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Local News
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(3-25-2005)
Kentwood's Cowan Elementary received a 9!
in the latest API report. It shares this lofty achievement with Open
Charter School in the Osage district of Westchester. Way to GO
Cowan! |
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(3-25-2005) Westchester
Playa Del Rey Youth Foundation received $24,000 and tons of help
in paving their once dusty parking lot at Nielsen Field. Too many
to mention here but read Geoff Maleman's article in the Argonaut
- Click
to read . Special
thanks to Mike Arias, Jim Slater and David Kissinger. |
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For yet another year, Westchester High School failed to raise it
API test scores. The school remains at a dismal 3, where is stood in
2002, well below the state average. |
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Orville Wright Middle School's standing in the recent 2004 state
API report has fallen to a 4 from a 5 in 2001. |
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(2-28-2005) Westchester Lutheran School's application for a
permit to renovate the school and integrate the middle school
with the elementary school was approved by the zoning
administrator. The school received support by Councilwoman Cindy
Miscikowski's offices and the Neighborhood Council of
Westchester/Playa del Rey. |
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(6-1-2004) The Neighborhood Council of Westchester/Playa del Rey voted to donate $5000 in services to
Cowan Avenue School CowaNature Center, a small nature center
tucked away behind Cowan Avenue School. |
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(4-26-2004) Ever wonder who places each of those 85,000 tiny little flags on the cemetery markers as you drive
on the 405 by the Los Angeles National Cemetery over Memorial weekend? It's your LA area Scouts. Every year on the Saturday before
Memorial Day, scouts volunteer to spend their time placing the flags at each marker. It's their way to remember
the sacrifices made for us to insure our freedoms. Thank you kids.
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(3-17-2004) Some of you may have participated in the recent elections
and noticed that one of the seats had determined, but because of a
challenge it had to be uncertified. The first two counts by an
independent fraternal organization came back with wildly disparate
and thus unreliable counts. A third count by students from a local
college found that the real result was a tie though the count
could not be used because it was not authorized by the committee. Three
of the elections committee members who coincidently had actively backed one of the
candidates through organizations they were affiliated with, refuse
to acknowledge the disparities and want to go with the bad counts
because their candidate would be reseated. Both candidates Brown and
Elder would be excellent members, but it is important that we put the
interests of the stakeholders in front of everything else. After
all, why bother participating in a Neighborhood Council election if some
people on an election committee can on a whim simply disregard your
vote?
(2-12-2004)
While big buses seemed to catch the
attention of most people, it may
be the little things that will
have the most profoundly positive effect on the future of our
community. The Neighborhood Council of Westchester/Playa del
Rey broke new ground in its first regularly scheduled election. Since
there is no age restriction on voting in Neighborhood Council
elections, Kids that met the definition of a stakeholder and
could fill out a registration form with minimal adult supervision
had the opportunity to vote for each of the 11 available seats
themselves. Giving the new younger family members the right to vote is
expected to give families greater voice in the community planning.
Neighborhood Councils are simply advisory bodies. Letting the younger
members of our community vote will give them some experience before
taking on the real thing when they turn 18.
Talk about it
(2-9-2004) ONA, the Osage Neighborhood Association needs to
Own Up to its mistake. The neighborhood association refused to
re-evaluate its decision to recommend a non-teacher to the education
seat. When Westchesterkids asked them to look review it's decision,
ONA spokeswoman Carole Hossan said "ONA stands by our
candidates. The voters will decide by weighing the information and
seeing who is endorsing whom."
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(12-17-2003) The LA Times once again reports that Westchester
High School was banned from postseason play because of illegal
recruiting. CIF-LA ruled after 2-1/2 hours of deliberation and 3
hours of testimony, that one of it's assistant coaches had recruited a
player from outside of our district. Westchester HS was already on
probation for illegal contacts with an athlete in 2002. That
ruling resulted in new CIF-LA rules
instituted this year that required players from outside of the district
to sit out a year if they transferred to another. Apparently the
administration here continues to "not get it". Westchester High
School plans to appeal
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Talk about it |
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| (11-13-2003) Nopes
are at it again! - Little Westchester Lutheran School
was picketed today, scaring kids and adding an element of apprehension
to the routine school morning. The picketers led by Gary Gooderum
and Susan Vegter continued to mislead
the public with such claims of '750 seat theaters' and
'gridlock' being caused by the school. The school plans include
no new students and contributes very little to the traffic on 77th .
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Talk about it |
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After years of discussion,
briefly dormant after the events of 9/11, LAWA
and the Westchester
Playa del Rey Youth Foundation have drafted a lease that will
allow our community access to about 6.3 acres of unused airport
property and develop new softball and soccer fields. The property sits
between Westchester High School and St. Bernard's High
School. The
Westchester Playa Del Rey Youth Foundation also manages Nielsen
Field in Westchester near Airport Blvd. There has been a severe
shortage of fields over the years for soccer, little league and other
sports our kids participate in. Since funding needs to be
identified for landscaping, irrigation as well as doing the work, it will likely take a few
years before activities can take place. We would like to thank
Alan Llorens, Francis Stronks and St. Bernards principal
Jim McClune for their efforts in making this happen.
