School Administrator

John J. Lingel, former administrator of 67 elementary and junior high schools in the South Bay area of the Los Angeles Unified School District, has died. He was 70. Lingel, who retired in 1986 after 40 years with the district, died Monday of cancer. For the last four years he had served as consultant to the Center for Quality Education at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Investigators tracked two-time Olympic gold medalist Sammy Lee through his credit card purchases as the 92-year-old drove through at least three Southern California counties after he went missing Monday. Lee, who suffers from dementia , was disoriented but in good condition when he was found about 9 p.m. Tuesday by deputies who responded to a report of a traffic hazard, authorities said. He left his Huntington Beach home Monday afternoon to go swimming at Los Caballeros Racquet & Sports Club in Fountain Valley, which was his common practice.

Senior Los Angeles school administrator Stuart Bernstein failed to notify police for two weeks after learning of allegations that a third-grade teacher was suspected of molesting girls in his class, a prosecutor charged in her opening statement at Bernstein's trial Thursday. Instead, Deputy City Atty.

Two-time Olympic diving champion Sammy Lee was slightly disoriented but was in good condition when he was found in Pico Rivera, authorities said Tuesday night. The 92-year-old Lee, who suffers from dementia, drove through at least three Southern California counties before he was found about 9 p.m. Tuesday by deputies who responded to a report of a traffic hazard, authorities said. He left his Huntington Beach home Monday afternoon. Lee was reportedly swerving through traffic in his Mercedes and was stopped near a curb when he was found in the 8400 block of Washington Boulevard in Pico Rivera, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said.

A May 21 preliminary hearing has been set for three people accused of murdering a Downey high school vice principal at his Long Beach home, Deputy Dist. Atty. Shawn Randolph said Monday. Alex Freddy Vega, 42, Monica Mary Chavez, 40, and Gilbert Raul Rubio, 36, all of Los Angeles, will be arraigned in Long Beach Municipal Court on murder charges in the death of George Blackwell. The school administrator died Jan. 12 during a robbery and burglary, Randolph said.

When I first came here I just wanted the kids to have an education equal to middle-class or upper-middle-class kids. I just wanted us (teachers) to believe that the kids here could make it and that they wanted to make it, (but that) it was just more difficult. That's really a big vision. Then I re-evaluated, and now I take littler steps. My approach has changed dramatically. I didn't really analyze the way things worked or considered (the school's) very political structure.

Investigators tracked two-time Olympic gold medalist Sammy Lee through his credit card purchases as the 92-year-old drove through at least three Southern California counties after he went missing Monday. Lee, who suffers from dementia , was disoriented but in good condition when he was found about 9 p.m. Tuesday by deputies who responded to a report of a traffic hazard, authorities said. He left his Huntington Beach home Monday afternoon to go swimming at Los Caballeros Racquet & Sports Club in Fountain Valley, which was his common practice.

Two-time Olympic diving champion Sammy Lee, who had been missing after leaving his Huntington Beach home, was found in Pico Rivera Tuesday night, police said. The 92-year-old Lee, who suffers from dementia, drove from Huntington Beach to Mojave to Studio City, was found by authorities in Pico Rivera, Lt. Gary Faust of the Huntington Beach Police Department told The Times. Faust said there were no immediate details on Lee's condition. Lee, who gained fame as a platform diver, also has a history of heart problems, according to police.

Jim Murray's column attacks what is part of our tradition--hypocrisy. It is a part of our tradition that we could well do without. This column should be required reading for every school administrator, every athlete, every coach and staff, every legislator in the country. SHELDON KRONFELD San Diego

