Page 4 January 23, 2020 EL SEGUNDO HERALD
School Spotlight
ESUSD
El Segundo School Board Christens
“Refreshed” Board Room
On January 14, the El Segundo Unified
School District School Board met in their newly
“refreshed” board room located on the westside
of ESUSD property at 641 Sheldon Street.
The special presentations last Tuesday were
minimal, with Ali Rabiei, the District’s Director
of Operations, scheduled to give kudos to the
ESUSD workers who had taken part in the
board room refurbishment. However, with the
employees unavailable to attend the meeting,
the presentation was tabled and is expected
to occur later.
In an email sent before the meeting, Rabiei
recognized the maintenance and operations
workers who worked on the room. “We are
proud of our refreshed board room,” he wrote.
Improvements on and in the room, which has
been basically untouched for a quarter century,
included the tear-down of drywall and paneling;
the removal of worn carpeting and the
installation of new paneling; the reframing of
door entryways; construction of a new dais;
the installation of signage, with a new branding
logo; and painting of both the main meeting
room and the closed meeting room”.
ESUSD Superintendent Dr. Melissa Moore
said some “tech” improvements still need to
occur, which will allow the District to utilize
“a more professional space to host events.”
She said while the renovations were relatively
“low-budget, they (look) high budget.”
Rabiei wrote “El Segundo Unified is indeed
very fortunate to have an amazing and dedicated
small, but mighty maintenance and operation
team.” Rabiei singled-out Angel Jauregui, Jose
Martinez, Marcos Pozos, Keith Tague and
Danny Williams, who worked closely with
Moore to implement the project.
El Segundo Police Chief Bill Whelan addressed
the Board, with his remarks touching
on the duties of school resource officers, as well
as the steps that are being made to enhance
school-site safety, and boost online monitoring
to keep the City, students, and residents, as safe
as possible. He mentioned department outreach
to schools and the community, especially in
areas dealing with the teen vaping epidemic,
and suicide prevention.
After Ella Tichy gave her student representative
report, Moore read an El Segundo
Education Foundation update from foundation
CEO Carol Pirsztuk, who was unable to
attend the meeting. The Ed! Foundation will
be hosting their annual Guys Night’s Out, on
February 22, that will take place at the Beach
City Baseball Academy.
Marcy Kearney, from the accountancy firm
of Christy White & Associates, reported-out
on the District’s required annual audit findings
for the preceding fiscal year. The good
news is that the ESUSD has filed a positive
certification and is set to meet all financial
requirements for the 2019/20 school year and
the next two school years.
Board president Dr. Jeanie Nishime commented
WUSD
Schools Partner for Hackathon
On Saturday, January 11, Juan de Anza
Elementary School in Hawthorne held the
first annual “Junior Hackathon Challenge”,
sponsored by the Wiseburn Education
Foundation. Led by K-5 Science/STEM
teacher Joanne Michael, the 40 elementary
school students released a trans-continental
radio tracking balloon, to learn about
winds and weather across the country. They
then did a series of challenges, inspired by
NASA’s upcoming Orion missions. Vistamar
School and Da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Bots”
robotics team volunteered their time to
help the 5th grade students, as well as
members of the South Bay Amateur Radio
Club. “This was a wonderful collaboration
between WEF, Wiseburn Unified School
District, Vistamar School, and the South
Bay Amateur Radio Club.” Said Michael.
“I look forward to more opportunities in
the future to be able to expose the students
to various science and technology
careers, as well as unique opportunities to
challenge themselves”. •
Jaslene Roman (left) and Jessica Lopez work on developing screens to protect their brass screw from getting too hot from a
propane torch, as a simulation of the Orion capsule re-entering Earth’s atmosphere from a mission. Photo by Emma Rennick.
Joanne Michael explains the purpose of a “sounding balloon” to test the winds at various altitudes, while Juan de Anza elementary
students prepare to release the trans-continental balloon equipped with an APRS radio to track the winds and weather patterns across
the country. Photo by Emma Rennick.
See ESUSD, page 8