Culver City High School

State Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig has designated Culver City High School as an outstanding achievement school, according to principal Glenn Cook. Culver City High School ranked among the top schools in the state in the number of students enrolled in physics and advanced science courses, and the high school was also rated favorably for the number of students it has enrolled in courses that meet University of California entrance requirements, Cook said.

The upcoming Screen Gems movie "Think Like a Man" is a romantic comedy based on a bestselling book by comedian Steve Harvey. It's also a love letter of sorts to Culver City, which plays a starring role in the movie. "I came up with this idea that if we shot Culver City for Culver City, we could get the local politicians and shop owners on board and excited about this movie so that it would almost be a little postcard for the community," said Glenn Gainor, head of physical production for Screen Gems, a label of Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Re "Acceptance Reigns Along With a King," Oct. 24: I read the article about David Mason, an autistic student at Culver City High School who was crowned homecoming king. I felt happy for David because on that night he saw that in spite of the challenges he faces, he can accomplish whatever he sets out to do. But more than that, I was proud of the students of Culver City High School who gave him that moment. Harel Rush Age 12, Los Angeles

Culver Crest offers a genteel respite from the fast-food chains and freeway entrances along Overland Avenue. Birds sing from coral trees that hang lazily over the winding streets, and generous-size 1950s ranch homes catch ocean breezes and afford views from the Palos Verdes Peninsula to downtown L.A.

Culver City High school landed three soccer players on the All-Ocean League team selected by league coaches: sophomore Bobby Reyes, junior Armando Zapata and senior Danny Pena. Beverly Hills junior Ronen Glith also was a first-team selection.

The Culver City Unified School District Board of Education on Tuesday unanimously approved the hiring of a former Redondo Beach principal as the new assistant principal at Culver City High School. Michael Trownsell, who left the principal's post at Hillcrest Junior High School in Redondo Beach, assumed his duties Wednesday, according to Supt. Curtis I. Rethmeyer. He has been placed in charge of curriculum and instruction.

Three Culver City High School baseball players and one from from Beverly Hills have been named to the All-0cean League baseball team. Outfielder David Barad of Beverly Hills and infielders David Dawson and Ken Kamba and utility player Mike Greenwood of Culver City made the first team. First baseman Mike Matousek and shortstop Billy Koch of Beverly Hills were named to the second team. Judas T. Prada has been named assistant basketball coach at Loyola Marymount University by new Coach Jim Lyman.

Re "Mixing It Up for a Change" [With the Kids, July 12]: In this vast city of ours there are nonprofit culinary art classes for high school students (and adults)! Readers should know that the L.A. County Office of Education, through its regional occupation programs, offers excellent hands-on classes for students in 11th and 12th grades at no cost and $50 for adults. Based on space, students may enroll in summer classes outside their home school. AVIVA S.

Re "School Officials Try to Take a Bite Out of Drug Use," July 20: Bringing trained dogs to school to sniff at our children and their effects in the hopes of finding guns or drugs smacks of totalitarianism. How is running a school like a concentration camp conducive to fostering a healthy learning environment? The presence of dogs in Culver City High School last spring may well have, as you hinted in your article, proven effective in reducing crime on campus. However, this slippery-slope argument hardly justifies expanding the use of dogs in all schools all the time; declaring martial law and suspending civil liberties would undoubtedly curb crime, but I sure wouldn't want to live in such a society, much less to try to educate our youth under conditions like that.

A meeting will be held tonight to discuss last week's drive-by shooting at Culver City High School, school officials announced. City leaders, mental health counselors, police and the Veterans Park Neighborhood Watch will meet with parents and community members to discuss safety issues in the aftermath of the April 22 shooting, in which two former students were wounded.

Re "Mixing It Up for a Change" [With the Kids, July 12]: In this vast city of ours there are nonprofit culinary art classes for high school students (and adults)! Readers should know that the L.A. County Office of Education, through its regional occupation programs, offers excellent hands-on classes for students in 11th and 12th grades at no cost and $50 for adults. Based on space, students may enroll in summer classes outside their home school. AVIVA S.

Re "Acceptance Reigns Along With a King," Oct. 24: I read the article about David Mason, an autistic student at Culver City High School who was crowned homecoming king. I felt happy for David because on that night he saw that in spite of the challenges he faces, he can accomplish whatever he sets out to do. But more than that, I was proud of the students of Culver City High School who gave him that moment. Harel Rush Age 12, Los Angeles

David Mason crossed his fingers and squeezed his eyes shut as he listened to the announcement that confirmed his dream: This Culver City High School senior, an autistic youth enrolled in the campus' special education program, was named homecoming king after a landslide vote. Fireworks exploded as last year's king plopped a fake gold crown on David's head. And the crowd in the bleachers cheered wildly.

As any visitor to Los Angeles who tries to navigate the roads immediately finds out, this vast metropolis does not follow a neat grid. Where one neighborhood ends and the next one begins is often fuzzy. Rarely are there clear markers. Nor do the landscape or properties change significantly from one neighborhood to the next in many cases.

I would recommend remedial math training for Principal Kavin Dotson of Culver City High School. It certainly wouldn't take Advanced Placement calculus to do a better job analyzing the statistical success of the two AP English teachers featured in "2 Educators Face Pitfalls of Too Much Success" (July 25). If I correctly read the statistics, AP English classes in 1996 included 60 test-taking students, of whom 70% passed, for a total of 42 students who could potentially receive college credit.

Two weeks ago, Nancy Goldberg, an English teacher at Culver City High School, received a letter from the College Board, which administers standardized tests. Goldberg and a colleague, Curt Mortenson, had been so good at preparing students for the college-level Advanced Placement tests that the board wanted her assistance. Would she be willing to train teachers around the country to do the same?

Culver City High School received a $536,000 state grant to integrate the Internet into the school's curriculum. The school plans to install a multimedia computer system, Internet access and a large monitor or projection unit in each classroom. The Internet will be used to complement textbooks or substitute books that have become outdated and to send e-mail to experts for school projects, said Supt. Laura Plasse.

Culver City police officers chasing two burglary suspects shot and killed one of them early Saturday morning when he pointed a gun at them. The unidentified man was killed shortly after 1 a.m. by officers who were searching the area around Culver City High School, 4401 Elenda St., because security guards there had seen two men run from one of the school offices, Sgt. Walt Schick said.

Culver City High School received a $536,000 state grant to integrate the Internet into the school's curriculum. The school plans to install a multimedia computer system, Internet access and a large monitor or projection unit in each classroom. The Internet will be used to complement textbooks or substitute books that have become outdated and to send e-mail to experts for school projects, said Supt. Laura Plasse.

Re "School Officials Try to Take a Bite Out of Drug Use," July 20: Bringing trained dogs to school to sniff at our children and their effects in the hopes of finding guns or drugs smacks of totalitarianism. How is running a school like a concentration camp conducive to fostering a healthy learning environment? The presence of dogs in Culver City High School last spring may well have, as you hinted in your article, proven effective in reducing crime on campus. However, this slippery-slope argument hardly justifies expanding the use of dogs in all schools all the time; declaring martial law and suspending civil liberties would undoubtedly curb crime, but I sure wouldn't want to live in such a society, much less to try to educate our youth under conditions like that.