Page 2 March 10, 2016 EL SEGUNDO HERALD School Board from front page OFFICE SPACES in all SIZES A L O N G T H E R O S E C R A N S C O R R I D O R I N E L S E G U N D O / M A N H AT TA N B E A C H CONTINENTAL PARK A project of CONTINENTAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION 2041 Rosecrans Ave., El Segundo, CA 90245 • Amenity Rich Location • Convenient Access to Metro Rail System, 405 & 105 Freeways • 10 minutes to LAX • Professional Property Management on Site • It’s Not Just a Location; It’s a Lifestyle! www.continentaldevelopment.com For Leasing Information, call 310.640.1520 Herald Office spaces in all sizes ad 2.indd 1 8/15/15 7:24 PM TOT aka Anti-Visitor Tax? The transient occupancy tax (TOT) might be called the anti-visitor tax and is a nasty although widespread trend. It is now proposed to raise El Segundo’s TOT by 50% with the tired argument that it won’t cost us permanent residents anything, just make those outsiders pay. Of course, we will likely be hit with another city’s TOT, promoted by the same churlish reasoning, whenever we travel. So the net effect is a tax against anyone who doesn’t just sit at home. If surrounding cities have a higher TOT, fine, but we are proud of our safe and pleasant city and should only encourage more travelers to witness it. It is especially true because the proximity of LAX brings many foreign visitors into the neighborhood and they may well leave with a positive opinion of the United States if they experience El Segundo. Probably those visitors patronize our local businesses more than some of our cheapskate residents. And they must pay the high local sales tax. I urge my fellow citizens to reject the proposed increase. Within our city limits is a refinery operated by a corporation one of the world’s ten largest, if not in the top five, with enormous profits; we needn’t cast about for revenue sources. – Edward Ryan Knows Who She’s Not Voting For Council A little less than three years ago, Spring 2013, Marie Fellhauer and Dave Atkinson joined with Bill Fisher in the sleaziest operation I have seen in the 48 years I’ve lived in El Segundo. They pushed Carl Jacobson out of his position as mayor in the middle of his term and replaced him with Bill Fisher. This is not the way decent people act and therefore I will not vote for either Marie Fellhauer or Dave Atkinson to continue on the El Segundo City Council. – Donna Hooper Vote Out the Incumbents Now’s our chance to vote-out incumbents Marie Fellhauer and Dave Atkinson. Both of them, and un-elected Mayor Bill Fisher, are the Gang of Three who staged a coup and ousted Carl Jacobson from the mayor position in the middle of his term, without any legitimate reason. It was a disgraceful, unprecedented, destabilizing power-grab to make Fisher mayor to increase his re-election chances, and advance their agenda. Fellhauer and Atkinson voted for $1,850+ paramedic ambulance hospital transport fees charged to residents and nonresidents, and many big tax and fee increases, including Measure A – eleven tax hikes in one measure, on residents and businesses. They voted to bring in CenterCal and TopGolf, and change the golf course driving range into a giant sports bar with the driving range as a back-end, rather than keep it family- and kid-friendly. The driving range lease requires reconfiguration of the golf course in addition to the driving range. It will take considerable land area from the existing golf course to expand the driving range, making the golf course less challenging and less safe. Fellhauer and Atkinson voted to extend the driving range lease for up to 50 years, at CenterCal’s option, for substantially less money than was determined using Mike Dugan’s research and analysis. Most voters will be dead before the 50-year lease expires. El Segundo voters voted-out Bill Fisher. Now it’s time to finish the clean-up job and vote-out incumbents Fellhauer and Atkinson. They don’t listen and are not fiscal conservatives. – Marianne Fong Letters Burkley & Brandlin LLP A T T O R N E Y S A T L A W Living Trusts/Wills, Probate, Employment Law, Personal Injury Trust and Estates Litigation, Business Litigation, Civil Litiga tion Lifetime El Segundo Residents Brian R. Brandlin • Bruce R. Brandlin • Christopher P. Brandlin City of El Segundo is now hiring for part-time positions Drivers starting at $15.93/hour Lifeguards starting at $12.45/hour Visit www.elsegundo.org and click on City Jobs, Part-Time Opportunities for