KIDS LEARN LAUSD'S HARD LESSON.

Byline: Steve Young Local View

WHEN school budgets are being squeezed and teachers are asked to do far more with far less, any extraordinary efforts by our public school teachers should be hailed - except, it seems, in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

A teacher for 20 years, Christina Gordon, teaches a combination fourth- and fifth-grade Gifted and Talented Education class at Justice Street Elementary School in West Hills. My daughter is a member of that class.

For the past 13 years, Gordon has directed her students in creating original educational videos, the last eight offering Shakespeare-inspired performances. High-school students might find The Bard's words difficult to comprehend, but Gordon's fourth- and fifth-graders actually understand the works they perform.

For their efforts, Gordon's classes have accumulated 17 LAUSD Video in the Classroom (VIC) awards, 8 California State Media Awards, 2 Channel LA 36 Awards. Last year, a class received the National School Board Honor for its rendition of ``Julius Caesar.''

This year, Gordon had her students work on ``Hamlette,'' with 10-year- old Lucia Fasano playing the lead as a female. From rewrites and rehearsals through performance, taping and editing, the students, parents and other volunteers worked for months on the project, culminating in a finished piece that, by VIC and KLCS-TV award guidelines, had to be submitted by Friday, March 5.

That Friday afternoon, with the work complete except for the download to a VHS tape, the computer containing its information crashed.

The video editor attempted to contact the KLCS office to explain and to ask what action he should take, but no person or machine answered. I followed up and called many times during normal office hours as I wrote this article, letting the phone ring more than 20 times with each attempt.

No answer.

It wasn't until the following Monday morning, with VHS in hand, that Gordon was able to reach KLCS. Victor Lamkay, the director of instructional television services and VIC coordinator, told her the class's work would not be accepted. There would be no exceptions.

Officials at school board member Jon Lauritzen's office contacted Lamkay, and got the same answer. Lauritzen's chief of staff, Ed Burke, told me that even if Gordon had been unable to get the VHS to KLCS because she was in a car accident, the decision was just.

Lamkay told Gordon that any extension of the deadline would hurt the integrity of the program. Yet it seems when a deadline extension benefits the LAUSD, there is a different standard of integrity.

When publicity fell short for an LAUSD Outstanding Teacher Candidate Program, the deadline was extended. Application deadlines for the L.A. Educational Partnership Excellence in Education Awards were extended in two different years. Deadlines for school hiring are frequently extended.

So while there are no extenuating circumstances for the kids to be considered in the LAUSD's VIC program, exceptions are a dime a dozen for the school district itself. Good lesson for the graduating fifth-graders to take with them.

``I don't care about honors for me, I have plenty,'' said Gordon. ``I was told to re-enter the video in next year's competition, but my fifth- graders would all be gone. ... Instead of allowing their work into VIC, they talked about giving certificates to the students. My kids aren't stupid, yet it's not easy to explain to 9- and 10-year olds who put so much into the project why something that was completely out of their control could cause their dreams of the competition to go down the drain.''

Part of the purpose for the program, as stated on the entry form, is ``to create an engaging, multifaceted, technology-based learning environment.'' Are those in charge more interested in the integrity of the guidelines, or in helping make happen what they are said to encourage? Is that the spirit in which the competition was conceived?

And what about allowing the LAUSD to modify deadlines when it suits its own needs? Perhaps only the students need to adhere to strictly held guidelines. When you get older and in a position of authority, you can bend the rules. Perchance that's the integrity Victor Lamkay spoke of.

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Photo:

Manuel Altamirano videotapes a fourth- and fifth-grade class performing ``Hamlette'' on Feb. 4, 2004, at Pierce College.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer