Highly Gifted Magnet

The Highly Gifted Magnet (HGM) is a program in the Los Angeles Unified School District's Gifted and Talented programs, restricted to students who meet the criterion of 99.9% on an intellectual assessment that meets the eligibility requirements of the district that is generally taken to mean an IQ of 145 or above. Admission to the schools is based on a point system where points are automatically assigned for 5 different rationales, outlined in the "Choices" brochure sent out to eligible LAUSD students yearly.

There are three elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school out of the 162 magnet programs in the district that are part of the Highly Gifted Magnet. The three elementary schools are Eagle Rock Elementary, Multnomah Elementary and San Jose Elementary. (Formerly, Carpenter Elementary School offered a highly gifted magnet as well). The three schools have nearly 300 students from grades 2 through 5, and in one case grade 6. Many students from those three elementary schools go on to the Portola Highly Gifted Magnet Center, which serves students from grades 6 through 8. North Hollywood High School is the parent school for the HGM program at the high school level, serving almost 400 students from grades 9 through 12.

The HGM at North Hollywood High

The HGM at North Hollywood High (also known as NoHo) is a community of teenagers, their parents, and faculty. In many cases, the students have known and attended school with each other since elementary school due to the small number of "feeder" schools. HGM students and faculty take part in many school-wide activities, such as the Ultimate and Chess clubs, but they also have separate activities, such as dances, "House" meetings in the style of Harry Potter, and their own literary journal, The Magnitude. Many such clubs are even sponsored by HGM faculty.

Many HGMers, as they call themselves, also participate in numerous service groups, such as the California Scholarship Federation, Key Club, Interact and JSU, as well as in the school's Academic Decathlon, Science Bowl, Science Olympiad and miscellaneous sports teams and music groups.

The HGM program rivals those at academically rigorous private and public schools, and as a result, North Hollywood High offers a number of Advanced Placement (AP) classes. Students are required to follow a rigid class schedule filled with mostly honors and AP classes that meet LAUSD's graduation requirements and University of California A-G requirements for prospective incoming freshmen. For most academic classes, students are restricted to those taught by HGM faculty, and only honors and AP classes, or equivalents, are available for English, Mathematics, Foreign Languages, Sciences and Social Sciences. Unlike many high schools in the nation, some freshmen take AP classes, and in their sophomore year the majority of the students are first exposed to the AP classes and exams. For many juniors and seniors, the schedule often ends up being filled with 5, or even 6, AP classes for everything from Chemistry to English Language and US History.

The North Hollywood HGM consistently sends students to some of the most distinguished colleges and universities across the nation, although most choose to go to colleges best suited towards their interests. Harvard University, Yale University, Stanford University, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) are some destinations of HGM alumni.

The current HGM coordinator is Phyllis Spadafora.

Separation from Resident School

While based on the campus of the much larger North Hollywood High School, a campus with a Concept Six inclusive size of more than 4,500 students, the 400-student HGM is considered for administrative purposes separate from the resident school.

While students for scheduling or elective reasons may take classes in among the course offerings of the resident school, most HGM teachers are dedicated full-time and only teach HGM classes containing HGM students. Class sizes in the HGM are often significantly smaller than those of the resident school.

Additionally, the program has its own administrative office and couselor. Technically, all HGM students are guests on the North Hollywood High School campus. There is some degree of overlap between the administrative responsibilities of the multi-function HGM office and its conterparts for the resident school, e.g. attendance and disciplinary issues. The decisions of the HGM office in matters concerning HGM students are supposed to be authoritative, but in reality the opposite is often the case, with the resident school faculty having the final say.

HGM Faculty

The HGM boasts a distinguished faculty, including 3 PhDs, one Bar association member, and over 150 years of field experience. Three of the four founding faculty members, Iris Abrams, Gail Grande and Phyllis Spadafora, remain with the program.

Ms. Elenna Turner, Counselor
Ms. Phyllis Spadafora, Coordinator and Foreign Languages teacher
Ms. Iris Abrams, Office Manager
Dr. Barbara Barnett, English
Dr. Judith Haut, English
Ms. Stacy Ordoña, English
Mr. David Corcos, Foreign Languages
Ms. Dominique Vincent, Foreign Languages
Mr. Reza Bahmanyar, Mathematics
Ms. Gail Grande, Mathematics
Mr. Altair Maine, Mathematics and Sciences
Ms. Rishita Shah, Sciences
Mr. Len Soloff, Sciences (Retired in 2004, Coach of 2001 National Science Bowl Champions)
Dr. Ardeshir Irani, Sciences
Mr. John McCollaum, Social Sciences
Mr. Kailim Toy, Social Sciences
Mr. Gregory Price, Art (Retired in 2005)

HGM Controversy

In May 2004, The HGM was featured on a PBS television program, Brown v. Board of Education : 50 Years Later, and was in essence accused of being a segregationist program.

Notable alumni

Morgan Webb, G4 television show host
Dan Hemmati, Healthcare Policy Consultant

External links

References

The 2005-2006 Choices Brochure, available from LAUSD's Gifted/Talented Programs office