Voices of 90037 Neighborhood Council faces money freeze



Normandie Elementary School auditorium stood nearly empty at the start time of the Voices of 90037 Neighborhood Council meeting on Tuesday night. At about 6:30 pm, the room held more community members than board members.

Not until nearly an hour later did the last board member arrive, allowing the neighborhood council to reach a quorum and get started. A quorum is the minimum number of people needed to hold a meeting.

Below are some highlights from the night.

BUDGET UPDATE
The Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE) froze the neighborhood council’s bank account, because it does not have an approved neighborhood council budget on file for the current fiscal year.

Treasurer Angelica Cookson said that she and two other Board Members had personally dropped off the budget approved at last month’s meeting at DONE’s headquarters in Downtown Los Angeles.

Cookson cited DONE’s high employee turnover rate resulting in many shuffled papers lost in the transition process as a possible reason for the missing budget. She plans to follow up with DONE to clear up the confusion.
Until then, Voices of 90037 will not be able to access the $40,500 DONE distributed to each neighborhood council for this fiscal year.

SAFETY REPORT
LAPD Officer Sean Anderson gave his crime report before the official opening of the meeting.

· Chain snatching is still going on, but incidents have decreased since last month.

· Car break-ins are on the rise. Recently, a burglar broke into three cars in an underground parking lot in one night. Anderson warns residents to keep valuables stored in cars out of sight.

· LAPD is working on curbing prostitution along the S. Figueroa Corridor and Western Blvd. areas. Police stings are regularly being held to catch prostitutes and “johns.”

Any incidents relating to these and other crimes should be reported to the LAPD Southwest Division at (213) 485-2582.

MANUAL ARTS UPDATE
imageRobert Whitman, the new Manual Arts High School principal, shed light on the current situation at his school. MAHS lost federal funding dedicated to reducing class sizes because it did not meet its student achievement goals for last year. As a result, student-teacher ratios have increased to 32:1 for 9th and 10th graders and 44:1 for 11th and 12th graders.

Whitman also wanted to draw attention to the need for more African-American parent support at the school. “It’s not unusual for me to go to a parent meeting and not see one African-American parent,” Whitman said. About 17 percent of the MAHS student body is African-American.

COMMUNITY PROGRAMS
Two community programs were introduced during public comments.

Semaj Wilbert, a program assistant for the Vermont/Slauson Economic Development Corporation, introduced a new water conservation initiative aimed at residents to reduce their water and energy consumption. The non-profit offers free advice and educational resources on how to make homes and businesses greener. For more information, go to www.vsedc.org.

A new peacekeeping training program is being offered. Classes train and certify people on how to deal with gang-violence in their communities. The orientation will be held Oct. 27th at 6 pm on 1409 West Vernon Ave. For more information, call (323) 295-1904 or (213) 219-9204.

Union demands LAUSD rehire laid-off teachers



Listen to an audio story by Annenberg Radio News

imageUnited Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) is calling on the district to rehire 1,200 teachers and support staff that were laid off last spring due to budget cuts.

UTLA held a news conference today in front of Manual Arts High School in South Los Angeles–a particularly troubled school where 3,000 students learn in a space built for 1,000.

The problems at Manual Arts are about more than dealing with reduced resources. The school is currently under the management of a non-profit reform group and its influx of students is the result of a move from a year-round schedule to a traditional calendar this fall.

Representatives at the conference demanded the school district use its year-end surplus of $55 million from last school year to ease strained schools.

UTLA president Warren Fletcher says the biggest problem in LAUSD schools is overcrowded classrooms.

“We have gigantic class sizes. We have Algebra 2 classes with over 50 students. We have P.E. classes with over 80 students,” Fletcher said. “If you’re a seventh-grader and you’re in one of those ridiculously overcrowded classrooms–well–you don’t ever get to be in seventh grade again, so it is something that needs to happen now. The children can no longer wait for this.”

Manual Arts is one of two Los Angeles high schools that has been managed by independent non-profit L.A.’s Promise. The Los Angeles Times reported today that LAUSD officials are poised to retake substantial management control of the school.

