Page 6 January 31, 2019 EL SEGUNDO HERALD School Spotlight WUSD Sports Wiseburn Board Covers Much Ground Despite Brief Meeting By Duane Plank Bereft of special presentations, last Thursday evening’s meeting of the Wiseburn School Board may have set a meeting record for brevity, with President JoAnne Kaneda calling the opensession to a close at the 30-minute mark. As is the norm, Board member and administration reports were near the top of the agenda. Dr. Neil Goldman noted that he had met with the teaching and learning advisory council to begin the Wiseburn Unified School District’s strategic planning process. “We spent four hours together and it went well,” he said. “The group was engaged.” Goldman added that “it was really fun to have representatives from every school site intermingling and deliberating what the big pillar contributions, the value-drivers” would be. He mentioned that meetings will be held with different constituent stakeholders that will hopefully align all concerned, implementing their vision for the District. Wiseburn is in the beginning process of developing the extensive strategic plan, the implementation being led by Goldman. According to District-provided notes, the plan will involve matching all stakeholders’ interests to “create a vision through their feedback, opinions and ideas.” The idea is for the community outreach to provide a “roadmap” that will assist staff to refine, improve and implement new programs that will support all students to become either college- or career-Ready. Member Nelson Martinez shared that he had recently had the opportunity to attend District sporting events, mentioning the Wiseburn High School soccer and volleyball teams. Vice President/ Clerk Roger Banuelos thanked the Dana Middle School staff for hosting a recent special event. Kaneda, in her remarks, commented, “I am both happy and sad that we don’t have a lot of community members here tonight,” which she said she would take away as a positive. “Everything must be going quite well.” She also thanked the gathered Board members and administrators, as well as District staff. “There is a lot to keeping all of our kids educated, our families satisfied, our staff satisfied. I don’t want to take that for granted.” Chief Business Official David Wilson addressed a recent Board member query regarding the District’s expenditures of so-called “onetime revenues,” and how those expenditures are calculated on the financial balance sheet. He summarized recent expenditures and how the District was spending “carryover” available money accrued from past fiscal years. Assistant Superintendent, Educational Services Dr. Aileen Harbeck said that 23 staff members were to participate in a Project Lead the Way (PLTW) training session on Jan. 26, with a follow-up session slated for Feb. 9. Harbeck said the instructors were “on fire” to participate in the training sessions. She added that after the second training session, “we will be able to discern how PLTW will look in our elementary schools.” Wiseburn elementary teachers will participate in the training days to facilitate them in becoming certified PLTW instructors. Grants bestowed by Chevron have allowed local school districts to not only train teachers, but help them guide students in improving in problem-solving skills and critical and creative thinking, as well as bolster their scholastic and outside-the-classroom teamwork and perseverance. “PLTW is such a wonderful program -- I just want all of our students to have the opportunity to be a part of the science-and-technology based program,” Banuelos said. Superintendent Dr. Blake Silvers then reported out, noting his recent excursion to Ontario to participate in the Governor’s preschool services program. “We got good information,” he said, and noted that he and other District personnel had made the Ontario road trip during the recent spate of inclement weather -- but that it was well worth it and provided “bonding time” for Silvers and Wiseburn attendees. Silvers also noted that the Wiseburn High gymnasium was now hosting events and “coming to life.” He said he perused a portion of a recent boys varsity basketball game and that the well-attended event created “energy and a buzz in the room that was incredible.” Added member Israel Mora, “It is a beautiful gym.” Silvers wrapped up his report, stressing how there has been a landscape change in education initiatives in the state and that the District is creating a “slow and steady pathway so that we can make sure that we are addressing the areas that we need to.” Action items were dealt with next, which included construction change orders, service agreements and construction contingency funding as the District churns forward buttoning up details regarding the high school facilities construction. The Board also approved a fiscal action item to add another school crossing guard who will be stationed at the intersection of Isis and 135th. The contract, with All City Management Services, will run until June 13 at an additional cost not to exceed $6,253. There was Board unanimity on the need for another security guard to bolster student and staff safety. Silvers called it “money well-spent.” Martinez echoed the sentiment, saying the expenditure was “well worth it” after noting a recent contentious driving experience that he had near a school site. Kaneda said that “people do pay attention to crossing guards,” while they may not pay as much attention to streetlights or people gathering on a corner ready to cross the street. In other District news, Cabrillo Principal Lisa Baggio emailed prior to the meeting that her school has some “amazing learning initiatives going on,” including “sustaining our CGI math practices,” as well as again partnering with the Cotsen Foundation, which had donated another $8,000 this year to bolster Wiseburn. Baggio also noted that Cabrillo has ramped up its “small differentiated reading group