For UCLA, the Shapiro Family Charitable Foundation has pledged $2 million to fund two endowed chairs at the David Geffen School of Medicine. One will concentrate on child development studies, and the other on cerebral palsy. The Shapiro Foundation was started by Ralph Shapiro, who is chairman of Avondale Investment Partners, and his wife, Shirley, both of whom are UCLA alumni.

The UC system as a whole received a $4-million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for planning a UC School of Global Health, a proposed multi-campus school to train leaders in world health issues.

The grant would help kick-start plans for the new school, which is expected to seek UC regents’ approval in 2010 in hopes of first enrolling students the following year.

-- Larry Gordon

“With extreme poverty and malnutrition in every corner of the world, it is often hard to recognize the needs of your own community,” writes Elizabeth Knight in a profile of Hope-Net, a Los Angeles charity whose food and shelter services are described as the “saving grace each month” for many hungry and homeless people.

The brief sketch by Knight, a recent graduate of the Marlborough School, is one of 50 profiles of nonprofit organizations released this week in the L.A. Guide to Giving, a publication created by and for students to encourage philanthropy.

The guide is being distributed for free to schools, libraries, restaurants, banks and other merchants and will appear as an insert in local newspapers. It is a creation of YouthGive, a Bay Area-based organization of social entrepreneurs on a mission to enable young people and their families to engage and improve their community and the world.

“In these tough economic times, it’s especially important that young people and their families have a way to reach out and support nonprofits that may also be having a tough time financially,” said YouthGive co-founder Dan Siegel. “We’re trying to lower the threshold for giving so that young people can be philanthropists. This is a way to democratize giving.”

Part of YouthGive’s program includes a website where families can open a “giving account” for students to donate to nonprofits featured in the Guide to Giving as well as support other charitable groups around the world.

The accounts can start with as little as $1 and provide a secure forum for young people to contribute some of their allowance, savings, gifts and earnings, said Siegel.

While YouthGive has produced philanthropic guides for Marin County and Concord, Mass., the Los Angeles guide is the first large city the group has taken on.

It was created by 125 third- to 12th-grade students from 12 public, private and charter schools who formed teams to identify and interview nonprofit agencies and write short profiles of each group. A team of students edited the submissions.

The nonprofits profiled include such groups as the Harmony Project, which provides music lessons to needy children in Los Angeles, and Taking The Reins, which teaches life skills to at-risk urban adolescent girls through equestrian activities. Also included are well-known agencies such as the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.

Amanda Chan, 17, a Marlborough senior, decided to profile The Q Fund — dedicated to caring for children affected by disease and natural disaster in Africa and Asia — after interviewing founder Chellie Kew for her school.

Chan had previously been involved with charitable groups such as Los Angeles-based Para Los Ninos, but working on the guide helped expose her to groups she otherwise would never have known about, she said.

“It appeals to a lot of different interests and opened up a lot of new nonprofits to my knowledge,” said Chan, who also helped edit the guide.

She is heartened that classmates seem to be taking the guide seriously.

“We distributed the guide today at Marlborough, and I felt really good seeing people actually reading it,” she said. “I heard people saying, ‘Look at this nonprofit, I’d be interested in helping.’ I think especially now during the holidays, it’s got to be really helpful.”

-- Carla Rivera

The folks at the Thomas Fordham Institute are handicapping President-elect Barack Obama's pick for secretary of Education. If they're right, it looks like Obama might be looking for a big-city schools chief, someone like Arne Duncan of Chicago or Joel Klein of New York.

Notice who's missing from that list?

That's right -- of the nation's Big Three school superintendents, only David L. Brewer of Los Angeles is NOT considered to be in the running for the Cabinet post.

In some ways, Brewer might seem the perfect pick. After all, he has a home in Virginia, just across the Potomac from Washington. As a retired Navy vice admiral, he knows the federal bureaucracy. And, well, unlike Duncan or Klein, he might soon be available.

Not surprisingly, Duncan -- who's not only from Obama's hometown but regularly plays basketball with the incoming gym-rat in chief -- leads the list. Most interesting addition: Caroline Kennedy. Most of the rest are governors, including Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas and Tim Kaine of Virginia. For the entire list, with odds, check out Fordham's Flypaper Blog here.

--Mitchell Landsberg

Photo: Arne Duncan. Credit: Milbert O. Brown / Chicago Tribune

Recently, we received our LAUSD “Choices” brochure, a catalog and application for magnet schools and other district schools (PWT, PSC) that offer “voluntary integration opportunities.”  The brochure states that all of these programs were established by court order to address the five harms of racial isolation, which are listed as: low academic achievement, low self-esteem, lack of access to postsecondary opportunities, interracial hostility and intolerance, and overcrowded conditions.

