“We need to build, heal our connection with the community and move

forward,” she said. “I’m excited about it. A lot of mothers have been

coming in, introducing themselves and telling us how important we are to

them. Everything has been really positive.”

On Monday, fewer than 40 teens came to the center, which previously

served between 80 and 100. But Johnson said the center expects all of the

students to return.

The center is reorganizing its administration office and patio to add

more homework and tutoring space for its 300 students. The center also

plans to add more mentoring programs this year, Johnson said.

“It’s going to take a bit of time, and we like it that way because it

helps us ease back in, and it sets a precedence of how we want things to

be here,” she said. “The kids coming here now really need the help and I

think the number will build back up this week while people hear that the

center is open again.”