The City Council, which fired the city's five planning commissioners last month, has reappointed two of them and added three newcomers to the commission. Reappointed were Patricia Chin and Yukio Kawaratani. The new members are Ken Fong, an architect; J. J. Rodriguez, a former union official, and George Ristic, a retired school administrator.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Sammy Lee, who suffers from dementia and was reported missing after leaving his Huntington Beach home, was in Studio City on Tuesday evening to gas his Mercedes after traveling earlier in the day to Mojave, authorities told The Times. The 92-year-old Lee, who gained fame as a platform diver, also has a history of heart problems and is believed to be lost and confused, according to Huntington Beach police. Lee left his home Monday about 3 p.m. to go swimming at Los Caballeros Racquet & Sports Club in Fountain Valley, which was his common practice.  Police said that Lee purchased gas in Mojave about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Two-time Olympic diving champion Sammy Lee, who had been missing after leaving his Huntington Beach home, was found in Pico Rivera Tuesday night, police said. The 92-year-old Lee, who suffers from dementia, drove from Huntington Beach to Mojave to Studio City, was found by authorities in Pico Rivera, Lt. Gary Faust of the Huntington Beach Police Department told The Times. Faust said there were no immediate details on Lee's condition. Lee, who gained fame as a platform diver, also has a history of heart problems, according to police.

Kent Taylor, the administrator in charge of the financially troubled Inglewood school district, resigned Friday after the state Department of Education learned of tentative agreements he made with the teachers union without the authority to do so. Taylor's resignation comes two months after he was appointed by state Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson to lead the school system - which was taken over by the state in September when Gov. Jerry Brown approved legislation granting $55 million in emergency loans to help the 14,000-student district.

Mark Berndt, the teacher accused of committing lewd acts against nearly two dozen elementary school children, was the target of a police investigation 18 years ago when a female student reported that he had tried to fondle her, authorities said. The alleged incident occurred in September 1993, though officials said the girl did not tell her mother about it until four months later, after seeing an episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" that explained the difference between "good touches" and "bad touches.

Laura Custodio, dean of Porter Middle School in the San Fernando Valley, sprang into action after hearing that an eighth-grader was selling pot to other students. Without consulting police or parents, she asked a 12-year-old boy with a history of discipline problems to act as a decoy buyer and gave him a marked $5 bill. "I was pretty scared," the decoy, a seventh-grader, later testified in court. "She told me it was the right thing to do and I had to do it … and I didn't want to disappoint her. " The sting roiled a suburban campus better known for its academic achievement and led to a more than $1-million jury award to the seventh-grader and his family in a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Last school year, Carson High School students skipped 1,926 days of class. This year, the school reduced that figure by 20%, thanks to an aggressive intervention program that included tracking down students and meeting with parents. Much of the credit goes to Sally Stevens, one of two school attendance counselors who are responsible for finding chronic truants. "They're the ones who deal with the hard-core students, and they find a way to get them to school," said Ken Keener, Carson's principal.

A former school administrator was sentenced in Riverhead to two to six years in prison after pleading guilty to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the school district and the state retirement fund, prosecutors said. Daniel Cifonelli, the former assistant superintendent for business in the William Floyd School District on Long Island, pleaded guilty to nine counts of grand larceny and money laundering.

Palmdale High's Latisha Beam, a two-time All-Southern Section Division I selection in basketball, will sign a letter of intent to play for Loyola Marymount, according to a school administrator. The 5-10 forward was named to The Times' All-Valley team for the second consecutive season this season and averaged 17.5 points and 10.5 rebounds. "She's just learning the game," Palmdale Coach George Corisis said. "She has tremendous potential for development in college.

The Web never stops and it never forgets. On a recent Friday night, a UCLA student posted a video on YouTube. The young woman made the video, in which she complained about and mocked Asian students at UCLA, the day after the Japan earthquake. She took down the clip within hours of posting it. She was too late. By then it was being reposted and remixed, taking on a life of its own. By that Sunday, it had come full circle. UCLA officials watching the situation unfold noticed considerable surges in traffic on the university's Facebook and YouTube profiles, said Phil Hampton, a UCLA spokesman.

Administrators of the flagship downtown Los Angeles arts high school neglected to mention one crucial fact in their application materials: that enrollment is first-come, first-served for students outside the neighborhood. It was the latest snafu in the short, troubled history of the $232-million campus. That admissions information isn't explained on the school's website or on its application form. Instead, instructions note that families from other areas can apply between Feb. 7 and March 4. Principal Luis Lopez characterized the incomplete information as an oversight.