After serving as Palisades Charter High School’s executive director since the summer of 2006, Amy Dresser-Held resigned on Monday.   Dresser-Held, 34, has accepted an executive director position at a start-up charter school. She told the Palisadian-Post (and the school’s board of directors Tuesday night) that she cannot announce the name of the school at this time. Her last day at PaliHi will be June 30.   ’It’s bittersweet because I’m sad to be leaving, but excited about this opportunity,’ Dresser-Held wrote in a letter to the school community. ‘I know the timing is terrible, and I’m committed to doing everything needed to see us through all the challenges we are currently facing.’   As a result of the state’s financial crisis, PaliHi officials are anticipating a budget shortfall of at least $1.1 million in the 2010-11 school year. The school could lose additional revenue if the Los Angeles Unified School District follows through on its proposal to eliminate busing for nearly half of PaliHi’s student population (1,180 students). The state gives PaliHi $5,831 per student, and without busing many students could no longer attend.   At Tuesday night’s meeting, the board of directors voted unanimously to send out letters to 24 teachers and three administrators, warning them that they could be laid off this summer, pending what happens with busing and the school’s ultimate budget.   ’I intend to work tirelessly to ensure our students are able to continue at PaliHi, that we avoid having to lay off staff and that we build and adopt a budget that ensures PaliHi is sustainable into the future,’ Dresser-Held told the Post. PaliHi’s administrative team has experienced considerable turnover in the past few years and the school is currently without a permanent principal.   Interim Principal Marcia Haskin came out of retirement last fall to replace Martin Griffin, who suddenly resigned after only one year. This is Haskin’s second time as interim principal at the school; she also served in the 2007-08 school year.   On Tuesday, the school board voted 6-1 with one abstention to spend $5,000 on consultants from the UCLA Anderson School of Management to assist the school community with the selection of a principal and/or executive director.   The consultants will help decide whether the school would function optimally with both a principal and an executive director or whether those roles should be consolidated.   The board had been considering hiring consultants to help with the principal search since last fall. In October, 115 faculty members signed a petition requesting that the board ask Haskin to serve as principal through 2010-2011, so that PaliHi officials could obtain an objective third party to help ‘create an upper management plan, assess our personnel requirements to match this plan, and assist us in our principal hiring process.’   At a meeting on February 16, the board charged Haskin with finding an objective third party. Haskin turned to former PaliHi principal Merle Price, who recommended the consultants at UCLA.   On Tuesday, Haskin told the board that she understands it is difficult to spend money on consultants when the school faces a budget deficit, but ‘I think it is critical that we get leadership in here to take this school where it needs to go.’   Haskin explained to the board that the consultants will meet with parents, students and teachers to figure out what the school community wants in their leadership. They will then give school officials the tools they need to find those leaders.   During the public comment period at Tuesday’s board meeting, several parents in the audience begged Dresser-Held to stay at PaliHi.   The executive director smiled, but said she was committed to leaving. She told the Post earlier that day that the other charter school recruited her for the position, and she liked the idea of working in a start-up environment.   ’I think it will be a great opportunity to build an organization that has a vision of growing,’ said Dresser-Held, whose husband, Brian Held, is a teacher and coach at Loyola High School. They have a 22-month-old daughter, Molly, and a 6-month-old son, Dylan. Dresser-Held touted some of PaliHi’s achievements in her letter to the school community. ‘I’m proud of all we have accomplished over the last four years from increasing student achievement, building our financial reserve, increasing demand for admissions ‘ adding classrooms and state-of-the-art athletic facilities.’   Before coming to PaliHi, Dresser-Held worked as a field deputy for LAUSD school board president Caprice Young, as a special assistant for LAUSD Senior Deputy Superintendent Maria Ott, and as a director of policy for LAUSD school board member Marlene Cantor.

