Los Angeles Mayor Richard J. Riordan has appointed Ted Mitchell, an administrator at the University of California, Los Angeles, as his new senior adviser. Mr. Mitchell replaces Helen F. Bernstein, the former head of the United Teachers of Los Angeles, who died last month.
Mr. Mitchell is on a leave of absence from the university, where he is the dean of the graduate school of education and information studies. He will work for the mayor without pay. ... The New Jersey board of education has appointed Richard DiPatri as the superintendent of the Jersey City schools. Mr. DiPatri is currently the deputy state commissioner of education. The 33,000-student Jersey City district has operated under state control since 1989.
In a repeat of last year, students from Los Angeles’ Venice High School walked away with the victory in the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Science Bowl in Washington this month.
Since its inception in 1991, more than 40,000 high school students have participated in the fast-paced question-and-answer tournament, which was started to encourage students to excel in math and science.
This year, 45 teams from across the nation were competitors in the championship tournament.
Two Chicago public school students were honored with a Peabody Award in New York City last week for a radio documentary about the death of a 5-year-old boy in a Chicago housing project.
The prestigious awards, given each year by the University of Georgia, recognize outstanding achievement in broadcasting.
LeAlan Jones, who attends King High School and Lloyd Newman, who attends Future Commons High School, won for their project, “Remorse: The 14 Stories of Eric Morse,” which explored the death last year of a child who was thrown from the 14th floor of Chicago’s Ida B. Wells housing project by two other boys.
The documentary aired on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” program. The teenagers, who are also from the Wells project, spent a year compiling material and conducting interviews.
--ADRIENNE D. COLES acoles@epe.org
