Page 4 March 21, 2019 EL SEGUNDO HERALD
School Spotlight
Sports WUSD
Eagles Are Turning It Around
Story and Photos by Gregg McMullin
With the passing of the rainy season cross
your fingers), the high school softball and
baseball schedules seem to be back on track.
The El Segundo High School softball team
played well in the Torrance National Tournament,
while the baseball team should be
on a five-game winning streak after playing
the winless Hawthorne Cougars this week.
Softball Team Dealing
With Injuries
The Lady Eagles have played a demanding
schedule in the TNT tournament and were
missing two key starters. Without Kaili Reitano
and Gaby Benjamin in the lineup, due
to an illness and an injury respectively, the
Eagles were forced to overcome adversity to
win games over Palos Verdes 10-9 in eight
innings and Carson 5-4.
El Segundo took a comfortable 7-0 lead
into the fourth inning when Palos Verdes’
bats came to life. The Sea Kings scored
three runs on three hits and benefited by an
El Segundo error to bite into the seven-run
deficit. In the fifth inning, the Sea Kings’
Rachel Allen had a two-run double to key a
four-run inning to tie the game. The Eagles
had their opportunity to break the tie in the
sixth inning when Adri Hebert doubled with
one out, but she was left stranded.
The game went into extra innings using
international rules by starting the inning
with a runner on second base. Shanai Owens
scored on a fielder’s choice and Hebert’s
run-scoring double made it 9-7. Julia Chavez
singled, sending Hebert to third base. The
latter scored on Jade Johnson’s sacrifice
fly to make it 10-7. The Sea Kings made
it exciting in their half of the eighth inning
when Niki Mabry and Ellen Hubbard had
RBIs to make it 10-9. Eagle starter Jade
Johnson then induced an easy ground ball
to end the game.
The Eagles overcame seven errors and
four unearned runs to defeat Carson 5-4.
In the first inning the Colts welcomed a
walk, a hit-by-pitch and two errors to take
a 3-0 lead. El Segundo bounced back in the
second inning when Julia Chavez doubled,
Jade Johnson singled, Audrey Butler drew a
walk and Leah Abitante had a bases loaded
three-run double to tie the game at 3-3.
In the third inning, Carson combined two
hits and two errors to take a 4-3 lead. The
Eagles evened the game on Shanai Owens’
sacrifice bunt to score Kaela Little, who had
walked to open the inning. In the fifth inning,
Kelly Carignan scored to give the Eagles a
5-4 lead. Kaili Reitano came in relief of Jade
Johnson and shut down the Colts, giving up
one hit over three innings as the Eagles hung
on for the victory.
El Segundo was shut out by Westlake 4-0
in a game that the only hit the Eagles got
was Erin Graner’s fifth inning single. Reitano
tossed a six-hitter, but was hampered by a
defense that committed four errors.
The Eagles bounced back against City
Section power Banning and defeated the
Pilots 7-1. The Eagles scored three runs in
the first inning and had two-run innings in
the fourth and sixth to improve their record
to 7-4 entering this week. El Segundo faced
Culver City on Tuesday and host Lawndale
today at 3:15 p.m.
Baseball Team Feasting on
Opposition’s Shortcomings
The Eagles faced their challenges earlier to
open the season. Facing Beverly Hills, Hart
and this week Hawthorne should give them
the confidence they’ll need going forward. The
victories over Beverly Hills were expected, but
a 12-2 win over Hart was a welcome relief.
Adri Hebert makes a key play to halt a Palos Verdes rally.
Kaili Reitano shut down Carson over the last three innings and picked up the win.
Wiseburn Looks at Mandarin
Immersion; Facilities Master Plan
By Duane Plank
Last Thursday evening’s Wiseburn School
Board meeting started with a presentation from
two parents about the launch of the Mandarin
Language After School Program slated to begin
during the 2019/20 school year. The presenters
were Jenna Boller and Zalina Visentin, and
they laid out a program that would culminate
with a launch of the paid afterschool program
at Anza Elementary this fall for TK, kindergartners
and first graders.
The program will be run by a third-party
group, Ni Hao Chinese, and will be open to
all Wiseburn students, with those at Anza receiving
priority if they sign up in March. The
second of two informational parent sessions
took place on Tuesday at Anza.
Superintendent Dr. Blake Silvers, Assistant
Superintendent, Educational Services, Dr.
Aileen Harbeck, and member Dr. Neil Goldman
all praised Boller and Visentin for their
tireless work in getting the Mandarin program
off the ground.