This idea is wonderful and no doubt came from a desire to offer the best education and opportunities for all students as well as to offer a bridge between the “haves” and the “have-nots,” both academically and socially.  But one concern I’ve always had about the magnet program is that it is basically a game -- and that the kids who stand to benefit the most (those from economically disadvantaged areas) must compete for an opening with children whose neighborhoods (and neighborhood schools) are better than most.

We’re lucky.  Our neighborhood elementary and middle schools are great and they’re within blocks of our house.  But when it comes to high school, my husband and I would like a different choice for our girls.  We thought it was okay, that we’d think about it when our oldest daughter is middle school.  What I found out when she entered kindergarten, though, was that we needed to begin accumulating magnet points so that she could possibly get into a local magnet school that runs from Grade 4 – 12.  “That way, you’re covered for high school,” my mentor moms told me.

And it makes sense, but I’m conflicted.  On one hand, if my kids got in, I could coast the next 12 years until all my kids are in college; on the other, we have excellent choices for them until 8th grade, so maybe another child deserves those spaces more than mine.  But I don't want my daughters to miss out on a good school for high school....

The “Choices” brochures sit on my desk, waiting for an answer.  I plan to tour a few schools in the coming weeks, but so far, my choice –- to magnet or not to magnet -– has not been made.

The two-day conference will run from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. each day and include workshops on writing a personal essay and choosing a major, as well as presentations on understanding the federal financial aid form, known as the FAFSA, and how to apply for scholarships. Visitors can also speak with more than 100 exhibitors from colleges and companies.

On Thursday, there will be a session from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. for students who want to make an early commitment to college. Teens who pledge to begin preparing for higher education will be eligible to win a $1,000 scholarship, 10 of which will be raffled off that night.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, go to www.lacashforcollege.org.

--Corina Knoll

Dear College Board,

It’s over. My long-running battle with you and the numbers you seek to define me by is finished. As my final act of surrender, I seek to prove, once and for all, that your tests say nothing about me or any creative student who submits to them.

First of all, to assuage my terrible relationship with math, every day for one month last year I went to my math teacher at six o’clock in the morning to mend it. I go to one of the top and most intense magnet schools in Los Angeles, take challenging classes, and am in the top 10% of my class. I read because I love to read, not because I’m forced to. I respect my teachers and I am absolutely addicted to learning. I am in multiple clubs and hold several leadership positions. I voluntarily wake up early and stay out late on Saturdays to protest for equal rights. I do community service around my city and around the world. I’m highly curious about everything. I play three instruments and write my own music. I have amazing friends from multitudes of cultural backgrounds and I am simply and enthusiastically passionate about living — qualities that don’t amount to a College Board number.

High school trains us to find our own voices, to figure out in our own innovative ways how to make a difference. Colleges advertise themselves as wanting to accept individuals willing to challenge themselves and be involved in their communities. How, then, does it make sense to judge us each by the same exact test?

College Board, I have taken your SAT twice, both times receiving the same score. The first time, I spent a fortune for a tutor, the second, I didn’t. Now, my results on that test can very possibly negate my exceedingly hard work and great grades I’ve earned over the last four years. They have the possibility of diminishing evidence of the radiating passion I have for learning and living. My results on this money-hungry test will tell the institutions I want to attend that I am not good enough; that I am not “prepared for college,” as you so kindly script in your introduction to the test, even though I am positive I will do just as well or even better than anyone who is paired with a higher set of numbers than mine, and my teachers would agree.

I understand that money is an issue to you. But I feel that it’s becoming the sole reason you administer this test. Today, for example, I wrote the College Board to ask a question about one of my Subject Test scores. In response, I was called a “customer” — not a student, not a person, but a customer. If that is not enough evidence for the nature of this test, then I don’t know what is.

Your numbers do not reveal a person who wants every opportunity to learn, to contribute and to change the world. While all other aspects of my life assure me of my abilities, your test negates them. For $45, you invalidate my commitment of hard work and you do the same for millions of high school students around the world who contribute great things but are not wired to do well on your tests. So, College Board, I hope that you hear me and those I speak for. Rather than treat us as customers who fill your coffers, regard us as the inspired students you claim to cultivate.
Thank you for listening and I hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,
Phoebe Smolin

After a handful of parents objected to the children's hand-made construction-paper head-dresses and bonnets, district officials decided to eliminate the costumes and go forward with the meal and the songs. Parents are not pleased. To read more, click here.

-- Seema Mehta

Photo provided by Kathleen Lucas

Greetings all,

I'm just dealing with some post-traumatic stress, as we all are.

