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Doug Krikorian / Viewpoint

The Beloved Sandra Headley, AKA Coachie, Climaxes Her Memorable 39-Year Tenure At Naples Elementary School With A Most Unusual Task

Mr. Krikorian, an award winning journalist and author of two books, earned multiple awards in his 22 years of writing for the Long Beach Press-Telegram and 22 years for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. He is happily retired.



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>(May 3, 2021, 6:05 p.m.) -- It is all now so different, a strange tableau of millions of human beings adorn in masks which once upon a time were the sole province of Batman, Zoro and the Lone Ranger as well as stickup guys and professional wrestlers.

It is all now so different, as flights to vacation spots outside America force tourists to take Covid-19 tests 72 hours before departure and flights to iconic European destinations aren't even allowed.

It is all now so different, where vaccination prate dominates everyday conversation, where certain state governors of a certain political bent institute suffocating lockdowns to the horror of so many constituents and business outlets, where the national media prop up self-styled Coronavirus "experts" who so often have been, to coin a phrase, hoisted by their own petard.

It is all now so different, where near vacant office buildings have given way to stay-at-home employees who do their chores via zoom, where housewives boycott malls in favor of Amazon Prime, where cherished statues have been razed, where looters too often avoid punishment for their vile crimes, where nary a day passes without a police misdeed somewhere coming under widespread microscopic scrutiny when thousands upon thousands of other misdeeds around the country are blithely ignored.

It is all now so different for all of us as we alter hallowed habits and adjust to a dramatically changing everyday existence that oftentimes seems bizarre, if not downright weird.

And no one can attest to this phenomena more than a beloved figure at Naples Elementary School named Sandra Headley, a 39-year fixture at the institution who long has overseen playground activities for many generations of kids.

Although she normally puts in a full-day's work as both a part-time employee---she earns wages for three hours---and a volunteer, Ms. Headley, 75, plans to retire at the end of the school year in which her main duty these days is unlike anything from the past when she helped keep order on the asphalt basketball courts, monkey bars, swings, slides, etc.

She now can be found each morning between 7:45 and 8:05 at the back gate on St. Ermo taking the temperatures of students between the third and fifth grades.


After working 39 years at Naples Elementary School, Sandra Coachie) Headley is set Monday morning to continue performing her newest task for the institution -- taking students' temperatures.

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Sandra Headley set to give thermometer test to Naples Elementary student

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``In my craziest dreams, I never thought I would be doing this particular task,'' she says with a chuckle. ``I probably take the temperature of at least 90 kids a day. Who would believe?''

The school reopened on March 29, and according to Sandra Headley, none has failed the thermometer test.

`What's the highest reading you have gotten?'' she is asked.

``A ninety-nine---not high enough for a student to be sent home,'' she says.

Sandra Headley has been endearingly known across the decades as Coachie, and the mother herself of two children has made quite an impression among not only students but also parents.

"Sandra Headley has been a teacher, a nurse, a guardian, a caretaker, you name it and she always has done it with joy and skill,'' says Sandra O'Toole, a well-known law professor at Long Beach City College. ``I always felt comfortable when Mike (her husband) and I were working and the kids had to stay after school because I knew Coachie would be there overseeing them. She's an amazing person. She not only got to know a lot of kids on a personal level, but she also got to know their parents. Mike and I long have adored her. She's a wonderful, giving person with a big heart.''

``Coachie is a legendary,'' says Mike O'Toole simply.

Ms. Headley's children also attended Naples Elementary, and it was during that time that she became involved with the school.

``I became the PTA president and, so obviously, I met a lot of people and my kids loved going to the school,'' she says. ``I got to like it so much that I started doing volunteer work and that started it all for me at Naples Elementary.''

Until they shut down Naples Elementary last March, Sandra Headley usually was one of the first arrivals at the school in her silver PT Cruiser.

``The old days I'd get here around 6:30 a.m., because some parents would bring their kids early so I'd open up the playground for them,'' she says. ``Now not so early. No need for it.

Not that Sandra Headley has exactly been tardy.

She still is at school by 7 a.m.

``Sure, I'm going to miss it all when I retire---the kids, the parents, the teachers, the janitors, everybody,'' she says.

And, yes, the kids at Naples Elementary have actually been allowed back on the playground, at least for a too brief albeit joyful time.

``It's a great sight for me seeing a bunch of kids having fun together on the playground again,'' says Ms. Headley, a widow whose husband passed away 12 years ago.

It's been the overwhelming sentiment here that they never should have been deprived of such an imperative endeavor---exercise, socialization, etc.---in the first place in what has been a scandalously misguided tack that the LBUSD superintendent, Jill Baker, and her equally daffy advisors must live with for the rest of their lives.

For certain, Sandra (Coachie) Headley will live the rest of her life with glad memories from her lengthy tenure at Naples Elementary, as will those countless kids and parents and others will retain similar memories of knowing such a divinely special person.