Harvard-Westlake juniors Courtney Kelly and Kevin Schwarzwald won the Chamber of Commerce’s annual Teen Contest at Pierson Playhouse last Wednesday evening, making them the new Mr. and Miss Palisades.   ’I’m ecstatic,’ said Kelly, while holding a bouquet of flowers and wearing the Miss Palisades sash over her elegant dark-pink dress.   ’There was a bunch of talented people,’ Schwarzwald said of his competition. ‘I am so happy I won.’   To earn the honor of representing the community, Kelly and Schwarzwald each had to present their artistic talents. Kelly, who was named runner-up last year, gave an impressive slideshow presentation of her artwork, while violinist Schwarzwald flawlessly performed ‘Spain,’ an instrumental jazz-fusion composition by jazz pianist and composer Chick Corea.   They then answered questions about their goals and extracurricular activities in an onstage interview with co-emcees Cindy Simon and Rich Wilken.   The eight teens participating in the contest were judged on character, talent, poise, presentation and communication skills. To kick off the show, all the competitors danced to Dave Brubeck’s ‘Take Five,’ choreographed by Thea White.   Kelly and Schwarzwald will each receive a $2,000 Cathie Wishnick Memorial Scholarship and will have the opportunity to ride in the town’s Fourth of July parade.   Schwarzwald, 16, has a passion for composing music and has played the violin for 10 years and the piano for six years. In the seventh grade at Paul Revere, he won the National PTA Reflections Contest for one of his compositions. Last December during a performance at Beverly Hills High, the Los Angeles Junior Philharmonic played a six-minute piece he composed.   ’It was one of the best feelings,’ said Schwarzwald. ‘I had put so much work into the piece and to hear it come to life ”   Schwarzwald, who is inspired by Grammy award-winning musician and composer Gordon Goodwin, would like to double major in music and engineering at an East Coast school. His parents are Reinhold, a music producer, jazz musician and composer, and Petra, a neurofeedback specialist and yoga teacher.   Kelly, 16, could often be found in the arts and crafts corner during kindergarten class in Chicago. She has since taken art classes at Harvard-Westlake, Archer School for Girls (where she went to school from 6th to 8th grade), Mission Renaissance in Pacific Palisades, Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan. She mostly enjoys painting portraits with oil and acrylics.   ’The face is so interesting,’ Kelly said. ‘Everyone has eyes, a nose and a mouth, but we all look so different. The face also conveys different emotions.’ (Continued on Page 4)   Although Kelly loves art, she wants to study medicine and has spent 100 hours volunteering at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. This past summer, she interned for a psychiatrist at UCLA. Kelly first became interested in medicine after dissecting a fetal pig in her biology class freshman year.   Her parents are Carol Meylan, a social worker for Leisure World in Seal Beach, and Bob Kelly, an investment advisor for Capital Group. She has a 19-year-old sister Erin, a student at Boston University, and a 12-year-old brother Gavin, who attends Wildwood.   In addition to honoring Kelly and Schwarzwald last Wednesday, the judges named Katie Takakjian, a Palisades Charter High School junior, and Jacob Correia, a Brentwood School junior, as runners-up; each received $200.   Takakjian showcased her photography, while Correia, who was also named runner-up in 2008 and 2009, played the Andante from Joseph Haydn’s Violin Concerto in C major.   Other contestants included Madi Bisharat (PaliHi), Mike Schem (Loyola), Sara Bowman (Brentwood School) and Maddy Leshner (PaliHi).   While the judges scores were being tabulated, reigning Mr. Palisades Wyn Delano entertained the audience with Bobby Darin’s ‘Once in a Lifetime,’ changing the lyrics to reflect his ‘once in the lifetime’ opportunity to be Mr. Palisades.   ’I met Miss America. How many teenage guys meet Miss America?’ he sang, referring to Katie Stam, the 2009 Miss America, who rode as the grand marshal in the Fourth of July parade.   Outgoing Miss Palisades Sabrina Giglio played Camille Saint-Saens’ ‘Allegro Appassionato’ on her cello, and then Fancy Feet Dance Studio members performed jazz, contemporary and African dances.   The judges were Ray Abruzzo, writer/director/actor; Jeanne Elfant Festa, producer/former Miss Palisades; Lewis Hauser, stage director; Andy Rawn, singer; and actor Gavin MacLeod, who is also the town’s honorary mayor.   The event was organized by Carol Smolinisky (who has served as contest committee chairperson for many years), Chamber President Ramis Sadrieh, Chamber Executive Director Arnie Wishnick and Palisadians Thea White, Lauri McNevin, Marge Gold, Andy Frew and Chana Messer.

