Desert Sands Unified School District

A lockdown that prevented about 2,100 students at Palm Desert High School from leaving their classrooms Thursday morning was lifted after about two hours. Officials said the school was shut down about 8:15 a.m. after they received a tip that a former student might be on campus with a weapon. "We're back in session, and there was no weapon and no nonstudent found on campus," said Supt. Doris Wilson of the Desert Sands Unified School District.

A lockdown that prevented about 2,100 students at Palm Desert High School from leaving their classrooms Thursday morning was lifted after about two hours. Officials said the school was shut down about 8:15 a.m. after they received a tip that a former student might be on campus with a weapon. "We're back in session, and there was no weapon and no nonstudent found on campus," said Supt. Doris Wilson of the Desert Sands Unified School District.

Culver City Unified School District officials announced that chief financial officer James Lively is quitting and adult school Principal Reese Anderson will retire. Lively, who has been with the district five years, is resigning to become the assistant superintendent for business services in the Desert Sands Unified School District in Riverside. Lively's resignation is effective Dec. 15. Anderson is retiring Feb. 1, after serving in the district for more than 29 years.

Students at Palm Desert High School have voted to change their mascot name from the Sun Devils after some people complained it smacked of satanism. No new mascot name has been chosen yet. If the Desert Sands Unified School District Board of Education agrees Tuesday, students could vote for another mascot later in the week. Hand votes were taken at school assemblies after it was recommended that a new mascot be chosen, student body President Ryan Schmitz said.

Ted Mullen, former Anaheim High School football coach, has been recommended for hiring as an assistant football coach at Palm Desert High School, David Jones, the school's principal, said. Mullen, who has coached for 18 years in Orange County, needs approval by the Desert Sands Unified School District board of trustees, which meets Tuesday. He also would teach math and physical education. "He's not officially hired," Jones said. "We've recommended him to our personnel people, who will take it to the board."

Anaheim High School football Coach Ted Mullen will have to wait one more month to find out whether he will become an assistant coach at Palm Desert High School. Mullen's application to coach running backs and defensive ends was bumped from Tuesday's meeting of the Desert Sands Unified School District board of trustees because it was processed after the board's agenda had been organized, Palm Desert Principal Mike Jones said. The board will vote on the application at its next meeting July 18. Mullen said he will not resign at Anaheim until the board approves his application at Palm Desert.

Nine people, including some of the Coachella Valley's high-profile civic leaders, were indicted Friday by a Riverside County grand jury on charges of operating an illegal pyramid scheme in which $1 million changed hands. The Ponzi scheme, sometimes known as the "Gift Exchange Program," involved more than 1,000 people in Riverside County, many of whom invested $2,000 apiece with assurances they would make a $16,000 profit as they recruited other investors, county prosecutors said.

For the first time in 18 years, Ted Mullen won't be coaching a high school football team in Orange County in the fall. The Desert Sands Unified School District board of trustees on Tuesday night approved by a 4-0 vote Mullen's application for the assistant football coach at Palm Desert High School. The board also approved his application for math and physical education teacher.

A 51-year-old woman was killed Friday in Palm Desert when a suspected drunk driver careered into a pair of vehicles and a bus carrying 23 high school students. Olga A. Vasquez, a Cathedral City resident who was driving one of the cars, died at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage at 8:02 a.m., about an hour after the accident, authorities said.

The Castaic Union School District is expected to hire a new business manager after a four-month search. Michael Slater, a former business official for the Desert Sands Unified School District and onetime superintendent of the Moorpark Unified School District, has been offered Castaic's $65,000-per-year post. "I think one of the reasons Mike Slater was chosen is he has a wide range of experiences," said Castaic Supt. Scott Brown.

Arguing that after-school programs are the way to keep children out of trouble, President Clinton announced $40 million in grants for 315 rural and inner-city school systems and individual schools--to provide learning havens after school, on weekends and during the summer. "For millions of Americans, 'Home Alone' is not a funny movie; it is a serious risk that children and parents undertake every day all across this country," Clinton said Wednesday.