instruction.” Teachers, she wrote, are garnering and utilizing multiple forms of data and analytical information to formulate lessons that will benefit students at their current reading levels. She said the program is proceeding “wonderfully” and that Cabrillo instructors are looking forward to receiving more training in that subject area. The next regularly scheduled Wiseburn School Boar open meeting is on the docket for Thursday evening, Feb. 21. • CLASSIFIED ADS – ONLY $40 for twenty words or less. Email class@heraldpublications.com or call 310-322-1830 for more information. Eagles Stumble Down the Stretch Story and Photos by Gregg McMullin The winter sports schedule for the Eagles is winding down this week and wraps up today. The CIF Southern Section playoffs start next week and each of our local teams is poised to advance to the postseason. The boys soccer team has wrapped up an Ocean League title and the girls basketball team needs to sweep this week to win its first league title. The Lady Eagles water polo team is a win away from winning its first Ocean League title in years. Both the boys basketball team and girls soccer team have played well and are both poised to advance to the playoffs too. Boys Soccer Team Wins Ocean League Title The Eagles have won their first Ocean League title in three years with their 4-1 win over Beverly Hills and the 3-0 shutout of Culver City. The defending CIF and Southern California Region champs have picked up where they left off last season. They have done it with a solid offense led by Malcolm Holtzmann-Cisse and a stingy defense that has allowed 17 goals, which is the second least amount given up in the CIF-SS Division 3. Beverly Hills was determined not to be the team that would allow the Eagles to win the Ocean League title with a victory. While El Segundo controlled the pace and shots on goal, Norman goalkeeper Raffi Haroutunian continued to turn scoring chances away. Before halftime, Denis Vezina found an opening and slid a shot into the net for a 1-0 lead. The Eagles’ frustrations with Beverly Hills play drew one player’s yellow card, meaning El Segundo was playing one player down. Sam Twigg ended up scoring three second half goals to give the Eagles their share of the Ocean League title. Against Culver City the Centaurs dictated the midfield play, but El Segundo’s defense never relented. On the other end, Casey Lund’s scoring opportunity sailed over the cross bar. El Segundo dictated the game on both ends and Holtzmann-Cisse powered a goal in for the Eagles’ first goal in the first half. Midway through the second half, Jack Finders found an opening from a set position to make it 2-0. Ciaran Feeney volleyed a rebound to the back of the net for the Eagles’ final goal to give El Segundo the Ocean League title outright. El Segundo will enter next week’s CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoffs as one of the top four seeds and will have a first round home game. The Eagles finished up their regular season yesterday against Santa Monica. Girls Basketball Close to Winning First League Title The Lady Eagles are on the verge of winning a share of the program’s first Ocean League title. They faced Beverly Hills in a game that was virtually over after the first quarter. The once-proud Beverly Hills team that won a CIF title in 2017 was no match for the Eagles. Jordan Peterson’s three-pointer started the landslide 52-13 victory for the Eagles. El Segundo outscored Beverly Hills 14-0 in the first quarter including Reese Jones’ three-pointer at the buzzer. Jones scored a game-high 16 points. This was another game of complete unselfish play. Hannah Chang had five assists, including passing up on open shots of her own to feed Jordyn Marconet, Kristin Tsubaki and Bo Takehara. All 12 players had a stat line, meaning head coach John Peterson divided up the playing time. Facing Culver City on the road for a chance to win the school’s first league title would be a daunting task. The Centaurs have had a brilliant girls basketball program over the years and once had a 42-game Ocean League winning streak. That streak was broken up by the Eagles just over three years ago. But El Segundo would have a miserable third quarter and fall 47-32. The game was tight throughout the first quarter. Takehara made a steal, went in for a layup and tied the game with her free throw attempt. The teams traded leads in the second quarter until Marina Nimnual’s three-pointer near the end of the quarter gave the Centaurs the lead for good. Culver City outscored the Eagles 13-3 in the third quarter, mostly on turnovers, and El Segundo never recovered. Poor shooting and too many unforced turnovers that were converted into points did in the Eagles’ chances of wrapping up their league title. El Segundo needed to sweep Lawndale this past Tuesday and Santa Monica today at 6 p.m. at home for a share of the Ocean League title. Lady Eagles Water Polo Continues Winning Ways The Lady Eagles are a win away from winning the Ocean League outright. They defeated Culver City 15-6 to up their Ocean League record to 5-0 and 14-4 overall. In a non-league match El Segundo, ranked third in the CIF-SS Division 4, outscored West Torrance (the sixth ranked team in Division 6) 8-5 to keep their 11-game win streak intact. Playing their first match at the new pool had its advantages against Culver City. Avary Torres, Jenna Olson and Maya Weiss each scored first quarter goals. El Segundo took an 8-1 lead into halftime after Torres scored two more goals and Christina Mullane fired in two goals of her own. Alisa Flores scored from the right side, giving her team the big lead. In the third quarter, Alexa Modry got into the scoring column with her inside lob. Weiss and Olson also added goals as the Eagles extended their lead to 11-6. In the fourth period, the Hannah Chang drives for a basket against Culver City. See Eagles, page 11
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