The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 107, No. 41 - October 11, 2018
Inside
This Issue
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.......................9
Classifieds............................4
Crossword/Sudoku.............4
Election 2018........................3
Entertainment......................6
Legals............................ 10,11
Obituaries.............................2
Police Reports...................11
Real Estate..................7-9,12
Sports.............................. 5,11
Weekend
Forecast
Friday
Sunny
74˚/64˚
Saturday
Partly
Cloudy
69˚/62˚
Sunday
Showers
67˚/62˚
A Special Guest at Homecoming
Hometown Hero Drake Walker, age 7, and Junior Princess Allison Beard are all smiles during El Segundo High School’s Homecoming Parade last Friday. For more about Drake and the rest of the
Homecoming festivities, please read Gregg McMullin’s article in this week’s edition. Photo by Michael Early.
El Segundo School Board Views
Richmond Annual Presentation
By Duane Plank
Tuesday evening’s El Segundo School Board
meeting featured the annual state-of-the-school
address from Richmond Street Elementary
School (RSS). Principal Dr. Alice Lee made
the presentation with the help of Assistant
Principal Dr. Rebecca Godbey and Reading
Specialist Lisa Haun
In an email prior to the meeting, Lee wrote,
“We are really excited to share with the Board
the academic growth that we made the past
year and the personalized learning we are doing
at Richmond Street through the workshop
model in mathematics and language arts,
and also for teachers and their professional
development. This year we are very excited
about all the facility upgrades that will, or
have, taken place. First, the stairway to the
third grade wing was recently updated and
completed with a new landing. One of our
TLC buildings, on the corner of Virginia and
Palm, has been taken down to make space
for a parking lot, updated TLC facility and
restrooms. Finally, we will be getting higher
fences around the field to provide greater
security for the students and the school.”
Lee continued, “We are excited to continue
with our school’s version of WATER: We Activate,
Transform and Empower at Richmond.
Our school has developed a relationship with
an elementary school in Seoul, South Korea
called Cheongwon Elementary; and in January,
they will be sending 20 students to our
district for a week to live a life as an American
student. This is a wonderful opportunity to
collaborate internationally and increase our
global perspective of both students and staff.”
The state-of-the school address began with
the WATER vision statement and then rolled
into school demographics. Student enrollment,
it was noted, has dropped from 628 in the
2016/17 school year to the current total of
595. The 2017/18 highlights noted included
participation in the RIPPLE diversity program;
PTA District 33 recognition; Cotsen fellowships;
Chromebook implementation; and a
partnership with Summit Learning.
The presenters discussed personalized
learning tenets and then shared data about
attendance, the current suspension rate and
office referrals. Survey data was next, with
student respondents showing a drop in the “I
like coming to school,” and “there are clear
rules for how I should behave” sections.
The parental survey, when measured with
similar studies over the past few years, showed
a drop in the positive responses to the question
“I feel that Richmond Street School is a
safe and security facility” – viewed as a not
unexpected answer in this time of increasing
school campus violence. Teacher survey results
revealed that 100 percent of the respondents
called RSS a “supportive and inviting place
for staff to work.”
Student test scores were next, with third
graders showing a positive bump in ELA
and Math achievement. Fourth graders also
trended upwards, and fifth graders showed a
slight downward tick in assessment scoring. El
Segundo Unified School District Superintendent
Dr. Melissa Moore did note that elementary
test scores have continued to escalate overall.
Looking ahead, the action steps proposed
by the presenters include personalized professional
development; achievement teams; a
math coaching extension; readers workshop;
extended learning professional development;
and expanded new teacher training. Student
support offered at RSS includes personalized
and differentiated instruction; continued utilization
of the reading specialist; English language
development support; and before-and-after
school intervention involving math support
and reading and writing drill-downs.
Haun, during her part of the presentation,
stressed the professional development opportunities
that are being taken advantage of at
RSS, and how they are positively impacting
both teachers and students.
After the presentation, one of the questions,
posed by Board President Emilee Layne, was
about the portion of students (44 percent) who
answered the survey that they “like coming
to school.” The RSS presenters said they
were diligently working to address that issue.
Board member Jeanie Nishime questioned how
RSS is dealing with the social and emotional
adjustments that students face in attending
elementary school.
Prior to the RSS presentation, student
representative to the Board Mathew Trivasavit
spoke on two separate occasions. He gave his
standard report to the Board about the comings
and goings at El Segundo High School,
and then helmed a video presentation -- the
“League of Innovative Schools.”
Next on the agenda were consent agenda
See School Board, page 11