The Vons supermarket, located on Sunset Boulevard at Pacific Coast Highway, will undergo a 10-week remodel starting later this month or in April, once final approvals have been received from the city, according to Carlos Illingworth, Vons’ manager of public affairs.   Although the footprint of the building will stay the same, rearranging the interior space will increase the sales-floor size to 24,542 square feet (about half the size of a typical Vons). Restriping of the parking lot will increase the number of spaces from 98 to 104.   The makeover includes moving the loading dock from the south side (PCH) of the building to the north side (close to Sunset). The Sunset driveway will be widened at its current location, while the PCH driveway will remain the same.   In January, several residents expressed concerns at a Pacific Palisades Community Council meeting that the proposed shift of the loading dock could endanger customers entering and exiting through the parking lot area.   The Council waited to comment until the City Planning Department made a recommendation. At its March 4 meeting, the Council learned that Hui Huang of the L.A. Department of Transportation had agreed with Vons’ plan. He stated, ‘The project applicant [Vons] presented a revised site plan which we deemed satisfactory to our requirements.’   The key revision is that the length of the trailer attached to the trucks will be limited to 27 feet because of the constricted on-site turning radius.   ’Due to the relocation of the dock to the north side of the store in conjuction with the remodel, the length of the truck trailer will be considerably shorter than the length of the truck trailers servicing the store today,’ Illingworth told the Palisadian-Post on Tuesday.   Trucks will access the lot from PCH and exit onto Sunset, which is the current pattern. But residents and Community Council members have long sought to have the Vons lot exit on Sunset aligned with Castellammare Drive, which is directly above the lot and has a traffic signal.   ’It is not presently possible to relocate the store’s Sunset driveway to align with Castellammare due to DWP vaults that are located in the parkway at that location,’ Illingworth said. ‘However, even if the vaults were relocated, it would be extremely difficult to relocate the store’s driveway to align with Castellammare due to the proximity of Vons’ building to Sunset as well as the difference in grade between Sunset and the parking lot.’   Illingworth added that regardless whether DWP relocates the parkway vaults, ‘It is Vons’ intent to work with the various city agencies to realign the Castellammare Drive/Sunset intersection with our driveway in order to increase safety at this intersection.’   In January, Illingworth told the Post that Vons wanted to shift the loading dock because ‘We’re trying to deter loitering and vagrancy, clean up the site for customers, and give a nice appearance along the scenic highway.’   A Starbucks will replace the original dock, allowing coffee drinkers a view of the ocean from a newly constructed two-level patio. To patronize Starbucks, customers will have to enter through Vons and will not be able to exit from the patio to the parking lot.

While 91-year-old Palisades Charter High School English teacher Rose Gilbert was lecturing her 35 Advanced Placement English students about feminism last Wednesday, she received a surprise visit from the Palisadian-Post. ‘I have tomorrow’s newspaper today,’ said Post Publisher Roberta Donohue, holding up the Thursday, March 4 edition of the newspaper, so that Gilbert could see a photo of herself gracing the front page with the headline ‘Citizen of the Year Honors to Rose Gilbert.’ The Post has given the prestigious award since 1947 to a Palisades resident who has made a lasting contribution to the community.   ’Wow! Oh my goodness,’ Gilbert responded. ‘Citizen of the Year! I’m humbled.’   Gilbert then read the article to her class, inserting ‘Wows’ at the end of some of the paragraphs. ‘I am overwhelmed; I don’t know how to thank you,’ she said when she finished.   One student called out, ‘You deserve it Mrs. Gilbert!’   The Post is honoring Gilbert for launching a campaign to build a state-of-the-art aquatic center on campus and for donating $2.1 million toward the project. Gilbert, who lives above the Getty Villa and provides numerous scholarships to PaliHi seniors and UCLA students every year, has also given PaliHi a $750,000 loan to help complete the center by early summer. The center, with a 12-lane competitive pool and adjacent two-lane teaching pool, will be named after her late daughter Maggie, a swimmer.   Gilbert, a teacher at PaliHi since the school opened in 1961, will be recognized at the Citizen of the Year banquet on April 22 at the American Legion Hall on La Cruz Drive. At the event, the Pacific Palisades Community Council will also present its Golden Sparkplug awards.   Post Managing Editor Bill Bruns told Gilbert, ‘This is a culminating award for your career as a teacher and a philanthropist.’   He then urged Gilbert to take the first dip in the pool once the aquatic center is completed. Gilbert, who had both of the editor’s children as students, replied that she might have to wear an old-fashioned swimsuit; however, one of her students shouted that she should sport a bikini.   Gilbert then posed for a photograph wearing her infamous plastic firefighter helmet, which she dons during her literature lessons to ‘fire up’ the students.   ’I’m on fire today,’ Gilbert said, laughing.