While UTLA has been a critic of L.A.’s Promise, it says the district’s hoarding of its surplus funds is to blame for the troubles at Manual Arts and schools like it.

History teacher Daniel Beebe says the lack of staff is at Manual Arts is a problem

“Obviously, when you add eight, nine, 10 students to a classroom, it cuts down your ability to give the students the support and attention they deserve,” Beebe said.

A controversial state law, AB 114, was passed with the budget that prevents school districts from laying off teachers during budget shortages. UTLA says that under the law, the district has the go-ahead to bring teachers back into the classroom.

“This is a serious, serious matter, and the money is there to alleviate it,” Fletcher said. “The school board and the superintendent need to act now. We have already burned a month of school. We can’t burn a whole school year.”

Spokespersons for both LAUSD and L.A.’s Promise said they were unable to comment.

Concord/Discord or Discord/Concord at Manual Arts?



By Ricardo Elorza

Intersections South LA was awarded a USC UNO (University Neighborhood Outreach) grant in 2010 for work at Manual Arts High School.  The grant funds two important projects:  1) USC journalism students mentor in MAHS classes each week; and 2) MAHS students learn how to digitize and archive the school’s newspaper collection which were rapidly deteriorating.  Ricardo Elorza, a MAHS alumnus, is leading the archiving process and has been blogging about the process.

It is difficult to distinguish which one (Concord/Discord or Discord/Concord) as the valid idea when you see pictures like the one presented here. However, let me assure you with the utmost sincerity that the right frame of mind is found in Concord/Discord.

Thanks to Manual Arts students like Alexis (seen in photo) imagethe Manual Arts High School Archive Room is getting revamped and cleaned from years of dust and humidity. As the room remains open for clean-up, it is not difficult to find people passing along and gasping from utter amazement. Teachers, faculty, and students alike signal their first question, “what is all of this?” while poking their head inside the collection room.  My answer, “Newspapers and yearbooks.”

Their follow up question is always the same, “so what do you plan to do with all of these books?” I answer, “We are archiving and digitizing the newspaper collection that dates as far back as 1913.” Their natural respond is always the same too, “Wow! Never thought the school was that old.” I was amazed too at the end of my senior year at Manual Arts that the place where I had spent four-years had its birth in 1909. There was no way I could not come back to work on the archives after knowing that.

A common theme coming from people passing by—and it does not matter if they are a freshmen or senior student, a veteran teacher or a recent hired, an administrator or parent—is that they conclude with the same curiosity: “Can I take a look at one of the yearbooks or newspapers?” and my favorite, “This is a good job, thank you and please keep doing it.” image

The pride of Manual Arts is in every corner, the rich history is found everywhere, in every page and in every classroom. Manual Arts students live in an ancient palace that foretells many stories of triumph and reflection, of renovation and tenacity. This week concludes the third week of renovation and the place, maybe not quite appreciated from the pictures here, is getting cleaned and renovated thanks to the UNO grant from USC Good Neighbors Campaign.

The left side of the room is composed of the newspaper bounded books, while the right side houses the yearbooks. The renovation is done on the newspapers and now the work turns to the yearbooks and overall house clean-up. I invite all of you to stop by and look at some pages from the past. You will notice that you are not only seeing the history of Manual Arts High School, but the history of the Los Angeles City as well.

Toiler Times at Manual Arts High School



image Intersections South LA mentors work with students at Manual Arts High School to produce a student newspaper called The Toiler Times.

The Toiler Times features a variety of articles and opinion editorials on topics ranging from bullying to graduation.

Here are some of the articles from the latest edition:

Manual Arts debate team shows dedication

Bullying: An Issue for All

Teacher of the Month: Mr. Solis

What is wrong with Manual Arts?

What happens after death?

Manual Arts debate team shows dedication



This story appeared in The Toiler Times, the student newspaper of Manual Arts High School.

By Jovana Urrutia

The debate team is one of the most hard working and dedicated teams we have here at Manual Arts. The team’s advisor, Mr. Rohoman, works to help each team member.

