FREE Education + Communication = A Better Nation ® Covering the Redondo Beach Unified School District Volume 10, Issue 90 September 2016 www.SchoolNewsRollCall.com 2 Games in 1! Kids Teens Adults! SumDiceyFun.com [email protected] 2 Games in 1! Superintendent Board of Education Hello Parents/Guardians: Making a Difference The 2016-2017 school year is soon to Belmont, Massachusetts, just before begin, hence this topic. We hope you are 8 a.m. on a balmy, early September day in Kids smiling and counting the days. We are! 1990. My first day of seventh grade at a new Teens Summer construction continues with school. Coat and tie. various modifications and upgrades to As I walked into Latin class, the teacher Adults! Parras Middle School. Quite frankly, Parras was already standing erect facing the is looking pretty awesome. If your child blackboard, clouds of chalk dust wafting Dr. Steven Keller David attends school there, I’m confident you will Witkin down beneath the elbow patch on his own be impressed with the last two months of Vice President blazer, the tack-tack-tack of his chalk progress. Alta Vista and Tulita received new exterior scratching out words I’ll never forget: painting as well. In a few months, we will add a turf field ABHOR APATHY—HATE INDIFFERENCE. at Birney Elementary. Thank you to the Birney learning Later that morning, Eddie Gallagher introduced us to Latin community for your patience. declensions, but his first five-minute lesson was about We have some new administrator changes to share: one’s mentality toward life: caring about your friends, your • Dr. Nicole Wesley, Director of Student Services family, your work, your world. Making an impact. (former RUHS Principal) Mr. Gallagher was one of a kind. As much as I loved him • Mr. Jens Brandt, RUHS Principal (former RUHS and his class, I learned I was better off sitting in the second Assistant Principal) or third row, lest I be hit with the spittle that came flying • Mr. Bill Dargen, RUHS Assistant Principal (former out when he got excited about verb conjugations, or the RUHS teacher) Boston Bruins, or how his dad, Lefty Gallagher of the Red • Dr. Jonathan Erickson, RUHS Assistant Principal Sox (for one year), once struck out Babe Ruth. (former Ingenium Schools Administrator) For comic relief, Mr. Gallagher would remove his • Ms. Nancy Ruvalcaba, Washington/Alta Vista dentures, made necessary by an errant hockey puck to the Assistant Principal (former Parras teacher) mouth in college before helmets were mandatory. Later on, As a reminder, the first day of school for students is when he coached me in freshman baseball, he forbade us Wednesday, August 31, 2016. to wear athletic cups in practice, the better for us to play The Board of Education (Anita Avrick, David Witkin, “guts ball”—throwing one-hoppers to one another, moving Brad Waller, Brad Serkin, and Michael Christensen) closer and closer. If we flinched, we were out. Don’t tell and I welcome you to what is sure to be another highly anyone, but I now play guts ball with my seven-year-old son successful year in the finest school district in the South (with a tennis ball, mostly), more to honor Mr. Gallagher Bay, Redondo Beach Unified School District. than for any practical benefit to my son’s career as a Thank you for your continued support of our RBEF and shortstop. PTA. You will hear more about both in the weeks ahead. Even after I graduated and moved away, I stayed in touch with Mr. Gallagher. We still e-mail from time to time, reporting about my children and his grandchildren. This was a man who most definitely was not apathetic. He cared Redondo Beach Unified School District about life, and this rubbed off on his students. 1401 Inglewood Avenue, Redondo Beach, CA 90278 As we begin a new school year, my most ardent wish (310) 379-5449 • www.rbusd.org for our students in Redondo Beach Unified School District is that they would find their own Mr. Gallagher, if they haven’t already. One perk of being on the Board is the time I can spend with principals and teachers—and I can promise you, they are special people. Board of Education These are men and women who could have succeeded at any number of professions, but who chose education because of the difference they can make in young minds and lives. This year, take an extra five minutes once in a while to chat with your child’s teacher or principal. If we’re doing our jobs correctly, SumDiceyFun.com we won’t just be giving our students a formal Anita David Brad Michael R. Brad education; we’ll be impacting them for life, just Avrick Witkin Serkin Christensen Waller as Mr. Gallagher did for me. [email protected] President Vice President Presiding Officer Member Member COVERING THE REDONDO BEACH UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT SEPTEMBER 2016 3 ® Education + Communication = A Better Nation www.schoolnewsrollcall.com Covering the