Ladia Jirasek Sr. photo

Del Mar boy, 11, NorCal chess champ

By CLAIRE HORN
chorn@thearknewspaper.com

On Feb. 15, Ladia Rayne Jirasek, a sixth-grader at Del Mar School, placed first in the Northern California Youth Chess Age Level Championship.

"It's a sport," said Jirasek, 11, who once wrote down the moves of an entire game from memory. "It's a mental sport."

But just two years ago, Jirasek didn't know what chess was.

While watching the film "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" — in which Harry must become a pawn on a giant chessboard, doing battle one move at a time with knights and bishops to solve a magical riddle — Jirasek turned to his dad and asked, "What's that game? I want to learn to play it."

Now, after 19 tournaments — including matches against adults — the U.S. Chess Federation, which tracks official games and ranks players nationwide, puts Jirasek in the 93rd percentile in the Junior Ranking category, and in the 77th percentile for the state.

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Del Mar students practice
restorative justice for all

By CLAIRE HORN
chorn@thearknewspaper.com

In an effort to fight bullying, a new disciplinary approach is being used at Del Mar Middle School: restorative justice.

At the Reed Union School District's Feb. 14 board meeting, eighth-graders Carli Jacks, Renee Perper, Samantha Stiteler and Alexandra Scharf spoke about the success of the program, now in its second year. Team member Dorothy Goldstein-Stahl was absent.

The Del Mar program has its roots in ancient concepts of justice. According to Wikipedia, restorative justice addresses the personal needs of victims, offenders and the immediate community; it perceives crime as an offense against community or an individual, as opposed to against the state, and offenders are "encouraged to take responsibility for their actions, 'to repair the harm they've done.'"

The approach recently captured the attention of lawmakers and the Marin County Board of Education. On Feb. 8, the girls gave an informational presentation to the county board, members of a grand jury and law enforcement officials.


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