The teams consist of two members per group and there are about twelve groups total in the debate team. They started to compete in December 2010 and since then they have been unstoppable.

They have won many competitions but the most challenging one was at Pepperdine University back in January. Other schools participated in the Pepperdine competition as well. All the team members had a rough start but they stayed calm and did their best.

I had the chance to interview one of the team members of the debate team. Her name is Alejandra Alvarez, a junior on the C-track. She told me that they went through obstacles to get to where they are now.

I asked if anyone felt nervous and what are their goals for the team. Alejandra said, “Yes some were nervous and the most important goal is to win every competition.” Every team member puts in a lot of effort. They get busy with it and they have every detail on their mind. That’s how much potential the team has.

The last question I asked was, “What is the next step for the team?” Her response: “For the team and expand get and more people involved, to learn more about it, get prepared for college and their future, and to win.”

The last thing she told me is that it’s not always about winning, it’s about having fun as well as enjoying every moment of the competition. The Toilers’ debate team will always have fun and they are not going to let anyone from other schools bring them down because they always keep their heads held high and they are motivated.

Track system at Manual Arts eases overcrowding, hinders student performance



imageLos Angeles has some major issues. Traffic is one. The state budget’s another. But unbeknownst to many Angelenos, is the chaos that is the year-round schedule of many schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Students relish that spring day when they walk out of their school’s doors and don’t look back until early September. But for two thirds of all Los Angeles high school-aged, public school students, the idea of summer vacation, is well, just an idea.

Starting in 1974 and coinciding with a rise in student enrollment that lasted three decades—almost 750,000 students attended a public school in Los Angeles in 2000—elementary, middle and high schools implemented a track system. Tracks—labeled A, B, C and sometimes D—organized the school year so that up to one third of the student body was always on break—whether it was April or August.

A year-round schedule was the best option for school districts with such rapid growth—such as L.A. Unified, according to 1997 an analysis by the Education Commission of the State (ECS), a Denver–based nonpartisan education research organization that first studied year-round schooling more than a decade ago just as the idea was introduced in U.S. schools.

“It was a poor, quick fix,” said Tom Roddy, who has been a teacher in the district for almost a decade. “It was done as a stopgap, and they did a poor job of it.”

Roddy is a currently journalism teacher at Manual Arts High School in South Los Angeles.

“A traditional school has 182 instructional days,” he said. “With the tracks, we have 160. Twenty-two less days for instruction really adds up. Not to mention after having two months off twice a year, we end up having to go over a lot.”

In 2006, the passage of the Williams Settlement Legislation required that all students have access to adequate learning materials, such as textbooks, access to clean, safe and functional facilities, and that all teachers are appropriately assigned and have the proper certification or training for their assignment, especially those in classrooms with 20 percent or more English learners.

To fulfill these requirements, L.A. Unified needed to ease overcrowding by building more schools, in turn being able to put all schools on a traditional schedule.

“I think it will help tremendously,” said Nisha Dugal, interim principal at Manual Arts High School. “We are constantly battling low test scores. It’s easy to see why, when we have students on A track coming back to school from two months off on March 7th. Their high school exit exams are March 8th and 9th. It just doesn’t work.”

A Problematic System

According to the ECS findings on year-round schooling, every case study was different: “In some cases, year-round schools have led to an increase in student achievement. Conversely, levels of student achievement have decreased in other instances.”

Though enrollment has slowly waned, with 100,000 fewer L.A. Unified pupils than in 2000, the education budget crisis in California has taken a toll on swift progress.

Had the economy and school budget remained the same, the change back to a traditional school year would have happened much more quickly, but the district just didn’t have the funds to create the space to have all students on a September-June schedule.

Yet as L.A. Unified slowly moves back to a more traditional 9-month academic schedule, not everyone is happy about it.

Jovana Urrutia, an 18-year-old senior at Manual Arts, likes the tracks.