Does anyone else feel like throwing up this morning?

I feel like I could write volumes from the thoughts roiling in my head. They've been pretty much nonstop since yesterday at about, say, two-thirty. Still there, unfortunately.  Even followed me into the dreamsphere last night.

Nothing like a wake-up call to reality --One teacher said he had a swat team in his room.  Did this happen to anyone else?

I think we should talk about this together. Anyone else think so?

John

A e-mail response to John:

Thanks, John, for sending this out. I also have not been able to process what happened to my students and my sense of dignity last night. Not only were we denied information, as someone else stated, we were subjected to all sorts of humiliating and frustrating experiences. The sight and smell of the urine bucket in the corner of the room is one that stands out in my mind.

My room faces Vermont [Avenue], so my students could see their parents and friends sitting in front of the school. They were in communication with them throughout the afternoon and evening, and the parents felt as helpless and clueless as we were trapped inside.

It was frustrating to have to hear news of what was really happening from outside sources. We learned of our situation via the Channel 9 news that played on our TV and of course the 20 different rumors that were being texted into our room by other students trapped on campus.

This morning I am trying to remember that our student's safety is always first and that this was the issue at heart. However, I am bewildered that the sighting of a possible gun was the cause of this mayhem. I am even more stunned when I think of all the times the issue of students hopping the gates on and off campus all day has been consistently ignored by the Administration. I am even more stunned that it was [former principal] Mr. Trimis, the man that I spoke to many, many times about those gates, who called last night assuring the students, staff and community that MAHS is and will be safe.

I think it is very important that we talk about Friday with as many stake-holders as possible as there are many questions and many stories that I think we need to hear. For instance, once it got dark I snuck two girls to the bathroom. We crept past the SWAT officers who were purchasing drinks from the soda machine and got a custodian (who was told to go ahead and start cleaning the campus) to let us into Doolittle Hall.  [Another adult] poked her head out of her office and was super upset about the special needs students still trapped down the hall without services. I told her that from my room we could see that various staff had already gotten in their cars and left. We were both stunned.

Although there must have been a good reason for staff leaving before special needs students we didn't know it because we were not being told what the plan was.  My questions: Do the students and staff and any and all human beings have any rights during a code 1000?  Who makes the decisions?  The LAPD, the district or the administration?  Why did Mr. Trimis leave a voicemail for us last night?

Renee

Although I don’t teach a fourth-period class, I was sitting in a colleague’s ninth grade class on Friday observing and helping out where I could. But when a lockdown was announced, which for our class would last nearly five and a half hours, I wasn’t able to go anywhere.

Lockdown logistics are not exactly clear to all those involved. The ninth graders I was with were understandably frustrated when a day that was supposed to get out early slowly slid toward the usual dismissal time of 3:11. They became more upset as the clock inched toward 4, 5 and 6 p.m. The class read an apt story during the time: “The Most Dangerous Game,” began viewing a film, played several interactive games including Jeopardy, made frequent use of class members phones to keep family up-to-date and complained numerous times of needing to use the restroom.

Aside from a lack of access to bathrooms, perhaps what is most frustrating for the Manual Arts community during the lockdown is the lack of information. To maintain calm and to keep students feeling safe, briefings were not given about what was happening. In fact, it wasn’t until our class members looked online at around 5 p.m. that we knew that someone was suspected of carrying a gun on campus. Around 6 p.m. our class was escorted by armed LAPD officers to buses where parents could pick up students at the nearby Sports Arena. Teachers were ushered out of a separate gate.

As teachers and as students, our patience was pushed to its limits over the course of the marathon class on Friday. All of us were aware that being confined to our classroom was an issue of safety. I truly admire the fortitude displayed by the 16 ninth graders in Travis Miller’s class.

With the incessant humming of helicopters and the numerous news reports later seen online by Manual Arts teachers and students, this trying experience is one that will help me continue an ongoing conversation with my students about media perceptions, justice and life as students in South Los Angeles.

A national school administrators group says it's worried about what it sees as a growing trend of "pay for play" trips that effectively discriminate against the poor -- a trend, it believes, that will only be exacerbated by the country's economic problems.

In a position statement issued Monday, the National Association of Secondary School Principals wrote: "The pay-for-play trend has triggered a legal, philosophical, and educational equity debate. The question centers on whether co-curricular activities are part of the free public school system to which everyone is entitled by law." The activities it has in mind include athletics, music, drama, clubs and so on. The statement says that California is among four states that require that any "school sponsored curricular or co-curricular activity be offered free of charge."

Is anybody seeing otherwise?

-- Mitchell Landsberg