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
Parents are protesting this morning outside  Condit Elementary School in Claremont, the site Tuesday of a decades-old tradition involving kindergartners dressing up as pilgrims and Native Americans and sharing a Thanksgiving feast.
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
The Wildwood School takes seriously its commitment to developing students who are also engaged citizens. Case in point: All classes at the independent, K-12 school were suspended today to allow students to participate in Human Rights Day, a daylong examination of child soldiers, genocide, and ways that people can make their voices heard.
Highlights at the West Los Angeles campus include:
-- A debate in which five teams take different positions on actions by the United States used to combat genocide, exploring such questions as when should the U.S. get involved and what should U.S. involvement looks like.
-- A discussion of child soldiers, in which students will be encouraged to draw out their emotions and thoughts on giant posters.
-- A “Camp Darfur” installation that features tents where students can learn about genocides in Darfur, Rwanda, Armenia, Bosnia and Myanmar.
-- An address by guest speaker and activist Gabriel Stauring, co-founder and director of StopGenocideNow.org.
-- A workshop in which students can write letters to the United Nations.
One of the most compelling aspects of the day is that it was organized by three students: Poppy Archer, Olivia Gold and Kelsey Weber, who co-lead the school’s Human Rights Watch Student Task Force, one of the most active clubs on campus.
The students, all seniors, have taken on human rights as a major cause both inside and outside of the classroom.
We’ve “invested ourselves in human rights and believe that we should give back to our community through educating them on what’s happening in communities globally,” said Kelsey, 17, who grew up in Japan. “I feel an obligation to people all over the world because I feel connected to them. Also, to be able to wake up and not fear for my life every day is something kids my age cannot do in Darfur and the Congo.”
Part of what spurred the trio is to shake the complacency from some of their jaded classmates.
“Olivia and I realized that only students that watch the news and are passionate about worldly issues knew about the injustices happening in the world today,” said Poppy, 17.
Added Olivia: “This day will hopefully inspire the Wildwood students to get involved and join us in our quest to spread awareness and enact change.”
-- Carla Rivera
Jacqueline Mendoza, an eighth-grader at Florence Nightingale Middle School in Los Angeles, is going to attend the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.
Jacqueline was one of several students selected by the Congressional Youth Leadership Conference as a result of her participation last year. Her four-day trip includes watching the Obamas walk to the White House next January.
Jacqueline will be honored by the Los Angeles City Council on Nov. 18 at her school.
-- Mary MacVean
Photo by Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times
Sarah Miller went from her home in Westlake Village to Nepal, where she made a video comparing her life with that of people she met there, finding different definitions of necessity, wealth and happiness.
Her work won her a Goldman Sachs Foundation Prize for Excellence in International Education. The award is given to high school students who demonstrate an in-depth understanding of key issues in international affairs and the global economy.
Miller’s video included footage she shot while with a media team documenting human rights issues and the recent elections. She filmed an interview with the rebel leader at the time, Prachanda, who has since become the prime minister. Watch her video.
A recent graduate of Westlake High School, she has also made a video of her local orchestra.
-- Mary MacVean
Photo courtesy of Asia Society
The state's education chief, Jack O’Connell, has invited California schools to apply for $2.1 million in federal funding for the Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Program.
“We know that hungry children don’t learn as well as well-nourished children,” O’Connell said in a statement. “In light of the current economic downturn, higher food prices and continued concern regarding childhood obesity, I am heartened to announce that additional federal funding is available to help schools find innovative ways to offer fresh fruits and vegetables to students for free at school, even right in their classrooms."
In July, O’Connell announced that 25 grantees were awarded $184,100 for the program. The additional $2 million comes from the federal 2008 Farm Bill, which established the program at some schools in all 50 states, with the funding growing over the next 10 years.
Eligible applicants for this round of funding include elementary schools with high proportions of students eligible for free and reduced-price meals. The program is intended to provide all the children in participating schools with a variety of free fresh fruit or vegetable snacks.
The program is already underway in some schools, including two in Santa Monica.
-- Mary MacVean
Election day at Chapman Elementary School in Gardena began with a schoolwide assembly. Michelle Valencia's fifth-grade class made presentations on the presidential candidates and the issues.
Students, ages 4 to 12, then went to the auditorium to cast their vote. Upon dropping their completed ballots in the box, they received an "I voted" sticker.
"It is never too early to learn about democracy and what it means to be a good citizen," said Principal Cindy Miller.
As the school day was ending, the students learned the results of their polling: Barack Obama received 332 votes; John McCain received 102. Their homework assignment: Watch the results of the national election to see how their opinions compared.
