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PW OPINION PW NEWS PW LIFE PW ARTS •GUEST OPINION• BY RENE AMY WORKING WONDERS VOLUNTEERS WITH SCHOOL ON WHEELS BRING THE JOY OF EDUCATION TO KIDS LIVING IN SHELTERS ON SKID ROW At the age of 9, Emily is a powerhouse of enthusiasm, and a bright button of inquisitiveness, knowledge and brainpower that puts her years ahead of her third-grade peers — even those in the best private schools in the region. Emily is so smart that she should probably be bumped up a couple of grades, just to keep her from getting bored. True, she attends an afterschool program, and about once each week gets a session with a tutor who’s focused primarily on her. Just another private school kid, right? Or a kid with all the right privileges and connections, right? Wrong. Emily, brilliant Emily, lives in a homeless shelter on LA’s Skid Row and attends one of LA’s worst-performing public schools. But Emily does go to an afterschool program, and does get tutoring — right around the corner from the shelter where she lives. She’s in a program for dozens of kids who walk some of the meanest streets in the world to get to where they spend the night. Hundreds of kids call Skid Row shelters “home,” making their education problematic, to say the least. Rising to that challenge, School On Wheels operates its Skid Row Learning Center (SRLC) inside a storefront at the epicenter of LA’s human misery. It’s a bright, cheery, and (most importantly) safe space, where kids get a filling snack, then an hour for homework and tutoring, followed by structured free time spent working puzzles, playing video games and reading. Despite the dysfunction in their lives, students often demonstrate unexpected self-control. When an older, larger student takes over a game, a young boy simply lets him, walks away to find something else to do, and explains, “He’s just that way.” Every weekday afternoon and each Saturday morning the SRLC is open for the kids — then the rollup steel doors that keep it protected are rolled back down and securely locked. Outside, reality is a continuous-looping post-apocalyptic zombie movie, with drugged-out and mentally-ill people staggering through the streets. What happens on those streets cannot be unseen, and these kids see it every day, sometimes spending years in shelters. It has an impact. Emily is the stunning exception at the SRLC. It requires continued effort to keep her engaged because she’s so perspicacious. Most kids fall further and further behind in their studies, as life on Skid Row takes its toll on their study time and their ability to simply get a good night’s sleep. A student at SRLC two grades ahead of Emily struggles to finish an assignment that Emily completed in a few minutes. Another student, noticeably small for her age, is distracted by even quiet sounds in the room. She knows how to do her math, but loses focus and begins to yawn — likely because she couldn’t sleep through the night. She’s nearly three weeks late turning in the assignment. That’s typical of student performance on Skid Row. And things get worse, not better, when the holidays roll around. Spring break for Skid Row kids means less time in the structured environment of school and SRLC and more time being passed around to other family members as their parents work — or try to find work. Ask a shelter kid what they did for spring break and the typical answer isn’t very exciting: “I just missed school and my friends.” Most kids look forward to spring break. For Skid Row kids, it’s often just another upheaval to endure. But days off from school aren’t always bad. Recently, a large group of kids from the SRLC took a bus ride to Pasadena on a school holiday and spent several hours enjoying pizza and skating at Pasadena’s Ice Skating Center. Made possible by a grant from the Looker Foundation, the trip was a chance for the kids to see the softer side of city life and experience something few of them ever had. Most days at the SRLC, there are a few volunteer tutors in addition to the staff members who keep things on track. In an ideal world, there’d be one tutor for each child every day, but that’s not the case. There just aren’t enough folks who take that time out of their day to help the most-at-risk kids in our region. You can make a significant difference in the lives of these children. Donating money to School On Wheels is a good start. Far better is donating your time to the kids themselves — even just an hour or two each week will work wonders. ■ Longtime education and social activist Rene Amy lives in Altadena. Emily isn’t the student’s real name, but she is quite real. SchoolOnWheels.org welcomes your fi nancial support and volunteer hours. 6 PASADENA WEEKLY | <strong>05.09.19</strong>
