Readers react to Smith column on...

Readers react to Smith column on letter writing

Steve Smith’s column on letter writing really interested me

because I’m a letter writer and I have made the same statement, that

it’s being killed.

VIRGINIA LOCKABEY

Newport Beach

Find an old friend through Social Security

If you go to ancestry.com and put in [the name of your lost

friend], it’ll bring up the Social Security death index, in case he

might have passed away by now. I found someone that way -- an old

high school friend -- and I was shocked, but it does happen

sometimes.

If you know the person’s age, it shows where they lived, when they

got their Social Security card and so forth, and you can kind of

identify whether it’s them or not. If he’s not on there, of course,

then you know that he’s still alive because everybody, nowadays, has

Social Security cards. So that’s my hint for that, and it was an

interesting article.

JEANETTE MAHONEY

Newport Coast

Trustees should coordinate with UCI

I’m not sure how many of your readers had the patience and were

prompted to read the rather lengthy interview of Sue Bryant, dean of

biological sciences at UC Irvine. I trust, however, that both our

local school and community college trustees did. I assign this

reading to the community college trustees because all programs that

improve the academic ability of students enrolling at their two-year

colleges from feeder high schools should be of high interest to them.

The sizable dollar grant awarded to UCI by the National Science

Foundation will be used, in part, for Westside school needs in Costa

Mesa. Where this money goes and how it is spent should be viewed as

high priority by the Newport-Mesa Unified School District Board of

Trustees. Although some encouraging comments were made by Bryant on

UCI projects previously undertaken locally (i.e., science fairs

involving 1,000 Costa Mesa and Estancia high school students), the

record shows that large grants of this nature do not accomplish many

of the goals sought at lower levels of education.

I was disappointed at the absence of any reference to comparable

programs that have already been conducted by other educational

institutions. Bryant mentions a number of occasions using

“professional development” to assist high school teachers “to get lab

experience” and to conduct a “math academy” on Saturday mornings. A

local community college has, on a number of occasions, conducted math

and science workshops for secondary and elementary faculty. Science

fairs have also been conducted by community colleges.

It would be of great value if the programs at UCI were integrated

or, at least, coordinated with those of the community colleges. This

collaborative effort could inject some of the National Science

Foundation money into the community college system and, as

importantly, bring these two entities closer together in an important

working relationship.

LEFTERIS LAVRAKAS

Costa Mesa