School Board Meeting Wrap-Up

The following is from the Dec. 8 meeting of the Laguna Beach Unified School District Board of Education.

Brown new board president

The board elected Ketta Brown as president for 2010, and named Theresa O’Hare as board clerk.

Outgoing President Jan Vickers was honored for her service in 2009, and for nine years on the board.

SchoolPower presents donations

SchoolPower President Robin Rounaghi presented a $125,000 check to the board on behalf of SchoolPower, a portion of the organization’s $250,000 commitment to the district for the 2009-10 school year. Endowment President Bill O’Hare then presented another check in the amount of $50,000 to benefit the foreign language program. This was the endowment’s second installment of their 10-year $500,000 commitment.

Third-grade violinists perform

Ten third-grade violin students from Top of the World and El Morro elementary schools put on a small performance for the school board, in which they demonstrated how to use pizzicato (plucking the strings) and bowing through a series of exercises that focused on reading notes, rests and repeats. They also demonstrated progress on using fingering to achieve a sharp note through the song “Hot Cross Buns.”

Vickers said she was more than impressed with the progress the students had made in only eight lessons.

This fall, the district replaced the third-grade recorder program with the violin program, as a result of a school board study session last spring in which it learned the benefits of young students being exposed to a string instrument.

TOW Principal Ron LaMotte said the schools were able to purchase the violins with a state grant designed to support arts and music programs.

Students win in Reflections

Jennifer Baker, chairwoman for PTA Reflections Program, presented certificates to four students from Laguna Beach High School who won awards in the National PTA Reflections Contest.

Aleph Cervo received an award of merit in the musical composition division; Hannah Glass, Hayley Seitz and Sean Pigden were all-district division winners in musical composition, dance choreography and the literature division, respectively.

Students were invited to submit entries in the areas of visual arts, photography, dance choreography, videography/film making, musical composition and literature that reflected this year’s theme, “Beauty Is.”

Last month, 11 other elementary and middle school students were recognized for their achievement from more than 200 entries received, and an exhibit of their work was displayed in the board room.

These works will be sent to 4th District (Orange County) for a countywide competition. If selected, they will head to state and finally, national competition. The students’ works will then be exhibited Feb. 20 at the Orange County Department of Education.