• NEWS • PASADENA | ALHAMBRA | ALTADENA | ARCADIA | EAGLE ROCK | GLENDALE | LA CAÑADA | MONTROSE | SAN MARINO | SIERRA MADRE | SOUTH PASADENA COUNCIL MOVES HAMPTON BECOMES VICE MAYOR; MASUDA ANNOUNCES BID FOR THIRD TERM DRIVEN TO NOT TEXT PASADENA POLICE CITE HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE IN APRIL FOR DISTRACTED DRIVING OBSTRUCTION ISSUES FORMER PROSECUTORS SAY THEY WOULD HAVE PROSECUTED COMMANDER IN CHIEF P. 8 P. 8 P. 8 PHOTO: Catherine Bauknight CAUSE FOR CONCERN COUNCIL MEMBERS AND DEVELOPER WANT TESTING FOR TOXINS POSSIBLY LEFT BY WEAPONS RESEARCH AT PROPOSED HOUSING SITE BY ANDRÉ COLEMAN The developer of a controversial housing project scheduled to be built on property that was once a former naval torpedo testing facility said he would request the site be tested for chemicals used in explosives. Trammell Crow Co. (TCC) wants to build 500 residential units at 3200 E. Foothill Blvd., in East Pasadena, currently the site of Space Bank, a public storage business. The project would include 69 affordable rental units, proposed subterranean parking and above-ground parking structures, landscaping and nearly 10,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. Caltech used the site for research into jet propulsion in the 1930s and maintained it during World War II. The Navy WEEKLY WEATHER THU 68° FRI 68° SAT 70° Victor Gordo and Gene Masuda purchased the property from Caltech in 1945 and used it for classified projects and torpedo testing. “Trammell Crow Co. will ask the DTSC (Department of Toxic Substance Control) to include testing for RDX and TNT in the final RAW,” said TCC Senior Managing Director Brad Cox during last Monday’s City Council meeting. RAW is an acronym for removal action work plan. “We will conduct such testing under the oversight of the DTSC and the city’s third-party expert.” According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Royal Demolition Explosive (RDX) is an explosive that can be combined with other ingredients to make plastic explosives. The Environmental Protection Agency SUN 73° CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 MON 73° WEB EXCLUSIVE WRONG WAY POLICE FIRE AT TEENS IN ONCOMING VEHICLE AT THE END OF CHASE Authorities plan to release video of a shooting in which police opened fire on a pair of male teenagers, one of whom allegedly drove the car the two were in at investigating officers, said Police Chief John Perez. “We stand by our officers as this incident is being investigated from the criminal, administrative and civil standpoint,” said Perez. “My officers were courageous in their efforts to protect the public and control a hazardous scene.” Just after 10 p.m. May 2, police were following the two 17-year-olds around the 1300 block of North Raymond Avenue, near the entrance of Mountain View Mortuary, Cemetery and Crematory, located near the corner of Raymond Avenue and Woodbury Road. The car crashed into a curb near the cemetery gate, stopped and was turned off, according to a statement issued by Lt. Jason Clawson. By then, up to seven officers were at the scene, their vehicles blocking the car being driven by the teens, said Lt. Jesse Carrillo. But just as police started to approach, the unidentified driver started the car, now missing its rear passenger side tire, turned the vehicle around and drove at the officers, Carrillo said. One of the officers fired two rounds, bringing the car to a stop and the chase to an end, said Carrillo. No one was hurt in the incident and two boys from Pasadena and Monrovia were arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. The owner of the car was not immediately known. The department is not releasing the names of the suspects due to their ages. The driver was booked into Juvenile Hall and the passenger was released to a family member. The teenager from Pasadena was driving the vehicle, Clawson said. The video will include footage from the police officers’ body worn cameras and dashboard footage recorded by police cruisers. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Pasadena police at (626) 744-4241 or Detective Brian Montiglio at (626) 744-4511. TUE 74° WED 72° — André Coleman THU 70° <strong>05.09.19</strong> | PASADENA WEEKLY 7
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