Tireless Aide Earns an ‘A’ for Her Efforts

The name may be Colfax Avenue Elementary School, but for many who work and learn there, the spirit of this school comes from Selene Hoffman.

“It’s her school,” said Sheila Revivo, school coordinator for Colfax in Valley Village. “After 39 years, it’s her school, not mine.”

As a parent, volunteer and educational assistant, Hoffman has known every principal the school has had. Her parental involvement at Colfax goes back to the late 1950s when the plaster was still fresh.

Officially, Hoffman is an educational aide who works in the nurse’s office three hours a day. But she also shows up at 6:30 every morning to help the cafeteria manager get the trays and food ready.

“That’s just to unwind,” Hoffman says with a smile and a shrug. She plays old tunes on a worn-out harmonica as the children eat their breakfast.

As part of her work in the nurse’s office, she often takes children to the hospital and stays with them there late at night. She collects food for needy children and goes out of her way to help those in trouble, said Shirley Di Rado, the principal of Colfax.

“She’s always here,” Di Rado said of Hoffman, who lives a block away from the school. “All you have to say is ‘Selene,’ and she’s here.”

Hoffman is a Spokane native who came to Los Angeles as a nursing student. After working as a registered nurse for a couple of years in the 1950s, she married and left nursing to raise a family. She has been married to her husband, Joe, for more than 40 years.

Her four daughters and her son were all students at Colfax Elementary. She also has three grandchildren. But in a way, Hoffman has adopted many of the children at Colfax in need or in trouble.

“My children love to go to the nurse’s office because she is there,” said Cindy Bean, who has been a kindergarten teacher at Colfax for more than 20 years. According to Bean, Hoffman is the person who comes up with solutions for the children.

“To this day, if I have a problem, I come to her first,” Bean said. “There are times when I wish I could go to the nurse’s office and just talk to Selene.”

Hoffman’s passion for volunteering was sparked years ago when she saw a diabetic girl in the second grade go into shock. Drawing on her training as a nurse, she kept the girl’s mouth open and rubbed a piece of candy on her tongue to keep the girl stable until paramedics arrived.

From then on, she became a fixture at the school. Eventually, the school found some money to pay her as a part-time assistant. But she has meant much more than that. Children rely on her, the staff said, the way they know that every Halloween she will dress in costume.

“I had bypass surgery in ‘81,” Hoffman said. “But on the way into surgery, I made them stop the stretcher.” Hoffman insisted on making a phone call to let the school know she would not make it to work that day.

“This is my home away from home,” said Hoffman, standing behind the rows of muffins in the cafeteria. Behind her is a box of toys, necklaces and other goodies she hands out to children who have shown good behavior without being asked.

Doing what is needed without being asked is a big part of Hoffman’s philosophy, school officials said.

It’s easy, she said, because it allows her to be with the children.

“I don’t want to grow up,” Hoffman said. “I just want to be a kid with kids.”

Personal Best is a weekly profile of an ordinary person who does extraordinary things. Please send suggestions on prospective candidates to Personal Best, Los Angeles Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth 91311. Or fax them to (818) 772-3338. Or e-mail them to [email protected]