Granada Hills High School

Drama students from Granada Hills High School will perform a scene from Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" on the stage of the CTG/Ahmanson Theatre Wednesday as part of an award for being one of four finalists in the 65th Annual Drama Teachers Assn. of Southern California Shakespeare Festival. This is the second year that outstanding high school drama groups have been invited to perform at the Ahmanson.

A 17-year-old Granada Hills High School senior known for his quirky, intelligent and sometimes dark personality pulled his Toyota MR2 sports car onto the campus parking lot early Friday, set up a video camera and, after turning up the radio, shot himself to death in front of classmates. "It was horrible," said Gina Romero, a 10th-grader who saw the shooting. "He put on some music, I don't know what, set up a camera, then shot himself in the head." Students who watched the 7 a.m.

"Classmates Witness Youth's Suicide" (Dec. 2), regarding the incident at Granada Hills High School where a student shot himself in front of students, mentioned that one girl shouted at a TV cameraman to leave and respect the victim. I wholeheartedly agree with this student. When the incident occurred, tension levels were obviously high. But the presence of media helicopters and vans with satellite uplinks vastly increased the tension and anxiety we experienced. I am outraged that the TV media believe their version of the 1st Amendment trumps our school's collective right to have privacy in the midst of tragedy.

The mother of a 15-year-old shot to death at a party will take her crusade against guns and violence to Granada Hills High School next week. "To stand up in front of a group and continually tell them about the night my son was killed, it hurts, it hurts," Lyn Squires said. "I cut out a lot of details, the pain is so deep. . . . But when I say, 'our son was shot, he never came home,' you can hear a pin drop. Everyone is intent. In that moment, you can educate."

The Educational Testing Service is investigating irregularities in the administration of the SAT exam at Granada Hills Charter High School earlier this month, a spokesman said Tuesday, raising the possibility that students who took the college entrance test may have their scores invalidated. "We are looking at the October administration at the Granada Hills High School, but for confidentiality reasons we're not really able to comment any more about it," said Tim Ewing, the director of press relations for the private testing service.

Since Jose Meza turned down an offer to join a gang, friends have been hard to find. That's why Meza, 17, said he has his own reasons for looking forward to the first West Valley Spring Summit at Chatsworth High School next week, a conference aimed both at bringing together teen-agers who want to work to prevent violence and to promote good race relations at their high schools. "It's so hard to find kids like that," said Meza, a senior at Granada Hills High School.

This Christmas, children in San Luis Rio Colorado will receive bandages, cans of soup, stuffed animals, clothes and other items from Granada Hills when Isabel Martinez returns to the small Mexican town of her birth just south of the Arizona border. Her truck will be filled with items collected by Martinez's San Fernando Valley neighbors--including a group of students from Granada Hills High School.

The example of Lillian Lewis is a reminder of how important adult helpers can be to kids in school, and how many more are needed. Lewis, an octogenarian, is a fixture at Granada Hills High School. Staff and pupils call her Granny. Reporter Timothy Williams last week described how she sits at the door checking student IDs and sending visitors to the right places. She gets up at 2:30 a.m. and commutes from South-Central Los Angeles. She is paid for three hours a day but works all of it.

An emergency drill at Granada Hills High School ended Tuesday morning with a real--if relatively minor--emergency, when six students and two teachers were struck by boards that fell from the roof of a building. The injured were taken by ambulance to area hospitals. They suffered minor to moderate wounds that ranged from scraped knees to a cut scalp, administrators and witnesses said.

Granada Hills High School has postponed renaming its Bryce Schurr Football Stadium, dedicated to the school's founding principal, for pro football's John Elway because of a fierce community outcry that has turned what was supposed to be a "feel-good event" ugly.