“The track system is a good thing. With a school of over 3,000 students, it’s nice that it’s not so crowded during the year. I can do Intersession too and catch up on everything,” Urrutia said.

Intersession, much like summer school, was something L.A. Unified initiated so that students could catch up on some of the school days they lost due to the tracks. “We have about 200 kids out of 3,000 attending Intersession and exam prep. I wish I could say there were more, but I can’t force them to go,” said interim principal Dugal.

“I stay more focused,” Urrutia said, in defense of the track system.

Yet, she admitted that the all the tracks are not equal.

“A track is the most crowded, because kids really want to be on a normal schedule. You can really only get a summer job if you are on A track,” Urrutia added.

For parents with children in different schools, the track system proves troublesome.

“Originally the tracks were based by city block, to help with truancy, and to keep families together on the same tracks, even at different schools,” Dugal said. “But now it’s really about numbers.

Students at Manual Arts who have siblings at our feeder middle schools—who are a traditional schedule—may not have the same vacation. It makes things difficult.”

Easing the Overcrowding

The light at the end of the tunnel for Manual Arts and other high schools in the area is that they know help is on the way. West Adams, a high school near Manual Arts, is almost finished with its school year and ready to take up to 600 of Manual Arts’ students.

“They will relieve us a little, but we will still have a high school with 2,400 students. That’s a lot,” Dugal said.

As per the new L.A. Unified policy, schools are mandated to go to a traditional September to May schedule, which will force many students to newer surrounding high schools. Dugal said that students would be reassigned based on where they lived.

Roddy, the Manual Arts journalism teacher, emphasized the need for more space.

“There hadn’t been a school built in Los Angeles in 30-some-odd years,” Roddy said. “The school can’t close down for more than a day or two for repairs, nothing gets really clean.”

Dugal seconded this fact, but added that this year the school was able to shut for a full week over Christmas, to do maintenance and spruce up the school. Roddy concluded it was much-needed rare occurrence.

Superintendent Ramon Cortines also proposed that many schools start earlier as well, creating yet another change to try and improve student test scores. Based on a trial of 17 high schools in L.A. Unified, Cortines wanted to have early start, saying that kids had more time to prepare for the exit exams and letting them out earlier in June was met with much backlash from parents who already had summer plans in place. Though this has nothing to do with the new traditional schedule, Cortines is grasping for just about anything to improve test scores.

On top of building more schools and switching to a traditional September through June school year, Cortines is facing a plethora of budgeting concerns and taking heat most recently from parents frustrated with the flip-flopping of scheduling for next school year.

Cortines has since pushed his plan back a year, to 2012, giving the district two huge changes in their education system in one year, which has the potential to make it hard to figure out if either one is working to boost test scores.

Ultimately, the push for a traditional schedule will help all involved, especially the students. Whether more budget cuts will reduce the number of teachers and new buildings is still unknown. Dugal is hopeful.

“Because of the new school in our area, we hopefully will just be moving teachers, not terminating them,” she said.

Los Angeles school cafeterias boast healthier options



imageWhen the 1 p.m. bell rang at Manual Arts High School, the students fled to the cafeteria for lunch. As the line lengthened, students carried small Styrofoam trays toward shelves of food.

That day, they could choose from baby carrots with dip, celery with dip, oranges, cheese ravioli with sauce and a whole wheat dinner roll, an Italian calzone with turkey pepperoni, chicken egg roll with brown rice, and non-fat regular milk, chocolate, or strawberry.

“A student must take at least three of the items that are offered,” said Susan Hernandez, the cafeteria manager at Manual Arts.

And at best, many of the students do grab onto at least three of the items offered because it’s free food.

Located in South Los Angeles, Manual Arts High School is a Provision 2 school under the Federal School Lunch Program, said Hernandez. Its Provision 2 status means it qualifies for all meals to be served for free due to the overall demographics of the school. Roughly 80 percent of Los Angeles Unified School District students are eligible for free and reduced price meals, according to the district.

Although some students, like Kevin Soto, said they would rather bring a packed lunch from home, they still take the cafeteria food because it’s free.

