 For 30 years, many students have viewed Sandy Moore as their nemesis, but most likely she's been their salvation. She's the boss at The Tutoring Company, which helps kindergarten through high school youngsters get on the right track at school, whether they're in special ed, home schooling or an athletic program that won't allow them to participate until grades improve.
A lot of the time, she says, youngsters fall behind because parents don't follow through on what they threaten to do if a certain action is not achieved. So students learn procrastination, or they figure how to use their parents' divorce as an excuse for not having work done.
She's heard every excuse in the book and most likely won't put up with any of them. "There's a sign in my office, 'No Whining,' and that's my motto," she says. "I won't back down on anything I say." As a result, assignments get done when bluffs are called. "They hate me," she chuckles. "I make them stay and finish their work."
At $25 an hour for a group session in the office to $65 for a private one at home, learning can get costly. But the alternative, as has occurred in some cases, could be the inability to read in the fifth grade.
"Teachers have so much to teach and so little time," she says. What she teaches is what so many children have failed to learn: how to organize and how to study. "They might have done their homework, but don't know where it is or don't know how to take a chapter apart for a book report," she says.
Moore grew up in Los Gatos. She says her ambitions in school ran the gamut, from a dream of designing a modern prison to coaching a winning team. She actually did coach swimming. It was then that she discovered some of the athletes were kept off the team because of failing grades. Because she had a teaching credential, she helped one boy, then another and another, until she opened an office, first in Saratoga for 13 years, then Los Gatos. Today, thousands of students later, she has a staff of tutors to help while she concentrates on students with special needs. "I hire nice people to combat my personality," she jokes. "The bottom line is, we're helping students and the family unit."
The Tutoring Company, 160 Los Gatos-Saratoga Road (across from Bakers Square), can be reached at 408.354.1512 or tutoringcompany@svinet.com.
On March 12 at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga, Patrick Sullivan, 25, and Alia Milano, 23, both Los Gatos High School graduates, staged free entertainment and a fashion show to introduce a new line of clothing they've designed under their label, Elevate Clothing. They called it a release party. Professionals from the Bay Area modeled men's and women's T-shirts and sweatshirts that Milano, a student of fashion design at the San Francisco Academy of Arts, created for high school and college age youths.
"The clothes have an attitude geared toward skateboarders," says Sullivan, who was an avid rider until he "rode pro boards in San Francisco." While he still rides, he laments, "I hurt more when I fall now."
At the release party, Habanero, a group of four, played reggae/rock/new age pieces, and DJ Matt Horton of Solid Grooves in San Jose played his selections throughout the fashion show. All are Los Gatos High grads. "We've been working real hard through the last few years," Sullivan says, "and just wanted the community to know what we have that's new." So far, sales have come through word of mouth, Sullivan says, and from their website.
Call Elevate Clothing at 408.356.9821 or visit www.elevateclothing.com.
While recent Los Gatos High graduates are just starting out, Bob Bagnatto, class of '59, and wife Patty are celebrating 25 years in business. They own Fiore's Hallmark store next door to Lunardi's Market. When they started out, there was a Safeway next door, and their store was half its size. Since then, they've gone beyond the Hallmark card and party items to include "gifts for the heart and home." Those include bath items, china, jewelry, linens, art prints and silk flowers. "It's really nice stuff at a really good price," Bob says. He and Patty take trips to Paris and the East Coast to search for items. Probably one of the most unusual items they developed 20 years ago is a copyrighted concrete wildcat. It stands 3 feet tall and weighs 150 pounds. "You probably see it everywhere on front porches," he says. Congratulations to one of our landmark stores!
Call Fiore's at 408.358.2133.
Congratulations also should go to Burrell School Winery on Summit Road. Owners Anne and Dave Moulton demonstrated again their generous nature by donating all of the wine for "Dancing Under the Dome" that was held last Saturday in San Jose's new city hall rotunda. The evening of cocktails, dinner and dancing benefited the new cancer center at Santa Clara Medical Center. Call Burrell at 408.395.0965.
We're always looking for story ideas. If you know about an interesting business in town, call Suzanne Cristallo at 408.354.8353.
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