The program hopes to attract an initial minimum
of 15 students, with a tentative cap of
20, although Goldman quipped, “What happens
when we get 400 students?” He also congratulated
the organizers on their perseverance and
tenacity as they “take the big-picture view.”
Parents can sign their children up and leave
an initial deposit ($200, which will be applied to
the first month tuition) at the Anza front office.
The presenters detailed their communication
plan to bring the program to fruition, including
Silvers sending an email blast to community
members to build awareness. Principal Alberto
Paredes will also email Anza families, while
social media outlets like Facebook and Instagram
will additionally promote the upcoming
program.
Boller and Visentin also detailed next steps
after the launch of the program, including
summer camps, field trips, cultural experiences,
and a possible fifth grade trip to China. They
also showed the Board members a sample
Ni Hao Anza class schedule that could be
implemented this fall.
The second presentation came from Rick
Musto, Associate Managing Director of the
design firm LPA, which is working with the
Wiseburn Unified School District in the nascent
stages of the Long-Range Facilities Master
Plan (LRFMP). Now that the heavy lifting
has been accomplished with the opening of
Wiseburn High, the District’s focus turns to
next best steps and future priorities. Silvers
said the District had enacted a thorough vetting
process to secure a LRFMP partner, and
that LPA was selected as the “the best firm
out there” to partner with Wiseburn
Musto provided details about the firm, which
has been in business for more than a half
century and boasts more than 400 employees,
with more than a quarter of their personnel
dedicated to education. He touted the firm’s
master-planning experience, noting collaboration
with school districts in Hawthorne and Compton,
among others. He spoke of establishing
a “visionary” process, based on how students
will learn in the future; discovering the impact
of program to facilities and technology needs;
and developing a long-term phased implementation
approach. He then shared components
of the development of the LRFMP, including
educational visions and goals; a demographics
review; facilities condition assessments; and
financial analysis -- all under the umbrella of
necessary collaboration with all stakeholders in
the final recommendations that will be brought
to the Board.
Next Musto detailed planned stakeholder
outreach, including the development of District
focus groups; school site input; possible online
staff surveys; and town hall forums and voter
opinion surveys. He also spoke of the formation
of a LRFMP Committee that would include
from 25-40 members and meet monthly to
provide their various inputs. All this process,
according to the current timeline, would culminate
in the LRFMP going to the Board for
approval in late spring or early summer 2020.
Musto touted the work his company does with
school districts, saying, “We do it well.” He
spoke of four tenets to “delivering education”
and was hopeful that the first committee meeting
would take place in September. At the conclusion
of the presentation, Silvers added how comfortable
he was working with the very strong
team of personnel that LPA has assembled.
Board member reports then followed, with
Goldman extolling the virtues of the recent
District engineering-based Hackathon. Clerk
Roger Banuelos termed the evebt a “wonderful
program,” noting it helps open the doors for
District students to explore the opportunities
to consider studies to pursue an engineering
option. Goldman added that he was in awe
of the diversity of learners Wiseburn was currently
supporting.
Chief Business Official David Wilson dove
into the weeds on District finances, including
the wrap-up of much of the construction at
Wiseburn High, answering questions from Board
members about the all-important financial purse
strings. Members were also looking forward
to the upcoming Rock-Around-The-Block
program, which will take place April 6.
Action items passed included an agreement
with Studio Roja for brand development and
marketing materials; an agreement with USC for
the placement of student teachers at Wiseburn;
a visitor management proposal agreement with
Raptor Technologies that will run the gamut
at all District schools; and a positive financial
certification as positive as Wiseburn makes
its mandated Education Code filing for the
remainder of this school year, and the next two.
In other District news, Peter Burnett Elementary
Principal Kim Jones emailed about
the strides being made at her school as staff
has been busy focusing on different campus
initiatives, particularly in the areas of math
and science. She wrote of recent training that
Burnett teachers have received to garner certifications
in the Project Lead the Way program;
and professional development days relating to
the further implementation of Next Generation
Science Standards.
On the math side, Jones spoke about the continued
focus at Burnett on Cognitively Guided
Instruction practices, and the bolstered support
of the math instruction team. She also noted
that this spring, Wiseburn will partner with
El Segundo Unified School District instructors
to “foster a sense of community around math.”
Jones said the partnership was possible because
of an Innovation Grant the school received from
the Wiseburn Education Foundation.
The next regularly scheduled Wiseburn School
Board meeting is calendared for March 28. •
“Learning is a treasure that will
follow its owner everywhere.”
– Chinese Proverb
See Eagles, page 13