“Most of the cafeteria food is nasty,” said Soto. “When it comes to lunch, we’ll only eat two things…Sometimes I just get [the lunch] because of the milk.”

Building the Menu

In the past few years, L.A. Unified has been working toward supplying healthy options for students and also encouraging more students to eat cafeteria lunches.

imageIn 2004, the school board passed the Childhood Obesity Prevention Motion; in 2005, it launched the Cafeteria Reform Motion. Both motions set strict guidelines on what kind of food can be served in schools based on calorie count. They also reduce levels of sugar, sodium, and saturated fat and eliminating trans fat and palm oil in menu items and junk food and soda sales.

The Cafeteria Reform Motion put together a cafeteria improvement committee and a sub-committee that is made up of district employees and external participants including dieticians, obesity researchers, registered chefs, and healthy food advocacy groups, according to David Binkle, the deputy director of L.A. Unified Food Services.

The menu is determined by first looking at United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines. No more than 30 percent of a meal’s calories can come from fat, and the meal also must provide one-third of the recommended dietary allowances of protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, iron, calcium and calories, according to the USDA website.

Meals cannot exceed 1100 milligrams of sodium over a week’s period of time, and grain that is served must be 51 percent whole wheat, said Binkle. L.A. Unified is currently operating under 2005 dietary guidelines.

Money for the food comes from the federal and state government. Last year, the district served around 123 meals that fall under the nutrition criteria, which it did on an average of 77 cents per meal.

Currently, the district is working on adopting a new menu to test with students. Once the draft menu is finalized, all items will have to get approved by at least 30,000 students. The final menu will not be approved until two weeks before the 2011-2012 academic year starts.

imageHealthier Food, Healthier Students

Organizations like the Healthy School Food Coalition, which reaches out to schools and parents to get them involved in the menu-making process, have responded to the efforts to improve nutrition, especially because the menu affects many low-income students in the inner city.

Elizabeth Medrano, who works as the school food organizer for the coalition, applauded the district’s reduction of cheese and bread in its meals.

Although strides have been made to create healthier options for students, the total body mass index (BMI) for L.A. Unified students is on the rise.

BMI, a way to measure obesity, is an estimate based on one’s height and weight. The BMI of students in the L.A. Unified has risen from 24.4 in 2003 to 26.1 in 2010, as opposed to the BMI rates of the total population of Los Angeles County, which have fluctuated between 21.9 and 23.1. According to the U.S. Department of Health, a BMI ranging from 25.0 to 29.9 is overweight, and a BMI of 30 or greater is obese.

Binkle said that this high rate, however, does not correlate to the nutritional value of the menu but rather how much physical activity the students engage in to burn the calories they eat. A 2008 obesity report by the Los Angeles Department of Public Health attributed the stabilization of L.A. Unified’s students’ BMI to changes made in the nutrition arena.

Got Chocolate Milk?

But one group of activists, who have attended many of the menu planning sub-committees, believes that there is a way that the meals are contributing to a child’s obesity. On Feb. 14, Emily Ventura, who is a researcher at the Childhood Obesity Research Center at the University of Southern California, gathered a group of parents and left one-gallon jugs of sugar at district headquarters to advocate for flavored milk to be taken off the cafeteria menu.

imageVentura said that each cartoon of chocolate milk has two teaspoons of sugar. If a student drank two cartoons every school day, the student would consume 14 cups or roughly a gallon of pure sugar.

“[The district] is afraid of taking sugar out because they are afraid the kids won’t drink the milk,” Ventura said.

Binkle responded that the amount of added grams of sugar in chocolate milk—at seven grams—is the equivalent of a piece of fruit.

Ventura sees a pitfall in the cafeteria nutritional guidelines because they don’t count overall added sugar content. She mentioned that 1 in 3 kids born in the year 2000 are projected to develop diabetes in their lifetime, and this estimate is higher for Latino kids (1 in 2, or 50 percent), according to study done by the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in 2008.

