Photo by Monique Schoenfeld, Town Crier
Springer School fourth grader Johnny Forell, left, got local artist Hardy Jones to donate a sculpture to his school.
Town Crier Staff Writer
Schools Roundup
Candidates seated
School board candidates in Mountain View, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills were sworn into office earlier this month at regular board meetings.
Incumbents Nancy M. Mucha and Rose Marie Filicetti and newcomer Roger C. Noel joined Carol Fisher and Edward Flowers on the Mountain View School District Board of Trustees during the regular meeting Dec. 7. Their terms expire in 2002. Filicetti was named board president, Mucha was named vice-president and Flowers was named clerk.
In the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District, incumbents Sue Graham and Judy Hannemann and newcomer David J. Williams were scheduled to be sworn in at the regular meeting last Monday. They also will serve four-year terms.
Foothill instructor Edward "Sandy" Hay was scheduled to be sworn in at the Foothill-De Anza Community College Board of Trustees regular meeting last Monday. Hay won the four-candidate race with 40.3 percent of the votes. He will fill the remaining four-year term held by Jay Jackman, who resigned last July to move to New York. His term expires in 2000.
'Educator of the Year'
It's not every day that a school gets a statue made for it. But Los Altos artist Hardy Jones and fourth grader Johnny Forell surprised students at Springer School in Mountain View last Wednesday with "On Your Mark, Get Set" - a sculpture of a long-distance runner getting ready for the start of a race.
The sculpture, designed specifically for the school, will be permanently placed in the front of the campus.
Johnny worked with Jones to bring the sculpture to the school after taking a five-week leadership class through the Los Altos Parks and Recreation Department two months ago. At the end of the class, organizers encouraged the students to "make a difference" in their community over the next six months, Johnny said. Johnny decided to do something sooner rather than later, he said. He called Jones within a month.
He had met Jones through the leadership program when Jones delivered a lecture about art.
"I thought it would look very nice here," Johnny said about having a piece of art on campus.
Johnny first tried to get a piece of art at the school through the city's arts-on-loan program. But since work is loaned every two years, Johnny would have had to wait until next year. He contacted Jones, who agreed to design a piece for Springer and donate it to the students.
"It's a pleasure to make a sculpture and share it with the community," said Jones, a retired orthopedic surgeon.
Made from recycled railroad crowbars, drill bits and a cobbler's anvil, the sculpture is meant to show the energy and motion of youth, Jones said. He said he completed the piece within two days.
"You don't realize how great you are," Jones told students at the dedication of the sculpture last week. "As an old guy, I can tell you, you're great."
Principal Bob Celeste said the statue will serve as an inspiration for students to push themselves at the district's Junior Olympics next year.
For Johnny, the piece will remind him of how he helped to make a difference at his school, he said.
Phyllis Yasuda, accounting instructor at De Anza College for 24 years, was honored as the 1997-98 "Two-Year College Educator of the Year" by the American Accounting Association recently for demonstrating excellence and innovation in the teaching of accounting.
Colleagues who nominated her said Yasuda "always gives it her all." She used an interactive approach and computer-generated instructional aids to better assist her students "long before it was fashionable," supporters said.
Yasuda is currently working on the school's School-to-Career Plan, which is designed to set up a bridge program to help prepare incoming students for the accounting program.
In brief: Supporters in the Mountain View School District collected $32,000 in pledges during the district's phone-a-thon recently. Students in the Alta Vista High School Leadership Class were scheduled to sponsor their first Tiny Tots Christmas Party today. Students and their children met with 61 students from Whisman School for caroling and holiday activities. The Los Altos Art Docents program bumped its membership from 45 to 61 this month with the addition of 16 new volunteers. Docents taught more than 600 classes to local students last year.