Teachers San Diego

A 13-year-old student has been arrested after a history teacher's iced tea was spiked with the hallucinatory substance LSD and the teacher became sick and disoriented, officials said. The youth, an eighth-grader, has been taken to Juvenile Hall, pending a hearing Monday on a possible felony charge. John Duitsman, a veteran teacher at Challenger Middle School, was treated and released at a hospital but has not returned to work.

A 13-year-old student has been arrested after a history teacher's iced tea was spiked with the hallucinatory substance LSD and the teacher became sick and disoriented, officials said. The youth, an eighth-grader, has been taken to Juvenile Hall, pending a hearing Monday on a possible felony charge. John Duitsman, a veteran teacher at Challenger Middle School, was treated and released at a hospital but has not returned to work.

Janis T. Gabay, an English teacher at Serra High School in San Diego, will receive the 1990 National Teacher of the Year award today at the White House. "I see my primary task as bringing out abilities and talents that students may not even know they have," Gabay says. State Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig called Gabay "the prototype of the teachers we need for the 1990s."

When her second-grade students made some childish but homophobic comments, teacher Toni Wanic thought she knew a gentle way to teach tolerance. She invited her 27-year-old son, who is gay, to come to her class the next day and answer her students' questions about gay people and AIDS and whether gays are irredeemably different from other people. Wanic's students asked questions without hesitation: Do all gay people have AIDS? Does everyone with AIDS die? When did you know you were gay?

OK, can we forget about budget cuts, crowded classrooms, the debate over school quality for at least a day? The educational world cannot be all bad if teacher Esther Kobusch is back in the classroom today for her 50th year, fired up once more to mold first-graders into lifelong learners. Already, Kobusch has been humming the "Tuesday, Tuesday, I like Tuesday, Tuesday is the third day of the week" ditty that goes with one of the big picture books she has arranged around the reading circle.

When her second-grade students made some childish but homophobic comments, teacher Toni Wanic thought she knew a gentle way to teach tolerance. She invited her 27-year-old son, who is gay, to come to her class the next day and answer her students' questions about gay people and AIDS and whether gays are irredeemably different from other people. Wanic's students asked questions without hesitation: Do all gay people have AIDS? Does everyone with AIDS die? When did you know you were gay?

The wife of Navy Capt. Will Rogers III has sent a letter to the parents of each of her former students at the La Jolla Country Day School saying that she does not pose a security risk, had planned to return to the school, but was "terminated" by school officials.

President Bush presented a crystal apple and a note of thanks to Janis T. Gabay of San Diego's Serra High School in a ceremony Wednesday at which she was named the 1990 National Teacher of the Year. "Over the past 17 years, she has developed her power to motivate minds, to give kids a sense of wonder and bless them with a life of possibilities unimagined in ordinary moments," Bush said of Gabay.

Sharon Rogers wanted to stay on in her job as a teacher at the La Jolla Country Day School after a bomb blast destroyed her van on the way to work, but was fired by school officials in what was announced as a "mutual decision," according to sources who have spoken with her and her husband, Capt. Will C. Rogers III, commander of the guided missile cruiser Vincennes.

Sandra McBrayer, named this week as 1994 National Teacher of the Year, has a message for America's schools: Arise and do something. "Too often schools assume the role of victims, that society has dumped all its problems on us and nothing can be done," McBrayer said. "My school demonstrates that you can do something about the problems. If students are hungry, feed them. If students need clothes, give them clothes. Take action."

Sandra McBrayer, named this week as 1994 National Teacher of the Year, has a message for America's schools: Arise and do something. "Too often schools assume the role of victims, that society has dumped all its problems on us and nothing can be done," McBrayer said. "My school demonstrates that you can do something about the problems. If students are hungry, feed them. If students need clothes, give them clothes. Take action."

OK, can we forget about budget cuts, crowded classrooms, the debate over school quality for at least a day? The educational world cannot be all bad if teacher Esther Kobusch is back in the classroom today for her 50th year, fired up once more to mold first-graders into lifelong learners. Already, Kobusch has been humming the "Tuesday, Tuesday, I like Tuesday, Tuesday is the third day of the week" ditty that goes with one of the big picture books she has arranged around the reading circle.

The next time teachers scour the literature for ways to help their students learn, they might want to pick up a new book written by students for teachers. If they do, they'll find out about Starburst math, about the Rainbow Handwriting Award, about Max and E.T., the Minute of Silence and a host of other tricks, activities and strategies that the students "battle-tested"--with the result that they study more and enjoy education more.

President Bush presented a crystal apple and a note of thanks to Janis T. Gabay of San Diego's Serra High School in a ceremony Wednesday at which she was named the 1990 National Teacher of the Year. "Over the past 17 years, she has developed her power to motivate minds, to give kids a sense of wonder and bless them with a life of possibilities unimagined in ordinary moments," Bush said of Gabay.

Janis T. Gabay, an English teacher at Serra High School in San Diego, will receive the 1990 National Teacher of the Year award today at the White House. "I see my primary task as bringing out abilities and talents that students may not even know they have," Gabay says. State Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig called Gabay "the prototype of the teachers we need for the 1990s."

SAN DIEGO-Wendy Ellen Cochran was dissatisfied with the professional dance training available in San Diego four years ago, so she decided to do something about it. Putting her entrepreneurial skills to work, Cochran started her own business, dubbed the Dancer's Workshop of San Diego, and set out to snare soloists from some of the leading dance companies in the country to teach short-term but intensive workshops in San Diego.

The next time teachers scour the literature for ways to help their students learn, they might want to pick up a new book written by students for teachers. If they do, they'll find out about Starburst math, about the Rainbow Handwriting Award, about Max and E.T., the Minute of Silence and a host of other tricks, activities and strategies that the students "battle-tested"--with the result that they study more and enjoy education more.

SAN DIEGO-Wendy Ellen Cochran was dissatisfied with the professional dance training available in San Diego four years ago, so she decided to do something about it. Putting her entrepreneurial skills to work, Cochran started her own business, dubbed the Dancer's Workshop of San Diego, and set out to snare soloists from some of the leading dance companies in the country to teach short-term but intensive workshops in San Diego.

The wife of Navy Capt. Will Rogers III has sent a letter to the parents of each of her former students at the La Jolla Country Day School saying that she does not pose a security risk, had planned to return to the school, but was "terminated" by school officials.

Sharon Rogers wanted to stay on in her job as a teacher at the La Jolla Country Day School after a bomb blast destroyed her van on the way to work, but was fired by school officials in what was announced as a "mutual decision," according to sources who have spoken with her and her husband, Capt. Will C. Rogers III, commander of the guided missile cruiser Vincennes.