TEACHER WAS TOO YOUNG TO RETIRE AT 90.

Byline: DENNIS MCCARTHY 

Odds and ends from around the Valley:

This year's eight local educators being honored with a plaque on the Walk of Hearts in Canoga Park are all great teachers, but for sheer perseverance and dedication to her craft, check out Sonia Brandt.

The 96-year-old former teacher taught second grade at Hesby Street Elementary School in Encino from 1952 until 1976, when she was forced to retire at 65.

A statewide age limitation for teachers wouldn't end until the early 1980s. But Sonia wasn't ready to retire at 65. She came back and taught an additional 25 years, almost full time, as a substitute teacher until she turned 90.

"My mom was at the top of every elementary school substitute list in the Valley, including mine," said her daughter, Susan Brandt, operations administrator for the LAUSD's Valley District and former assistant principal at Canterbury Elementary School in Arleta.

"She was that rare substitute teacher who would clean the chalk trays and sweep the floor before calling it a day in the classroom," Susan said.

OK, so you figure Sonia was finally ready to retire at 90, right? Wrong.

She walked over to her local public library and volunteered three days a week for the grandparents program, reading to kids after school until she turned 95.

And now, the Russia-born Sonia, who sailed to America with her parents when she was 3, will be honored on the teachers Walk of Hearts.

Her story and the stories of so many of the other great local teachers with plaques on Sherman Way -- in the Canoga Park business district between Canoga Avenue and Topanga Canyon Boulevard -- make that stretch one of the Valley's warmest, most important areas.

Congratulations, Sonia, and a lot of parents out there, including me, thank you for your dedication.

And thanks to the seven other recipients chosen for the 2007 teachers Walk of Hearts honors. They are Cynthia Lee, Rudy Lugo, Joan Maltese, Marilyn Parlen, Sharie Schneider, Gary Wiessner and Los Angeles Unified School District board member and former Canoga Park High teacher Jon Lauritzen.

There are a couple of local events coming up soon that are not only fun but important to know about.

The first is the Chatsworth barn dance this Saturday, beginning at 5 p.m., to benefit Ride On, a therapeutic horsemanship program for children and adults with physical and mental disabilities.

I've written in the past about the positive effects horseback riding has had on hundreds of kids and young adults in the disabled community and how important it is that they have this outlet.

But it might not be for long if Ride On doesn't raise the funds it needs to buy the land it has been on since 1994.

"The owners have told us it will be sold, probably within 18 months, but that we have first option to buy," said Sara Jones, assistant director of Ride On.

Every dime from the barn dance being held at the site -- 21126 Chatsworth St. -- will go toward a Save Ride On Chatsworth fund.

There will be live entertainment from cowboy bands Judge Jackson and Barbed Wire Boys, dancing, rides for the kids and plenty of food and beverages.

For ticket information, call Pat at [phone] or visit the group's Web site, www.rideon.org.

Another fun but very important event will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Sagebrush Cantina, 23527 Calabasas Road in Old Town Calabasas.

It's the Friends Benefit Concert featuring live music by Captain Cardiac and the Coronaries, Pacific and five other bands that played all over the Valley during the 1970s and 1980s.

"This is about friends from the Van Nuys Boulevard cruising days coming together 35 years later to help one of their own -- me," said Dori Harrison-Clements.

Dori's 16-year-old son, Robbie, was involved in a car accident when he was 12 and diagnosed with a relatively unknown brain disorder that causes constant severe migraine headaches.

All proceeds from the concert -- $10 general admission -- will be donated to the Intracranial Hypertension Research Foundation. For more information, call [phone].

[e-mail]

[phone]

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Sonia Brandt, 96, is getting a plaque on the teachers Walk of Hearts.