Schools

Re "Report cards score schools," Jan. 12 No wonder students in the Los Angeles Unified School District are not doing well, considering the money spent on programs like report cards for schools. The information would have equal value if it were made public in the media as opposed to spending $700,000 to mail it home. It's all a waste: The test does not have any significance for the students, thus few are motivated to do more than "bubble" random answers year after year. Donna Madden Redondo Beach

The city school district late this week recalled a chicken dish that contained possibly tainted peanut bits. Asian Thai Chicken included nuts processed in a Georgia plant believed responsible for shipping tainted peanuts throughout the nation. The dish was recalled from 188 schools Thursday; it was last served Jan. 16 and 30, according to the Los Angeles Unified School District. No illnesses have been reported. -- Jason Song

The Environmental Protection Agency will soon begin testing the air around schools for toxic contaminants. The $2.25-million program will be the first of its kind. Monitors will focus on chemicals known to cause cancer and respiratory and neurological problems. States and local governments will monitor the air at 50 to 100 schools near industrial facilities or in cities with high concentrations of pollution.

Re "Economy tests private schools' fundraising," March 23 Celebrities hawking "giving" to help pay hefty school tuitions seems outrageously insensitive. Though schools say they are economizing on their fundraising efforts, they are still holding "gala dinners" to help supplement $25,000 annual tuitions for "middle- and even upper- income families" who've had financial setbacks. The Los Angeles Unified School District reported last year that more than 12,000 of its students were homeless.

State Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said Tuesday that meddling with voter-approved funding guarantees for schools would cause "severe and long-lasting harm to both our students and our schools." The comments came in response to a proposal by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to suspend the budgeting formula as part of a plan to wipe out California's $26.3-billion deficit. Calling the proposal "short-sighted" and "irresponsible," O'Connell said at a morning news conference that schools were being "made the scapegoat for the budget crisis."

Re "Run the Race to the Top?: California must act to ensure it gets needed federal school funds," and "The initiative uses the wrong means to achieve education reform," Opinion, Sept. 15 In responding to Walt Gardner's Op-Ed article, I believe that test scores are one of the valid measures of a teacher's effectiveness. I just retired after 37 years as a teacher in the public schools. I taught in schools with students whose "bleak situation" was described by Gardner. The fact is, within those schools are good and bad teachers.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is starting a new program that could reinvent arts education for schools struggling with budget cuts and fewer art teachers, organizers said Friday. The pilot Any Given Child project announced Friday for schools in Sacramento could be expanded to as many as three cities each year, the Washington-based center said. Under the strategy, the Kennedy Center will link local arts groups with schools to help teach students in kindergarten through eighth grade.