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Previously by Mr. Krikorian:

Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia Takes A Victory Lap For His City Hosting The Undocumented Migrants, But The Estimated $35 Million Cost To Taxpayers Has His Critics In An Uproar, Including One, The Famed Bodyguard Mike (The Hammer) DiMarzo, Who Calls Mr. Garcia The Teflon Don Of LB


Tommy O'Toole's Magical 12-Hour Day That Might Well Land Him In The Guinness Book Of World Records And, Who Knows, The Zany LBUSD Superintendent Jill Baker Might Be Destined To Wind Up In It, Too
Why Don't Mayor Robert Garcia And His Marionette, City Manager Tom Modica, Come Out And Tell The Truth About How Long Beach Became A Lodging Sanctuary For More Than 1,000 Undocumented Kids?
Why Have ALL The Long Beach Leaders Been So Silent On The Feds Placing A Contingent Of Undocumented Kids In Downtown LB?
A Talk With Jerry West And An Emotional Remembrance For Me Of Still Another Friend, Elgin Baylor, Who Is Gone
Frankly, I'm Surprised Long Beach Chief Of Police Robert Luna Didn't Think A Contingent Of Extraterrestrials From Another Galaxy Was Responsible For The LB Crime Wave
The Creator Of Two Iconic Long Beach Dining Establishments, Schooner Or Later and Tantalum, LB Bachelor Denny Lund Also Has Been A Creator Of Glad Times
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Krikorian Notes: From Gavin Newsom Praising Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia As Though He's Destined For Mt. Rushmore To Newsom Hoping The Rest Of California Follows The Jill Baker LBUSD Path (???) To The Tiger Woods Car Accident To Bad Stu Ledsam's Son Kyle's Big Award To Vons Pavilion GM Steve Carr Performing Cashiering Duty To My Watching the Amazing Emerzian Twins Next Week In Michigan
Krikorian Notes: From A Most Surreal Development That Has Me In A State Of Giddiness---Our Beloved Long Beach Actually Now Serious About Building A New Swimming Pool After Coastal Commission Approval And Strong Endorsements From Such Local Leaders As Mayor Robert Garcia and City Manager Tom Modica and Their Political Accomplices To Mike O'Toole Doing a Solo, He-Man Rowing Act On A 32-Foot Gondola Carolina Filled With 14 People Around Naples Canals To Jill Baker’s Typical Back-to-School Delaying Tactics To My Receiving My Periodic SAG-AFTRA Residuals From My Once Flourishing Acting Career That, Sadly, Went The Way Of My Once Flourishing Radio Career
Long-Time Belmont Shore Resident Dorcas Baldwin, 85, Endures Frightening Experience Of Homeless Man Breaking Into Her Bay Shore Avenue Home And Taking A Shower Before Long Beach Cops Come To The Rescue
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Terry Antonelli Orchestrating Rise Of L’Opera After Its Tragic Fall In The Great Long Beach Memorial Day Pillage & Plunder Festival
Krikorian Notes: From Mayor Garcia's Spineless Speech To Jill Baker's Passing The Buck Alliance With Gavin Newsom To A Positive Long Beach Vaccination Experience To Welcoming New Neighbor George Gascon To Mike The Hammer Bludgeoning Me About Boxing To The Amazing Tom Brady
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When Is LBUSD Superintendent Jill Baker Going To End Her Calamitous Lockdown That Has Caused So Much Chaos And Heartache And Disruption Among 70,000 Students?
Krikorian Notes: From Councilman Rex Richardson Displaying Courage To Show Up At A Long Beach Restaurant Association Meeting To The Countless Millions Lost On Unoccupied LB Buses To LB Health Czar Kelly Colopy’s Latest Mean-Spirited Edict To the Irritating Silence Of LB City Manager Tom Modica To LB Mayor Robert Garcia Ignoring His Constituents For Political Reasons To Bob The Black Labrador Parading Down The Peninsula Boardwalk Holding A Large Palm Limb In His Mouth
How Many Long Beach Restaurants Will Be Forced to Close After Latest Lockdown Lunacy?
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Krikorian Notes: A Labor Day Elegy For Those In The Long Beach Business Community Who Were Violated In The Memorial Day Looting Frenzy To The Palm Tree Limbs Littering 2nd Street To The Scooters Littering The Belmont Shore Bridge To The Virtual On-Line Spectacle At Big Mike O'Toole's Household
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Support really independent news in Long Beach. No one in LBREPORT.com's ownership, reporting or editorial decision-making has ties to development interests, advocacy groups or other special interests; or is seeking or receiving benefits of City development-related decisions; or holds a City Hall appointive position; or has contributed sums to political campaigns for Long Beach incumbents or challengers. LBREPORT.com isn't part of an out of town corporate cluster and no one its ownership, editorial or publishing decisionmaking has been part of the governing board of any City government body or other entity on whose policies we report. LBREPORT.com is reader and advertiser supported. You can help keep really independent news in LB similar to the way people support NPR and PBS stations. We're not non-profit so it's not tax deductible but $49.95 (less than an annual dollar a week) helps keep us online.



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