more information or call (310) 524-2700 310-540-6000 *AV Rated (Highest) Martindale - Hubbell / **Certified Specialist Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law, State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization Obituaries Lester Richard Mitchell February 16, 1934 – November 23, 2015. Les Mitchell passed away peacefully after a long illness. A native and enthusiastic Californian, he was born in Hermosa Beach, grew up in El Segundo, and resided in Walnut Creek for 35 years. He was a proud member of the El Segundo High School class of 1951, where he played varsity baseball, basketball, and football. He went on to play baseball at El Camino College, and then followed his brother John to Berkeley, where both were in the starting lineup for Cal baseball. Les remained active in the Big-C society until the last year of his life. He was also an active alumnus of the School of Engineering. After graduating in 1956, Les joined the Standard Oil Company, returning to his native El Segundo to work in the refinery there. His career in construction management took him across the Chevron corporate structure and around the world, but his loyalty never wavered; he retired after 38 years of service—just short of the more than 40 years with the company logged by his father, Kenneth Mitchell. He and Cosette Platz (Cal, 1957) married in 1959 and two years later embarked on the first of eleven moves around the global oil patch, including India and Belgium, before landing in Walnut Creek in 1982. He is survived by his wife, Cosette Platz Mitchell of Walnut Creek, his children, Laura Mitchell (Graham Proctor) of Irvine, CA and Roger Mitchell (Naomi Aratani) of Kamifukuoka, Japan, and three grandchildren. Education was important to him, a value he passed on to his children, both of whom are teachers. After his retirement, he volunteered in the after-school homework club at Foothill Middle School. He was also a supporter of the Kennedy-King Memorial Scholarship program that benefits underrepresented students from the Contra Costa Community College District who are pursuing four-year or graduate degrees. Donations in lieu of flowers may be sent to: Kennedy-King Memorial Scholarship, PO Box 2643, Martinez, CA 94553-0264. A memorial celebration will be held Wednesday 23 March 2016, from 2 – 4 pm at the Lakeside Room in Heather Farms Park, 301 N San Carlos Dr, Walnut Creek, CA 94596. • Like Us on Facebook The last presentation slide detailed next steps, including 21-st century rubrics and assessments, continuing collaboration, transitioning to complete standards-based grading, and focusing on the inclusion of special education students. Godbey’s presentation encapsulated the revamped report card process so far: “Standardsbased grading aims to make classroom grades more valid, reliable and transparent, ultimately providing an accurate reflection of what skills and knowledge students have mastered.” Prior to the 7 p.m. meeting, Marisa Janicek, the Executive Director of Educational Services, emailed that “our report card committee has led the charge with all elementary teachers to make this change seamless. They have worked collaboratively and incredibly hard to find the best fit for our new standards. Standards-based grading helps the report card have meaning for our parents and students and it helps teachers adjust instruction to meet individual needs.” During her presentation, District CFO Aceves noted that the education code requires the governing board of each school district to certify, at least twice a year, the district’s ability to meet its financial obligations for the remainder of that fiscal year, and for the subsequent two years. Three filing options are available to districts, with a positive certification, which means that the District will meet its financial obligations, being the most favorable. Aceves’ presentation detailed the data behind the ESUSD’s filing of a positive certification. She reviewed current financial assumptions, detailed multi-year projections, and reviewed reserve fund balances in her report. She noted the impact of cost-of-living funding numbers, District enrollment numbers, as well as District salary and benefit numbers, not only for the 2015-16 school year, but extrapolated through the 2017-18 school year. She highlighted different revenues that will be coming to the District, as well as expected See School Board, page 14
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