Moreover, Ventura’s published research, conducted in a 16-week time period, analyzed if reduced sugar intake or increased fiber intake of 54 overweight Latino teenagers contributed to the development of type II diabetes. The published article states that almost 40 percent of Latinos ages 12-19 were overweight or at risk of becoming overweight between the years of 2003-2006. The subjects who increased fiber intake decreased significantly in BMI. Adolescents who simply decrease the amount of added sugar in one can of soda can and increase fiber intake equal to a half a cup of beans may see positive results that can stabilize their metabolism and reduce their risk of developing type II diabetes.

She also said that I made it sound like her chocolate milk campaign was linked to USC, so she asked if I could add that it she volunteers as the Social Action Chairperson of Slow Food Los Angeles.

The current policies of the USDA don’t look at the overall sugar content of a meal except that there can only be seven grams of added sugar in an ounce of cereal, said Ventura. She believes that they are not proactive enough if Frosted Flakes and Frosted Wheaties still make the cut.

Yet, Ventura did admit to some positive changes made at the district level.

“Looking at the menus that the committee has been proposing, I’m seeing that there are some positive changes like the coffee cake is served less often,” she said.

Only a handful of people, like Ventura, have raised awareness about the total content of added sugars in the meals during the three years Binkle has served as deputy director of food services. Binkle said that a few speaking out against overall sugar count may not correlate in change.

“We’ve had chocolate milk in this country for 100 years, what happened to those kids?” Binkle said. “It’s about exercise and taking your time to eat properly.”

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A Look Inside the Ring



This article also appeared in the Toiler Times, the student newspaper of Manual Arts High School.

By Nestor Nunez

My sweat, the lights, and fear that’s inside my body. Knowing I am walking up the ring with no way out. The emotion I see in the audience faces makes me bashful, but when I listen, I hear the audience rooting for my name. I also see posters with my name on them. This scene takes my nervousness away and tells me that I’m in it to win it.

March 17, 2005, was just another ordinary day of school. My dad picked me up and said, “We’re leaving to go see your uncle fight for this event he is having.” When I heard the news I knew I was going to like it. When we arrived I saw the lights, I heard the music, saw the girls, and smelled the ring. This position was a new picture to me. My dad and I sat. There are two fights before my uncle enters the ring. I liked every piece of it. Everybody gets quiet and a theme song called “Eye of the Tiger” pops out. My uncle emerged all pumped up and waved at us.

By the second round, it was clear my uncle was the winner. “Knock Out by Francisco a.k.a. Pancho!” the announcer yelled. From that day I knew boxing was my new thing.

Joining boxing classes and having a personal trainer made me feel like a pro already. When I hear my trainer saying “We have a champ” I knew from that start I was going to do well in this career.

Now I had a new schedule, every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday I’ll have training. On Wednesday I have sparing. Everyday my preparation gets harder and harder. Even though the trainings are tough I had to commit to my word and to my sport. I had about a year of training already preparing myself for an extraordinary event.

I’m in the locker room having my trainer helping me with my hand wraps and also advising me what to do and what not to. Training for five minutes before the fight gave me a cool sweat. “Nestor Nunez aka the Golden Boy, Jr.” the narrator says on top of the ring. I advance to the ring sweating, nervously seeing the people around me, and also my opponent. I see my family rooting for me. From the point I felt like Manny Paciao who is also my role model.

Hearing the bell and hearing the referee say “Fight,” felt like war just started. Walking to the opponent using every technique the trainer has taught me was actually coming in handy. It was third round. Hearing my opponent breathing hard I knew for a fact that he was tired. I had two minutes to take a break. Receiving water from my dad and my coach professionally telling me to stay balanced and to knock him out, felt like this match was all mine. One jab straight to his chin, seeing my opponent getting lightheaded I knew that one more punch it was over for him, and so I did. The match was over and the announcer said my name with joy and screaming “the winner”.

Boxing is the sport I mostly like and if people feel like this sport could be the right one for them, make sure you bring your heart and your “A” game.

