Page 14 October 19, 2017 EL SEGUNDO HERALD
Wiseburn from front page
all of that is predicated on the fire safety
sign-offs, and other i’s dotted and t’s crossed.
Vince Madsen, Director of Facility Planning,
chimed in on where the Douglas Street
project is standing in mid-October: “Basically
we are still finalizing all the mechanical and
fire life safety systems in the building and
have had preliminary inspections and rework
ongoing with re-inspections getting scheduled
in the hopes of getting things signed off by
the end of the month.”
Leadership Associates partner Peggy Lynch,
one of the principals heading the search for
the new superintendent, spoke to the Board
about potential candidates during a closed
session meeting. Once the open meeting
kicked off, Lynch listed the characteristics
that the Board wants to see in choosing the
new superintendent, including gathering community
and staff input; utilizing an online
survey, enhanced with position description;
establishing a search timeline; and setting
up a meeting schedule that will lead to the
new contract.
According to Leadership Associates and
the Board, the timeline currently in place
involves a mid-November gathering of community
staff and staff input; a January 12
deadline for receiving applications; and an
early February Board meeting to “discuss
applicants and determine who they will interview,”
with interviews scheduled for late
February. Johnstone said the hope is for the
new superintendent to be in place no later
than mid-May, so that the new hire can work
with Johnstone for about six weeks before
the latter retires.
Board Vice President JoAnne Kaneda noted
that she will lament Johnstone’s retirement:
“The WUSD community has an opportunity
to define and select our new superintendent.
Our search firm plans to involve our community
groups, WUSD staff and the Board
to join in this important decision,” she said.
“We salute Dr. Tom Johnstone for 10 years
of dedication to WUSD. We will build on
our strong foundation with our new superintendent.
“
Board member Neil Goldman also gave
praise to the retiring Johnstone: “We salute
Dr. Tom Johnstone for 10 years of dedication
to WUSD,” he said. “We will build on
our strong foundation with our new superintendent.
Dr. Tom Johnstone has remained
an exceptional superintendent serving our
district and community for 10 years. We
have immensely large shoes to fill when he
retires at the end of this school year. We
have started the process of searching for a
new superintendent with the Board sharing
our priorities at this last meeting and now
will be seeking extensive community input
through surveys and meetings with parents,
residents, businesses, and community and
educational partners. We look forward to
hearing and learning from the community
in this very important process and decision.”
Wendy Tsubaki, who was recently selected
as the classified employee of the year in
the district and serves as Johnstone’s righthand
staff person with nearly two decades
of service to the District, also praised her
boss. Tsubaki emailed that “when you
meet [Johnstone], you will feel as if you’ve
known him all your life. It has been one
of my greatest honors to support such a
great human being. Upon meeting Tom,
he will more than likely take you on the
journey of Wiseburn. I have worked in
Wiseburn for some 18 years now in various
forms and jobs and I can tell you that
I continue to love and adore this wonderful
community and district. Our board members
are prestigious, honorable, communityminded
people that I also am proud to call
my friends. This is just a wonderful place to
be. We certainly have our ups and downs like
any organization, but we remain committed
that ‘together as a community’ we can make
it through anything.”
The second presentation Tuesday evening
involved the launch of Tromba, which is the
new District calendar system linking dates
between Wiseburn and Da Vinci. Assistant
Superintendent Chris Jones emailed, “It
was very complex to create a calendar
system that included all Wiseburn and Da
Vinci schools, including sports and the arts.
The benefit of the new system is that it
allows the user to move quickly between
school calendars. Users can also subscribe
to the calendar or add specific events to
their personal calendar on their phone or
computer. These events will be updated and
changes will show for the user. You can also
set up email or text reminders. We are happy
to provide this new tool for our Wiseburn
and Da Vinci families. The Tromba calendar
system puts a lot of important information
at their fingertips!”
The next Wiseburn School Board meeting
is set for Thursday, October 26. •
Health Premiums from page 3
California Insurance Commissioner Dave
Jones was critical of the executive order that
allows insurers to sell policies across state lines.
Jones called it “President Trump’s latest attempt
to sabotage the Affordable Care Act” and to
strip away protections for Californians with
pre-existing conditions who were priced out
of insurance before the 2013 law took effect.
“This change in the long-standing statebased
regulatory approach is very harmful to
consumers. We will do everything within our
power to prevent it from going into effect,”
Jones said immediately after the White House
released the Presidential Executive Order
Promoting Health Care Choice and Competition
nationwide.
The order can be viewed at www.whitehouse.
gov/the-press-office/2017/10/12/presidentialexecutive
order-promoting-healthcare-choiceand
competition, on the White House’s website.
Under the Obamacare law in effect since
2013, participating health plans must offer
lower premiums or deductibles to low-income
consumers. The federal government reimburses
the carriers for the lower-adjusted cost to
the consumer. Those reimbursements from
Washington, D.C., total $800 million in cost
savings to Californians, according to estimates
from Lee’s office.
“Covered California worked hard to come
up with a plan that ensures a stable market and
protects as many consumers as possible from
an unnecessary price hike,” Lee said last week
as the 2018 rates were announced. Silver plans
will cost less than $25 per month more next
year with the surcharge, the exchange estimates.
In the South Bay, the number of health
plans participating in the ACA marketplace
remains strong. Residents will have their
choice of eight health plans next year through
Covered California. Anthem is dropping out of
the individual marketplace and will sell only
employed-sponsored health plans next year,
the insurer said in August.
Health plan participants in next year’s
individual ACA market will be:
• Blue Shield HMO and PPO
• Health Net of California HMO and HSP
• Kaiser Permanente
• L.A. Care
• Molina
• Oscar
People also use their employer-sponsored
health plans, Medi-Cal, Medicare or the
Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
to comply with the coverage requirement in
the nation’s Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act, passed by Congress in 2011.
Lee urged the White House not to withhold the
ACA subsidy money, which the President said
he was considering doing after the Republicancontrolled
Congress failed to deliver on his
campaign promise to repeal Obamacare along
with the individual mandate that all Americans
be insured or pay an annual penalty.
Commissioner Jones opposed the White
House intervention after failed attempts by the
House and Senate to pass repeal bills ending
the Obama administration’s law.
“We can expect this to result in the sale of
products that don’t cover our healthcare needs,
cost most consumers more,” Jones said about
the President’s order.
It’s too early to know if health plans based
outside California will make a foray into the
nation’s largest insurance market. Jones, a
Democrat, said the President’s order weakens
his office’s power to protect consumers who
must buy their own insurance under the law.
The President has chosen to “promote a
race to the bottom, where insurers choose to
incorporate in the state with the weakest laws
and requirements providing the fewest benefits
and skimpiest consumer protections,” Jones said.
More than 1.4 million California residents
use Covered California to compare plan benefits
and select the most affordable coverage for
them and their families, the exchange says. Of
that number, 1.2 million receive some financial
assistance to defray the monthly premium for
their coverage.
Lee echoed what he advised consumers last
year when their premiums through Covered
California jumped almost 12 percent: Compare
the plans and shop for one that makes sense
financially and medically. The average silver
plan was under $100 per month last year for
three-in-five people, and $10 for the bronze
plans, he said.
A bronze plan offers higher out-of-pocket
co-pays and deductibles for physician and
hospital services. This lower-tier option is
recommended for healthy young people and
families without pre-existing medical conditions
that could require hospitalization and surgery.
A bronze meets the individual mandate at a
lower monthly cost.
Covered California’s open enrollment period
runs from November 1 through January 31.
Consumers can explore plans and pricing
options and whether they qualify for financial
assistance at www.CoveredCA.com. •
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