Pupils Polish an Apple for the First Lady

When Nancy Reagan comes to school, routine plays hooky.

In fact, you could say the whole place goes to the beauty parlor.

From the moment students and teachers learned the First Lady would be visiting Tuesday as part of her continuing war on drug abuse, everyone at Los Angeles’ Rosewood Avenue Elementary School in the West Hollywood area primped and preened mightily for their hour and 15-minute dash through the limelight. The preparations paid off: Her visit was completed without a hitch, school officials said Tuesday afternoon.

In preparation students made posters and wrote letters for Mrs. Reagan to take back to Washington. Parents paid for a welcoming banner. McDonald’s restaurant chipped in for commemorative plaques. The policeman in charge of the sixth-grade anti-drug abuse class bought a new uniform. Work crews planted flowers, mowed the lawn as if it were the 18th green in a major golf tournament, erected a rope barrier around the school’s entrance to hold back onlookers, repaired a sidewalk damaged by tree roots and performed other cleaning chores normally scheduled for summer vacation.

Nooks and Crannies

Meanwhile, Secret Service men from the White House protection detail poked into nooks and crannies, imparting a serious accent to the holiday mood that practically radiated from the hallway paint.

“They’ve made sure it (the school) was all sparkling,� said principal Ann Dorr, who joked, “I wish she (Mrs. Reagan) was coming over for dinner at my house so I’d get some of this.� Generally, she added, students and faculty seemed “awed� by the visit and “very proud� that their school had been chosen.

Although Dorr was uncertain why her school had been selected, she said Rosewood’s diversity probably was a factor. The school’s 437 pupils include students from 25 countries who speak 13 languages, she said. One of Mrs. Reagan’s mementos is a school cookbook containing recipes for Chinese chicken salad, Ethiopian meat stew, Russian stuffed peppers, Korean chicken, Egyptian lamb and Texas sheet cake.

Dorr, who noted that preparations for the visit helped add a couple of hours to her work day, said she had spent much of the time since mid-January saying “no� to parents and students who wanted to meet the First Lady, get her autograph or watch as she participated in a Project DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) class, a drug-education program that’s a joint venture between the Los Angeles school district and the Los Angeles Police Department.

“Everybody wants to have their whole family here but it’s impossible,� she said, explaining that only students, faculty, press and school district and police department higher-ups, including Chief Daryl Gates, were allowed inside the school.

As vicarious compensation, the school assigned two fifth-grade students from the school newspaper to document Mrs. Reagan’s appearance. School reporter Igor Minevich, who said he is “almost 11,� conceded that he lost sleep anticipating his assignment. One worry, he said, was what to wear. Then Minevich confided that he had finally decided, “I’m just going to wear normal clothes, not a suit, but make sure they’re clean.� Photographer Jeen H. Byun, 10, said he intended to use his small stature--about four feet--to move through a forest of adult legs for good camera angles.

Monday, as last-minute touches such as the rope barrier were put in place, Rosewood’s students and faculty seemed to be erecting a cool facade over their anticipation.

“I’m just going to play it by ear,� said officer Greg Boles, who would teach the anti-drug awareness class attended by Mrs. Reagan. Boles added that he’s used to teaching in high-pressure situations, having previously taught while Chief Gates looked on.

However, Boles, a former undercover narcotics officer, said he had intensified instruction somewhat so that students would be ready for role-playing skits for the half hour Mrs. Reagan would attend the class.

Principal Dorr said the visit had had a quieting effect on the usually “rambunctious� class of sixth-graders taught by Boles. “They’re kind of shy about it . . . they’ve calmed down completely,� she said. “They’re taking it very seriously.