REDONDO BEACH UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT FOUNDER/PUBLISHER: Kay Coop Kay Coop 562/493-3193 • [email protected] Neta Madison Founder/Publisher ADVERTISING SALES: Valerie Reid • 310/874-2716 Netragrednik [email protected] CONTENT COORDINATOR: Barbra Longiny Welcome back to another school ended as I wanted to know more GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Tim DeLacy year. New beginnings are always about Mr. Gallagher. I hope each of COPY EDITORS: exciting and particularly for students. your children have a Mr. Gallagher Lisa Brock, Kate Karp & Anna Zappia It is a time of anticipation of seeing during their years at RBUSD. Netragrednik by Neta Madison old friends, making new friends, The Redondo Beach community @SchoolNewsRC meeting teachers, learning where the is so supportive of education, which is classrooms are and getting used to a evident in your generosity contributing SchoolNewsRollCall schedule after summer break. Thank to the Education Foundation. Their you for including School News among article is on page 5. SchoolNewsRollCall your reading choices. The PTA is asking you to join and in SCHOOL NEWS ROLL CALL, LLC On the school pages the principal’s so doing students benefit. Information P.O. Box 728, Seal Beach, CA 90740 share their vision for this school year. is in their article below. 562/493-3193 www.schoolnewsrollcall.com I know you read every single word Of course, don’t forget to enter Copyright © 2006, School News Roll Call, LLC in this publication, but just in case our contest on page 17. I enjoy all of Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited unless otherwise stated. you missed it, go back and read the your comments when you email the Opinions expressed by contributing writers and guest columnists are their views and not necessarily those of article by Brad Whitkin, Board of answers. Remember all ages may enter. School News Roll Call. This publication is privately Education Vice President, on page 3. Our next issue is October 5. owned and the right is reserved to select and edit content. The school district does not endorse the advertisers in this I was disappointed when his article publication. Redondo Beach Council PTA Your Seat at the Table Welcome back to school. As you start Enjoy Substantial Benefits. PTA members enjoy planning your year, please remember to join exclusive member perks including discounts on school your school’s PTA. supplies, rental cars, wireless services and more. PTA membership is open to everybody – Earn a Scholarship. Students are encouraged to join whether you’re a parent, student, educator, PTA. Students at the high school have the opportunity to business leader or community member. PTA apply for scholarships from their elementary, middle and high school PTA’s as well as Redondo Beach Council PTA. Raymur Sweeney believes family is the basic unit of society President responsible for the support and nurturing Membership in PTA is a requirement, so be sure to have of all children, and we recognize that “the your students join. family” is defined in many ways. So no matter who is in your Make a Difference. By working together, PTA family or how you define it, your family is part of the diverse members have helped advance local, state and national national family of the millions of members strong – PTA! laws and policies to improve the education, health and In addition to joining the largest children’s advocacy safety of all children. group in the nation, PTA membership allows you to: You can join at your individual school or become a Get Connected. There’s no better way to know what’s member of all 11 PTA’s in Redondo Beach for one price. happening in your school, or to develop a relationship with Go to www.rbpta.org to become a community member of your child’s teacher and principal. every PTA. Individual site memberships will be solicited at Discover Great Resources. The PTA offers a variety registration and back to school events. of programs and materials for students, parents, families, PTA membership does not obligate you to volunteer, but schools and communities. it gives you a seat at the table. Do good things for kids – join Speak Up – PTA membership gives you a “seat at the PTA. table” when important school decisions are being made. Be a Role Model. By becoming a PTA member, you’ll be demonstrating to your child the importance you place on 1401 Inglewood Ave., Redondo Beach, CA 90278 • www.rbusd.org education. 4 WWW.SCHOOLNEWSROLLCALL.COM Redondo Beach Educational Foundation An Investment in RBEF School District. Our fund-raising efforts, coupled with your is An Investment in Our Children investments, helped to support the district by providing While summer is usually a time to get opportunities for students in science, music, arts, sports, away from school, those of us at RBEF have math, and college preparation.