-- Mary MacVean
Photos courtesy of Cindy Miller
The results are in: Barack Obama took the lion's share of the votes ... among people too young to cast ballots.
To encourage students to become voters, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen and Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell held a mock election on Oct. 30 among middle and high school students.
Nine hundred schools took part, and with more than 600 of them reporting so far, Obama received 73.5% of the vote, McCain received almost 21%, and other candidates got the rest.
Middle school students at Horace Mann in Beverly Hills were among the schools that took part, and its results were not far off the statewide totals.
Today, eighth-graders at Horace Mann, a K-8 school, are running an election for children in kindergarten through fifth grade. Students are being escorted into social studies teacher David Foldvary's class.
There they find a voting booth made by the kids. The students get "I voted" stickers. (It wasn't recommended that they try to use them for free coffees at Starbucks.)
Foldvary's final-period class will tally the results and announce them on Wednesday. In addition, he invited eighth-graders to an election-night party in his class, with CNN and pizza.
At another Beverly Hills school, El Rodeo, the sixth-graders chose Obama, 50 votes, over McCain, 35 votes. Teacher April Silva said the students were well informed and "had really strong reasons. A lot were focused on the tax breaks they would get with McCain."
At Cleveland High in Reseda and South Pasadena High, students voted for all the propositions as well as for president. Obama took 86% of the vote at Cleveland, and students voted "no" on Prop. 8, the proposal that involves same-sex marriage. At South Pas, where nearly 74% went for Obama, 17% for McCain and nearly 6% for Ralph Nader, librarian Shelee Wilkerson said: "The kids took it really seriously. It was a fun thing to do."
And at Manchester Avenue School in South L.A., fourth-grade teacher Michelle Adams said the fourth-graders voted 176 for Obama and 5 for McCain. "They're tired of all the commercials," she said. "Overall, I think the vote represented their parents."
At Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences in Santa Moncia, Michelle Merson, the academic dean of the middle school, said students appeared to really think about the propositions. On Prop. 4, for example, which is the parental notification measure, the school had 87% voter turnout. Students voted 66% for the proposition and 33% against it.
The election was just part of a two-month project that included voter registration and student projects. On the mock election day, voting machines jammed, and voters experienced other problems.
"We had a lot of misvotes, and we were able to say, 'This is what happens,' " Merson said.
At the Community Magnet Charter School, an elementary school in Bel-Air, fifth-grade teacher Alicia Suzukida held a vote. The results were unanimous for Obama.
If your school has results to report, let us know.
-- Beth Shuster and Mary MacVean
Santee Education Complex is taking part in the People Speak Global Debates, a program to challenge high school students from around the world to think critically.
This year, students are debating climate change action plans in the fall, and in the spring, they will argue whether developed nations have a higher obligation to combat climate change.
Santee hosted a debate earlier this month, with an audience of more than 900 students and other guests. Brothers Eduardo and Richard Avina argued for the resolution: "The world should adopt our plan to significantly reduce climate change." Their plan relies on renewable portfolio standards and a carbon tax. John Reed-Torres and Christopher Angel argued against the plan, saying it is useful but people also have to change their lifestyles and the world has to mandate a reduction in greenhouse gasses, like California has done.
All debates will be videotaped and submitted to the United Nations Foundation.
 (The Santee debaters at the U.N. last summer.)
Santee will be eligible to compete for its second trip to the U.N. Foundation Youth Leadership Summit. The second annual summit will be held at the United Nations in New York in July 2009. It will bring together student activists to learn more about the issues, tour the United Nations and meet with U.N. officials.
-- Mary MacVean
Photos courtesy of Nicholas Richert, Santee
Children of all ages have for decades learned life lessons from the likes of Snoopy, Lucy and Charlie Brown. So why not lessons in democracy?
Fifth-graders at Amestoy Elementary School in Gardena are using a curriculum called "You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown" -- also a television program being broadcast on Tuesday -- to look at the 2008 presidential campaign. It includes a mock election (polls close Tuesday) online (Snoopy is winning in California).
Their teacher, Jean Maree Lillard, said today that when her students first arrived in her classroom, they were already talking about the historic nature of the election -- an African American presidential candidate, a female vice presidential candidate.
"So I took that as a teachable moment, and I created my own lesson plan," which included the "Peanuts" characters. She has used the program to teach vocabulary and the basics of elections, such as campaigns and political parties, she said.
Three of her students are also running for student council office this fall. One of the big lessons they've learned: "They don't want to make promises they can't keep," Lillard said.
-- Mary MacVean
Photo courtesy PEANUTS: © United Feature Syndicate Inc.
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