As expected, the Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa-controlled LAUSD school board enacted proposals to limit the public’s access to information about the district’s goings-on and to reduce the public’s ability to provide input and criticism of school board activities. On a vote of 5-2 — with board members Marguerite LaMotte and Steven Zimmer opposing — the board adopted a plan to eliminate all special committee meetings and limit the number of public speakers allowed to talk during the remaining few meetings. The five consenting board members call this a “cost-cutting measure.” I call it @#%&*#^! Board President Monica Garcia, Villaraigosa’s designated handmaiden who developed this outrageous plan to reduce citizen participation in a school district for which we are paying a lot of money, said: “We are in a crisis and with this budget we are not only challenged to do less, we must do things differently.” By my reckoning, this move by the board is just too damned different!

Jefferson Crain, head of the board’s Secretariat Office, complained that with a 30 percent cut in his office’s budget, it could handle no more than 24 hours of meetings a month. So Garcia came forth with this asinine plan to eliminate meetings and to shorten those that they do have by limiting public speakers to seven on specific voting issues and to 15 when the public wants to discuss general education issues. Oh yeah, that’ll save a lot of money! But at what cost? The curtailment of the right of public access to information and to the exercise of its free speech — that’s the cost! If the members didn’t want to sit through a lot of meetings and listen to a bunch of sometimes abusive public speakers, then they should not have run for the school board. They should have gotten themselves jobs at Kohl’s — they’re hiring.

UPWARD BOUND — Alberto Retana, veteran Community Coalition organizer and its current vice president of program development, will be joining President Barack Obama’s administration as the new director of community outreach for the Department of Education on Nov. 16. Retana joined Community Coalition in 1998 as a 23-year-old recent college graduate. He was first youth director of the coalition’s South Central Youth Empowerment Through Action Program and later served as director of organizing. Retana’s work at the coalition helped expand college opportunities for thousands of South L.A. youth, and in his new position he will be working with communities across the country to help ensure that they have a voice in shaping education reform policy on the federal level.

BIG LITTLE WINNERS — Two neighborhood children scored big at the Los Angeles County Fair last month when they walked away with multiple blue ribbon honors. McKayla Robinson, 10, is a doll collector (as is the Soulvine) and she took first place for her collection in the dolls category and then came right back and took the grand prize for the entire hobby category, which included a wide range of various displays of collectibles. McKayla’s winning entry consisted of American and foreign dolls, with greetings posted near each doll in the language spoken in the country they represented. She also surrounded them with photographs and postcards from their country of origin. She’s 10 years old, for cryin’ out loud!

Now McKayla’s big brother, Joshua Robinson, 12, is no slouch either. He took first place in his hobby category — rocks. Joshua’s blue ribbon display included volcanic rocks and minerals as well as geodes that he has been collecting for six years (half his life!). His display included informational posters so people could identify and understand what they were looking at. Congratulations to these kids, and I’m trying to contact their mother, Lissa Robinson, to see if I can have a play date with McKayla!

THIS AND THAT — Rep. Diane Watson selected young master Junia McKenzie to be a congressional page. Watson chose McKenzie because of the 4.0 grade point average he maintained as a student at King Drew Magnet High School, his community involvement, his aspirations for the future and her belief that “he exemplifies the best and brightest here in the city of Los Angeles.” Young McKenzie is spending his fall semester as a high school junior studying math, English and science in Washington, D.C.

State Sen. Curren Price was selected for the prestigious Toll Fellowship Program, sponsored by the Council of State Governments. The selection was made when 37 elected officials from across the country convened in Lexington, Ky., last month. The Toll program is one of the nation’s premier leadership programs for state government officials and the most widely recognized one serving all three branches of government.

The Southern California Chapter of the ACLU honored Assembly Speaker Karen Bass with its Legislator of the Year Award during its recent 46th annual Garden Party.

The Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, together with the Washington D.C.-based Africa Society of the Nation Summit on Africa, honored Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos at an “Embrace Africa & America” special program and reception on the university’s campus last Friday. Dos Santos was presented an honorary degree from the university during the event.

DATEBOOK — The Citizen’s Coalition for a Safe Community is sponsoring the free screening of the documentary “Split Estate” Friday night at 7 in the auditorium of the Windsor Hills M/S Aero Magnet School, 5215 Overdale Drive. This movie is a must-see for everyone living near oil and gas production, such as the Baldwin Hills and Inglewood oil fields.

The community swearing-in for 51st District Assemblyman-elect Steve Bradford will be held Friday in the Gardena City Hall, 1700 W. 162nd Place from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Assemblyman Mike Davis will host the 48th District Talent Showcase on Oct. 18 in the Little Theatre at Southwest College at 4 p.m. Admission is free and anyone seeking information about this event should call Steven Miller at (213) 744-211.

A Jazz on the Green at St. Bernadette event will be held Saturday on St. Bernadette’s field, 4196 Marlton Ave. This adults-only event is the school’s major fundraiser and will be held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. It will feature music, dinner and alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Ticket information: (323) 291-4284.

R.I.P. — I am shocked and deeply saddened to learn of the sudden death of Sarah Johnson, a former copy editor and assistant with whom I worked closely for many years at the L.A. Sentinel. Willis Collier, a former staffer there whom I knew back in the good old days, also died recently, and I am unable to confirm a report that Preston Webster, a former Sentinel ad man who hooked up Wave Publisher Pluria Marshall and me, has also died. Say it ain’t so somebody. If it is, then may they all rest in peace.

AND FINALLY — It comes as no surprise that H. David Nahai was unceremoniously dumped last Friday as the general manager of the DWP. Everybody tried to tell Mayor Villaraigosa not to appoint Nahai in the first place because he was a lightweight and would be over his head and out of his depth as general manager of the vital and mammoth city entity. But no-o-o. The mayor’s personnel decisions continue to stink.

And, Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, a three-year letterman offensive guard for the University of California Golden Bears, received the 2009 Glenn Seaborg Award during last Saturday’s USC vs. Cal football game — as if anybody cares.