Be mindful of how you use the word ‘gay’



This article also appeared in the Toiler Times, the student newspaper of Manual Arts High School.

By Carla DeLeon

When the word “gay” is mentioned to you, what’s the first thing that pops in your mind? To some people it’s simply a way of joking with each other, but what if you were to say it to the wrong person unintentionally? How do you think he or she would feel?

GLTBI stands for gay, lesbian, transgender, bi, intersex. I’m sure most people know what gay, lesbian, transgender, and bi are, but do you know what intersex is? Intersex is a person who physically looks like a male or female but claim to be the opposite.

I recently heard the term. My teacher explained to me what the word is, and I learned that if you’re an intersex, you know deep inside of you, that you are the opposite sex of what you look like. There is an issue going around in school, in which teachers and staffs are getting trained for. For example, if we have a student who physically looks like a male, but claims to be a female, he has the right to use the female’s restroom. For those boys who think they can finally go in there with their girlfriend, it’s not as easy as it sounds. A security needs to make sure there are no girls in the restroom in order to for the other student to go in.

Since a very young age, I’ve seen kids bullying others about their perceived sexuality, simply because of the way they looked or behaved. The trouble begins when students who may be gay begin to start feeling rejected and don’t feel accepted by everyone. Although many people may not realize it, this can be an early sign of depression

After the years go by, depression may lead to much more serious things. The maltreatment may not stop and the depressions will most likely increase. Depression may lead to suicides. Once people start feeling suicidal, everything becomes very serious.

While watching the news, you may come across a teenager committing suicide for not being accepted for who they are. You may stumble across this sort of news every so often. The most recent data from the American Association of Suicidology shows that there are more than 1,000 suicides on college campuses ever year. Most of the time, this kind of news may go unheard, it’s more of a hidden problem.

At Manual Arts High School, I’ve seen many things. For instance, while in class, I have heard classmates call other students names such as “fagot and gay,” but they do it basically to call each other names. Students are always teasing each about their manhood. In this school, being called these names are on a constant basis, but what about for those who really are gay?

I have a friend who is bi, and whenever she hears the word gay, she gets offended. How wouldn’t she when people are shouting out words that are offensive to others? Even if the word is said to her or someone else, she is proud to be the way she is, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Life itself is hard enough, but why make it more difficult by insulting others? People who are gay are humans too and deserve the respect from others.

Teacher of the Month: Ms. Ramirez



This article also appeared in the Toiler Times, the student newspaper of Manual Arts High School.

By Carlos Guerrero

All of us have had many teachers in the past years, but we rarely get to meet teachers who go out of their way to help students. Since middle school I have met only a couple teachers who take their own time to help students with whatever we might need. Mr. Galarza, Ms. Garibay, have been really great teachers, teachers you can really count on. Those are the kind of teachers we really need to have. Ms. Ramirez, my ninth grade teacher, is someone who I feel I can always count on, Not that she is the only one, but she is the only teacher from ninth grade I still talk to.

Ms. Ramirez has been working here at Manual for three years and has really helped us out since. Before she worked here she worked at a middle school. While she was working there she felt that teachers weren’t doing their job and realized that we need better teachers that will be willing to help. That is when she decided to work for high schools and she chose Manual. The reason she helps students so much whether they’re hers or not is because she grew up the way a lot of us did, neeeding a lot of help with school, but having parents who cannot help. That is why she takes time to help us out when she doesn’t have to. I went to her for any help I might need during lunch or nutrition. She has stayed with me and other friends, students that are no longer hers after school to help us out with work. I find that really great because many teachers wouldn’t take their own time to help us out the way she does.

Overall I feel that students need more teachers like this who will take time to help us and understand where we’re coming from. Teachers that aren’t willing to help students and don’t really try to help shouldn’t have picked a career in teaching. That is why I took my time to write this to show my appreciation to how this few teachers have been really helpful and put up with me because I know I play too much. These are teachers that I feel have really gone out of their way to help us out. Mr. Galarza, Ms. Garibay, and Ms. Ramirez have all been great and I thank you guys for that.