EDUCATION Students learn how others deal with...

EDUCATION

Students learn how others deal with disabilities

Third-graders at Lincoln Elementary School on Thursday took part

in an Abilities Awareness workshop, which aimed to get students

behind the eyes and in the wheelchairs of students with disabilities.

Ten different stations let children experience speech impediments,

vision problems and mobility difficulties.

* A new $1-million supercomputer in UC Irvine’s department of

earth system science creates models to simulate global climate

conditions hundreds of years from now. Unlike the local weather

forecast, it gives a worldwide, long-term overview.

* Newport-Mesa Unified School District students caught drinking,

using drugs or under the influence of either on campus or at school

functions now have an alternative to the automatic school transfer

they previously faced under the district’s code of student conduct.

Under the previous version of Rule and Regulation 4210, students

under the influence on campus or at school functions faced a five-day

suspension and involuntary transfer to another district school for 90

days. Now, if students complete two new educational programs, they

can return to their home school in as little as one-third that time.

* Christian broadcaster Daystar Television Network is threatening

to sue the Coast Community College District, saying it should have

named them the highest responsible bidder. Daystar’s attorney, said

the company feels it was pushed aside because of the network’s

religious programming. After an extensive bidding process, the

district awarded the bid to the KOCE-TV Foundation -- the only

nonreligious broadcaster -- in October. The foundation promised to

keep the station’s public broadcasting format.

-- Marisa O’Neil