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Talk about it |
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| Westchester
Lutheran School and Church will be hosting a
Red Cross Blood Drive on Sunday, October 12 from
11:00AM-5:00PM. Please make a difference for your community. SAVE
LIVES...Donate Blood! Contact the school at 670-5422 to schedule your
appointment. |
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| (9-3-03)
Orville Wright Middle School gets a new Principal! More good
news where good news is REALLY needed. Mr. Stephen Rochelle was
appointed the new principal at Orville Wright. WestchesterKids is
told that Mr. Rochelle believes that academic success follows
discipline. In recent years this has been one of the schools missing
elements and we hope that Mr. Rochelle will see great success. >>
Talk about it |
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| (8-18-03) Rex
Frankel reports that the California Supreme Court has accepted
their case for review! Out of 149 cases submitted to them, only
three were selected in late July! Frankel said "Our lawsuit is
against the Catellus Corporation and the California Coastal Commission
over plans to build 114 homes on the bluffs that overlook the
Ballona Wetlands." The plaintiffs are the Sierra Club, Spirit
of the Sage Council and Ballona Ecosystem Education Project. |
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| WestchesterKids
has created a new forum where you can share information and ideas
related to living and raising our kids in our community. Come and
visit the WestchesterKids
(Parents!) Forum. |
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| (7-24-03) More
welcomed news - Westport
Elementary principal Fay Broderick Jones retired and will
be replaced by Alicia Stevenson. Many people have
welcomed the announcement as Jones over the years had become a polarizing figure often at
odds with the communities parents and the schools own teachers. |
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| (6-9-03) Welcomed
news - LAUSD
announced that Ronni Ephraim would replace retiring Carol Dodd
as LAUSD District D Superintendent. District D covers the
west side including Westchester and Playa del Rey public schools. |
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| (5-16-03)
Councilmember Cindy Miscikowski announced today that the grand
opening of the new Westchester Loyola Library. The opening
will be held June 12th at 9:30am. The new library is on Manchester
Blvd and adjacent to Westchester Park. |
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| (4-14-03) The Grand Opening of the Freshwater Marsh of Ballona
is set for April 19th. The
freshwater marsh was designed by some leading wetlands ecologists and water quality engineers in the country. Public
tours will be available from 11:00AM to 4:00PM. |
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| (4-8-03)
Great news for our families! Tenet announced that the Daniel
Freeman Marina Hospital will not be closed. In an LA Times article
April 4th, "Tenet Healthcare Corp. reversed its decision to close
Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital today, acknowledging that widespread
community support for the facility had convinced officials to keep it
open." For more information
visit www.somh.org |
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| (3-27-03)
The Westchester/Playa del Rey Historical Society will hold it's
open house on April 10th at the Furama Hotel from 4:00
to 9:00 pm. View it's incredible inventory of pictures and
memorabilia to gain a real sense of our communities history. Doug
McIntyre of KABC Talk Radio is the guest speaker and will talk
about the history of the Wright Brothers. |
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| (6-28-02) You can't help but wonder just how objective the L.A.Times can be
when they publish articles on LAX Expansion while they publish ads
like this. Can't you just hear them saying this in the board room: Don't
let the door hit you on your way out! This ad was published
on June 26th. Click
on picture at the right to see a larger image |
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| (7-03-02) Cindy
Miscikowski came to the Neighborhood Council of
Westchester/Playa Del Rey on July 2nd to meet with the community.
Generally speaking she was warmly received by those in attendance.
Most of the evening was devoted to the question and answer session
where community members expressed their concerns about LAX expansion,
Playa Vista and other local issues. Miscikowski told the Neighborhood
Council that as someone who is a community planner, she would
view projects and issues on how they would effect the stakeholders of
the community. |
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High School Sports
Eligibility
Tightened
(3-17-03) Call it the Westchester Rule if you will. Good news
came to
Westchester/Playa del Rey parents with sports minded kids who may have
considered Westchester High School but were shut out of varsity sports
opportunities because of lax transfer rules and corporate perks. The
governing body of high school sports in LAUSD schools, CIF-LA has
passed a new eligibility rule that will penalize students who transfer
from one high school to another merely to get on a better high school
sports team.
In recent years open enrollment has created real abuses
at a
few select schools such as Westchester High School where players from
all other parts of the southland were transferring to the school
attracted by perks such as cross country travel, hotels accommodations, Nike
apparel and shoes, etc. Perks not available at other high schools. This has
had the effect of shutting out our own communities kids from varsity
level sports when coaches have available to them some of the best
players in LA County instead. This has also affected other schools
whose coaches lost promising young players to the lure of these perks
and were forced to compete against what are essentially handpicked
mini-NBA teams not representative of any community. Coaches that want to
reach the state finals now will have to do it the way coaches
everywhere else do it....
hard work and a bit of luck.
The new rule requires students to sit out of any CIF sports
for 12 months if they choose to transfer from one high school to
another without moving to that schools area. Hardship waivers will
still be available under certain circumstances. Hopefully, for the
first time we will be able to see our children have the opportunity to
participate in varsity sports in our neighborhood school. The rule is
effective beginning in the 2003-2004 school year.
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While a trip downtown to a city
council meeting seems like a pointless exercise in futility,
there are better ways to get things recognized and get something
done about it. Join the new Neighborhood Council of
Westchester/Playa Del Rey. The Neighborhood Council offers
you the opportunity to participate directly in the community you
care about. Your Community!